At 6’4” and 240+ lbs. and the nickname “God of War,” it’s difficult to go unnoticed. Abraham Marte is an active jiu-jitsu competitor out of the Dominican Republic. Abraham may be a big guy, but his style of jiu-jitsu doesn’t necessary revolve around it. He showed us the following techniques, many of which do not require tremendous strength.
- Issue 37
Smart jiu-jitsu athletes will often have more than one option when they attack. Many of the techniques demonstrated by Abraham are from the double hand posture break and he utilizes a sequence of transitions from this position.
- Issue 37
Using the same two-hand lapel pull set up, Abraham shows a very inconspicuous sweep from the closed guard position. This technique is implemented when his opponent attempts to re-center to recover his posture and balance. Abraham capitalizes on this to deliver a sweep. This technique involves a ...
Breaking your opponent’s posture is extremely important when setting up attacks from the closed guard. It’s one of the things you’ll hear your professor telling you to do at an early stage. Controlling his posture will prevent him from easily opening your closed guard, and eventually passing. It ...
This transition works well if Abraham’s opponent defends the armbar. Perhaps they lift the leg on top of the face to escape, or are able to wiggle free of the armbar. This transition can also be planed for, and a failed armbar is simply the bait for the triangle.
- Issue 37
Instead of posturing up, sometimes Abraham’s opponents go heavy on the leg when pulled down. They drive forward, almost sprawling on Abraham’s bottom leg, preventing him from fully hip escaping. His movement becomes limited. In order to counter this, he performs a variation utilizing a butterfly ...
Abraham has just taken his opponent’s back. Most people will opt for a rear naked choke or some kind of collar choke in this position. The problem with this is most people will expect these types of chokes. Abraham will instead use an armbar he his opponent does not expect.
- Issue 37