IT FELT strange rolling around in wrestling mats with basketball shorts on, but the explicit instructions were to wear shorts with no pockets. So my choices were narrowed down to either that or my skimpy swim trunks. Yikes!

So how was it like trying out Gracie Barra Jiu Jitsu?

On a personal note, a spaz like me who prefers stand-up fighting is always in awe of the guys who are masters in ground fighting. To say that they are worlds apart is a pale understatement.

The ground game evokes a different language. It’s more about leverage than power. Speed? It’s pretty much neutralized by superior positioning.

But for a better and concise explanation of the basic symmetry of the ground game, allow me to quote liberally from the book “A Fighter’s Heart” by Sam Sheridan, a journalist who ventured into the world of mixed-martial arts fighting.

“Once on the ground, each man works for position. You always want to be on top; your weight is working for you and you have much more control, although some fighters skilled in ground fighting actually prefer to work from the bottom.

The bottom man wants to keep the top man in his guard, (Norman Go emphasized this) which means the bottom man has his arms free and his legs around the top man’s waist. ..

The top man can punch and look for submissions, but he doesn’t have a decisive advantage. So he looks to pass guard, which means he wants to somehow maneuver his legs over the bottom man’s legs until he is mounted, or off to the side in side control .

It’s very dangerous for the bottom man, as the top man can punch with impunity and easily set up submissions. When he’s in guard, the bottom man has a lot of submissions he can go for, chokes and arm-bars. He can use his legs to set up a triangle choke.”

When Norman applied the triangle choke on this columnist, I went back in time and had visions of sweet fragrant flowers nestled on a moist bed of a dewy grass-like substance which upon closer inspection resembled a cornucopia of beer bottles smiling at me….

Tap Out!

BALANCE. While we were standing around waiting for the real fighters to wrap up their session, in comes a Korean dude who probably weighed close to 300 pounds. He then proceeded to throw his weight around (literally) and I just could not help but marvel at his Brock Lesnar-like physique.

The thing about jiu jitsu is that a lot of it has got to do with balance and controlling the other man. But when a guy that huge also knows his game, the task at hand becomes more daunting.

Thankfully, in today’s mixed martial arts matches, save for the heavyweight division where the weight difference can be as much as 60 pounds (weight range is from 205-265), the fighters in the other weight divisions are much more bunched up, ensuring a more competitive and fair match-up.

LESNAR TIME. Speaking of Lesnar, this behemoth goes up today against a certified legend in the mixed martial arts world—Randy Couture.

Couture is back after layoff of more than a year after getting involved in a nasty contract dispute with UFC management.

At the weigh in yesterday, Brock had a whopping 45 pound weight advantage over Couture. Predictably, the Couture camp claimed that Lesnar will realize in this fight that he’s not in the same class as Randy.

Maybe. But Lesnar’s ground game has improved also. As long as he keeps those chicken legs away from a submission hold or a fight-ending lock, he’ll do fine.

LAST ROUND. It’s on my wonderful and indefatigable sister-in-law Atty. Renelda Chanco and my teammate with the killer crossover, Atty. Jude Fernandez who are celebrating their birthdays this week. Cheers!

(jingo_quijano@yahoo.com)

For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here.(November 16, 2008 issue)Write letter to the editor.Click here.