Today I want to talk about my belief that in BJJ we can always learn from everybody. I believe that every person has one position, technique, or detail that he does better than the rest of us.
Jiu-jitsu is very broad with thousands of techniques. It’s impossible to be perfect or familiar with every position. Therefore, no matter what someone’s belt level, we can learn something from them.
This is one thing I think is very cool about BJJ. We continually grow and learn new techniques. Even high-level black belts with many years of training experience can learn new techniques, positions, and details from the lower belts.
I always try to keep an open mind about learning BJJ from anybody. Maybe that person plays a different game than I do. Even if I’m not going to use that position or technique, I think that by seeing it and understanding it that will help me defend against it when someone tries it on me.
This is why I try to bring high-level grapplers to show us techniques on my Youtube channel. They show us differences in details for positions and techniques that we already know about. Then we are able to add that to our arsenal. Most of the high-level black belts have their favorite positions where they work the best. Therefore, we will definitely learn some new details from them.
My favorite positions are the over/under pass and the half-guard. However, in order to be a completely well-rounded grappler I need to be familiar with other positions. For example, I don’t play the x-guard but training at Marcelo Garcia’s Academy I am constantly training against high-level black belts that use the x-guard very effectively. So even though I don’t play the x-guard much, I have learned what options x-guard players have and that helps me defend against it.
I remember one tournament where I was tapped out. Later my opponent told me he learned that position from a white or blue belt. I believe that, it just shows how someone can become very familiar with a position and learn details that we may not know.
Another really cool thing about BJJ is that we never stop learning. Jiu-jitsu is so much fun because it’s always changing and evolving. For example, many years ago there was no half-guard in BJJ. The half-guard was just a way to pass the guard. Then Roberto “Gordo” Correa started playing and developing the half-guard game. He started adding sweeps and attacks to make the half-guard an offensive position.

Here is a breakdown of the key points about how in BJJ we can always learn from everybody:

1. Keep an open mind and realize we can learn some details, positions or techniques from anybody we train with. They might have some new insight into the position or technique that we don’t have.
2. Even high-level grapplers can learn from lower belts. It’s impossible to know every position or detail.
3. I believe to be a completely well-rounded fighter it’s important to know positions that you don’t play. You will be able to defend against someone who plays those games if you have seen some of the options available to your opponent. For example, I personally don’t play the x-guard much, but since my training partners play x-guard a lot, I have learned how to defend it better and what options are available to my opponent from the x-guard.
4. Jiu-jitsu is constantly evolving, developing, and changing. That is why it’s such a great sport. There is so much to learn and so many new techniques and details that if you just keep an open mind you will learn a lot more.

I hope you enjoyed the video. Oss.
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