Eddie Bravo Breaks Down Quinn Mulhern's Sweep of Rich Clementi at King of the Cage: Vengeance
by Kid Nate on Feb 15, 2010 12:41 PM EST
in MMA Technique
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There was some very interesting technique displayed in Friday night's Quinn Mulhern vs Rich Clementi bout at King of the Cage: Vengeance. Mulhern scored the upset win over the UFC vet Clementi by dominating him on the ground. Mulhern was very impressive and I hope to see him get a crack at some more high profile fights in the future. Perhaps even get the call up to Bellator, Strikeforce, DREAM or the UFC.
Part of it was the sweep above which appeared to the commentators (and me) to be an omaplata sweep. But Eddie Bravo went on the UG and broke it down as a rubber guard sweep:
1. Mission control (pulled his leg up and kept it up there with his left hand)
2. Zombie (forced his opponent's left hand to the mat by coming up and around the elbow)
3. Cleared the neck (he switched his left forearm to the other side of his opponent's neck)
4. Chill dog (re hooked his right leg with his left hand and kept pressure on his opponent's neck)
5. Kung fu move (brought his right foot over in front of his opponent's face, circled his left elbow above and around his foot and iron palmed his own foot into his opponent's face)
6. Da (forced his opponent to roll and rolled up with him to get the sweep)
The full fight is worth a look, so I've posted it in the extended entry. Twice Clementi reversed mount by grabbing Mulhern with both legs in a kind of body scissors. This led to an unusual position that announcer Jason "Mayhem" Miller called the "reverse scorpion mount".
There's also a video of Bravo breaking down his rubber guard approach.
BE coverage of King of the Cage "Vengeance"
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The move is
but I didn’t feel I had the supporting materials I needed — no good photos of the event, couldn’t get gifs made, didn’t have much to add to Bravo’s analysis. Wanted people to see it, but didn’t want to fob it off as a Judo Chop when I wasn’t doing my part to my standards.
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There’s a funny bit of that UG thread where Bravo, in response to people saying that this is just a classic BJJ omoplata sweep, protests that this technique can’t be done except by his method. Whoops. If a) it can’t be done except by your method, and b) people were doing it long before you came around, then it follows that c) your method isn’t really yours.
I find it a little strange that he feels the need to post stuff on message boards saying “see, this guy did it like I teach it! vindication!” when there are acknowledged top grapplers and MMA fighters already training with him. Doesn’t that say enough by itself?
Anyway, it was a really cool sweep.
The two sweeps are vastly different, although they end up with the same result. The nuances between the two are explained well in the accompanying video. Not sure if that one itself explains it all but there are 3 parts to that rubber guard demo. I can understand why he would want to take pride in his style, even some top grapplers and MMA fighters have trained with him Rubber Guard is still fairly new to the JJ and MMA
by TannerMatthews on Feb 15, 2010 1:14 PM EST up reply actions
I wouldn’t say they’re “vastly different”. I’m not an expert, but in what way do the nuances play a part in the outcome of a omoplata sweep versus rubber guard sweep? Is there something the rubber guard sweep can do that the traditional omoplata sweep can’t? Terms like “chill dog” and “zombie” distract from what feels like a semantics debate. I’m waiting for Eddie Bravo to rename the pendulum sweep into something else because he picks his nose to set it up. Just saying.
by David Castillo on Feb 15, 2010 2:04 PM EST up reply actions
the way I learned a classic BJJ omaplata is either wait till they press down or to break their posture (same result as mission control), pus their arms to the side (same result as zombie) then posture up and pull the leg under the head (which skips a few steps but is ultimately same the effect as chill dog through kung fu move into jiu claw.
so in my opinion the two are very similar, but the classic bjj version is a little faster while the rubber guard version is a little slower more deliberate and allowed for different attack options
by phantasma475 on Feb 15, 2010 5:36 PM EST up reply actions
then posture up and pull the leg under the head (which skips a few steps but is ultimately same the effect as chill dog through kung fu move into jiu claw.
Those steps were critical for me to keep there posture down whenever I didn’t have a gi on.
by TannerMatthews on Feb 15, 2010 5:49 PM EST up reply actions
If you watch the video’s for the rubber guard than he explains the differences. I guess vastly different was a little much but i was looking at it in two ways, the traditional sweep using a GI and his Nogi version. The little steps that he explains, like the way you cross your legs to get the best possible squeeze made a big difference to me because you don’t have the sleeves to hold onto and there’s more power in my legs to squeeze than in my hands if i just were to try to grab wrist control.
To me those small technical things made a big difference to me. Saying that it can’t be done any other way than his is probably rediculous, but I didn’t see the actual quote
by TannerMatthews on Feb 15, 2010 5:47 PM EST up reply actions
Saw this on the UG
It’s funny how Eddie can be a hero on one day, and the next day people will blatantly insult the man.
Not saying that he’s correct at this point and time, i’m no BJJ expert. The point i’m trying to make is that Eddie deserves a lot more respect than many people at the UG give him.
Oooh, shiny.
There looked to be a gogoplata attempt in the midst of that sweep, too. Good stuff!
"I love it when a guy is bleeding on top of me." -- Diego Sanchez, post fight interview about his fight with Clay Guida
I think the position they eventually get into twice is more of a reverse guard than a mount. Clementi is scrambling to get his legs around Mulhern. Maybe call it the reverse ‘scorpion’ guard. In any event, it remains to be see how useful it is.
Sweep was really nice though. BJJ: if you’re flexible, it’s more manly than ballet.
Rich Clementi on the UG:
I just want to apologize for such a shitty performance at King of the Cage last weekend. I went into the fight with a minor sinus infection but had no idea what was in store. The day of the fight I was warming up in the cage for a few minutes felt decent and ready to go. Me and Travis were called in the back to see the doc and I spit up some flem but it was a handful of blood. I thought it was due to my sinus infection and just blew it off. I have never been so CRIPPLED IN A FIGHT in my life! I could not even move in the second round. My chest felt like it was going to explode. I came home Sunday and seen my physician today and he said I had altitude sickness. I have never even heard of this before and had no idea. This was the worst fight of my career and I truly feel embarrassed.
Thanks for my sponsors Full Tilt and TCB for there support.
what’s embarrassing is that letter full of excuses! and the seeming ignorance about the altitude of the venue where the fight was held. yes, rich, Inn of the Mountain Gods is at an altitude of 9000 feet. altitude sickness is common at elevations over 8000 feet. your coaches must really suck if they didn’t prepare you for that.
athletes that don’t know how to lose with grace are an embarrassment to any sport.
The rubber guard .......
Rubber guard is cool, but it doesn’t work so great against an opponet that is considerably larger. Plus you have to be pretty flexible to even hit subs and sweeps on peeps in your own weight class from it. Kinda goes against what Helio preached. It’s a cool tool to have in the box but not most effective in my opinion.
by Raycetpfl on Feb 15, 2010 4:16 PM EST via mobile reply actions
seems as tho you may need to work on your flexibility sir
by TannerMatthews on Feb 15, 2010 5:51 PM EST up reply actions
well most positions get a lot tougher against a large opponent. rubber guard’s weakness in my opinion is the stack but its still a good tool to have. just as long as it’s not someone’s entire bottom game
by phantasma475 on Feb 15, 2010 5:58 PM EST up reply actions
It's an omoplata sweep.
Just like it says on the UG thread.
Although detractors decry (MMA) as a brutal, bloody form of human cockfighting, aficionados know it is a brutal, bloody, totally fucking awesome form of human cockfighting. -The Onion
by The Kittitas Kid on Feb 15, 2010 5:53 PM EST reply actions
Style vs. Fundamentals
is what I see at the core of most Eddie Bravo debates. At its most basic, this is an omoplata sweep, but Eddies style (the rubber guard) modifies it. To quote Matt Thornton, “style” is just a delivery system for fundamentals. The technical aspects of it are the same, it’s just the delivery system that is slightly altered. Ask any 3 BJJ black belts to show you an armbar. They’ll all do it almost exactly the same way because they’re constrained by physics and the bio-mechanics of the human body. Then roll with them, and you can get tapped out by 3 very different arm bars. While the mechanics will be the same, the implementation of them, or the style, will conform to each individual black belt.
by mictlantechutli on Feb 15, 2010 6:07 PM EST reply actions 1 recs
bravo's commentary is erroneous.
that was obviously a (1) crack monkey (2) smoke a bowl brah to (3) i spend too much time doing recreational drugs and hanging out with joe rogan in a sensory deprivation chamber hold.
The set-up for the sweep was obviously “rubber guard” or whatever you want to call it. And that omoplata reversal is by far the most common effective move from a rubber guard set-up. It works. You are going to see a lot of it.
But “rubberguard” is pretty easy to pass if you know what you’re opponent is actually looking for.
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