After a highly hyped, up-and-coming fighter loses his fight, MMA fans love to say “he got exposed”.
Translation: the fighter had been concealing a hole or weakness in his game and the latest opponent exploited that weakness.
Have you ever had your BJJ game “exposed”?
I have.
In my first BJJ academy, the instructor used to divide the class up into lightweights and heavyweights. I was the smallest of the “big” guys and was accustomed to rolling with heavier opponents.
I developed an effective spider guard and sleeve and collar defensive guard against the heavy pressure passers.
But then my work schedule changed and I could no longer attend the gi classes. I had to switch to no-gi.
When I started to roll at the first class, I reflexively went to take my favorite sleeve grip . . . but there was NO sleeve! My guard was quickly and repeatedly passed as I struggled without my favorite grips.
My jiu-jitsu game was exposed emphatically!
Reflecting on this after the class, I was confronted with the reality that I had been developing a bad habit without even realizing it.
This hole in my guard game took months to correct as I had to learn about and experiment with different no-gi grips and guard variations.
Importantly, it taught me a powerful lesson: if we train in our comfort zones, we can overlook areas of jiu-jitsu that can later get exposed by a different opponent.
Fortunately, my exposure came while training in class, the best time to make mistakes.
I have seen many BJJ guys feel that their lack of stand-up training got exposed following a tournament where the matches did not start from the knees.
Have any of the holes in your BJJ game been exposed by rolling with a different training partner?
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