To hell with circumstances, I create opportunities. -Bruce Lee
The takedown is that moment of truth that sends chills down even the most hardened spines.
Unless you have a background in wrestling or judo, you’ll find yourself staring at your opponent with nothing but a giant question mark where your brain used to be.
At that point, you may have a problem. Or, as Ricardo Pires prefers to see it, an opportunity.
Worst acknowledges that takedowns are a challenge.
“They’re not my biggest strength,” he says, “although I believe in some of my takedowns. But it all comes down to knowing your weakness and blocking it.”
How do you block your weakness if your weakness is takedown?
“Look,” says Ricardo Pires, “every time I see myself on the mat trying to achieve something at all costs, it doesn’t work. When you start to lose control of yourself, you lose control of the situation. You lose control of the situation and that’s it. You have to be flexible. You know, like. Let me go a little bit.”
How do you avoid a takedown? It seems pretty unavoidable.
“Circling means that when the guy is attacking, I let him come.”
What happens then?
“When he makes a mistake, I fight back. It’s about knowing my limitations. If I start by saying I’m going to take this guy down, he’ll most likely take me down.”
Wait a minute, determination is a good thing. It is not like this?
“It depends on the situation,” says Pires. “When you see judo at the Olympics, both guys are trying to take each other down, and each knows exactly what the other is going to do, and does it anyway! The problem is, what if the guy has a bad shoulder or something and you can’t go through with your plan? So again, I think it depends on the situation. There’s a time to be flexible and a time to determine.”
According to Pires, takedowns are literally a big hurdle for the Brazilians.
“In the ’90s, when the UFC started,” he says, “Brazilians didn’t know about takedowns. It confused us, I mean them, really. They spent a lot more time trying to learn takedowns and beat fighters instead of, Hey you know what you’re going to take me down anyway so just take me down so we can get to the ground faster which is where I want to be anyway so they stopped polishing the ground game and started focusing more on the demolitions”.
“The takedown is very important,” continues Pires, “but what happened is that the Brazilians got better at defending against takedowns and got worse with the running game. They followed the trend. Like today, it’s great to hit and hit. You see a lot of very good Jiu-Jitsu guys trying to ground and pound. But I mean, where’s your Jiu-Jitsu? Look at Demian Maia. He was submitting everyone and when he fought Nate Marquardt, they beat him because he came in as a kickboxer.”
Are you saying that he trusted his weakness more than his strength?
“The Brazilian way is to get around the obstacle,” says Pires. “But with takedowns, the takedown is the obstacle, and all of a sudden, [Brazilians] They think they’re going to knock it down. But when they’re up against someone who’s a really good fighter, chances are they won’t take him down.”
“Out of a hundred guys,” Pires continues, “you might find four that are really good at takedowns. I can name them. Ricardo Arona is one, he’s really good and incredibly strong, and a few other guys.”
So if you’re not Ricardo Arona, or one of the names on Pires’ short list, what are you supposed to do to prepare for a time that’s as inevitable and terrifying as death and taxes?
“Takedowns are hard to train,” he says. “To touch the ground is difficult. It’s like breaking the ice. When you first meet someone, you have to go there and introduce yourself. In BJJ you have to go to the ground.”
If your main goal is to get to the ground, what does it matter who gets the takedown? How important is the takedown in deciding the fight?
“I think it’s great,” says Pires. “It’s great because nowadays everyone is very prepared. Physically prepared and mentally prepared, and if you get the takedown you start two points ahead. For our boys, from Osvaldo [Osvaldo Alves de Albuquerque, Red Belt], almost all of us are really good at the top. For us it is crucial to be at the top. Osvaldo’s guys aren’t that good at playing guard, spider guard or ass guard (laughs) whatever, I hope he doesn’t get mad at me for saying that! But our guys are really good at the top and they’re good on our backs.”
So if you want to be on top, the takedown is pretty important?
“Very significant.”
If you lose the takedown, how hard is it to get back on top?
“You just wait,” Pires says, “at least, I’m always thinking, Oh man, I hope the guy pulls the guard. It makes my job so much easier. I don’t care about the colon, if I’m up, I’m I don’t mind losing the opportunity to get two points because I have a lot of confidence at the top.”
“Maybe I’m overconfident,” Pire says with a smile, “but if the guy lets his guard down, I want to kiss him!”
So what matters most to you is the position, not the points.
“Yes, exactly.”
“Of course,” Pires continues, “some people are really good on their backs, so they don’t have to look for the takedown. The point is, try to find an easier route to achieve what you need. If we start on our feet and guard shot I just lost two points. People don’t want to train to get better to get those points, because it’s hard. So they shoot guard, because it’s easy, hoping the other one doesn’t shoot guard too. You end up with both people fighting on their butts.”
Always the gentleman, the worst self-editions. “I mean, behind his back.”
You started judo, just like Osvaldo Alves. How important is cross training in competitive BJJ today?
“I like cross training if it’s the right kind.”
What is the correct type?
“I went to Las Vegas last year,” Pires says, “and I saw people jumping from one school to another. A guy told me, I’m going to train with you in the morning, I’ll train kickboxing in the afternoon and boxing at night, and tomorrow “I’ll train Jiu-Jitsu again in the morning and wrestling in the afternoon. In fact, he trained at four or five different schools. To me that’s not cross training. They think it is.”
Do you think it’s too much?
“For me,” says Pires, “it’s like going to a library, checking out 30 books and reading five or six pages of five or six chapters of each book, but you don’t finish any. You don’t learn anything, you just get confused. But hey , my boys can train wherever they want. I don’t close the door.”
In other words, jack of all trades, master of none?
“It all comes down to,” says Pires, “is that you have to do what you do best. Let me give the example of my son Victor. Victor wants to go for the takedown. Does he know of any takedowns? Yes. But in his case, his baseline game is pretty good and I think once you get white, blue, and purple belts in America, and even get to brown belt level, you can find guys who are really good on their feet. So Victor’s chances of finding someone as good as him on his feet or better are pretty good, and what I’m saying is why give the guy a chance?
Do you think attempting the takedown can be a bad thing?
“Say,” says Pires, “you try the takedown and you miss. The guy will be on your side for like 30 seconds or a minute. So you lose a minute plus two points. So why not pull off guard and start to attack? That’s what Victor and I talked about before the Abu Dhabi tests, and it worked. Victor brought out his guard, swept and put the guy in side control and was winning for the first minute or so.”
So, in other words, find what you do best and stick with it.
“I’m not saying they don’t train takedowns,” says Pires. “I’m not saying don’t train boxing. I’m saying do what you do best. If you find you’re a better fighter than a Jiu-Jitsu guy, then fine, go that route. But odds are, you’re not.”
So what would you say is the most important thing to remember when going for a takedown?
“Know your weakness,” says Pires. “That’s first and foremost. On the mat, in business, in your life, it’s the same. If you don’t know your opponent, you have to know your own weakness and block it.”
“Look,” Pires concludes, “I’m not saying we don’t have to try to takedown, but maybe we have to turn it around. Maybe the key is not to go for the takedown, but to try to focus more on countering the takedown.”
“What I’m saying is,” says Pires, “try to get around the hurdle.”