When I first decided to move to NYC full time to teach and train at Marcelo Garcia’s Academy, I was a little unsure on how the training would be because there was not many black belts training at Marcelo’s academy yet. I mentioned my concern to a friend who had spent some time in NYC with Marcelo. He told me of a super tough brown belt who trained at the academy. He told me not to worry, this young brown belt would give me the type of training I would need to continue to be successful at the highest levels of competition.

That young brown belt was Matheus Diniz, now a black belt under Marcelo Garcia. Matheus became one of the toughest guys I have ever trained with. His mix of explosive outside passing with a heavy pressure passing game has caused me many of difficult training sessions. Not only is he one of the most explosive guys on top passing but, has the technical knowledge in both passing and playing guard that make for a deadly combination. It has brought me much joy to see him do so well at the black belt level thus far in his competition career, winning the open class in over 7 different IBJJF opens, winning the IBJJF No-Gi Pan-Am Championships in both the Medium-Heavy division and absolute and placing second (division & absolute) in the IBJJf Worlds No-Gi.

In the video below Matheus shares with us one part of his competition game plan, a great series of positions that lead to the choke from the back. Matheus has one of the strongest chokes from the back that I have ever felt. He is able to finish from the back often and rather quickly because of the way he attacks the choke in transition to the back control. This does not allow the opponent to set up a solid defense and often catches them by surprise. Starting in the deep half guard (Checkout another series starting in the deep half guard by another MG black belt Jon Satava) Matheus works his way to the feet, controlling the opponent from behind he is able to then trip the opponent and attack the choke/back control. I hope you guys enjoy this video. Thank you Matheus for sharing with us!!! OSSSS

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