he looked for a keylock here or a choke there but really didn’t get after much in the first round in terms of submissions. He let Rogers attempt to muscle his way out and wear himself out.

He is one of the best in the world.

There hasn’t really been an authentic Catch instructional book put out since the early 1900’s. When it went to the carnivals from the 1920’s, Carnies weren’t in the habit of publishing all their secrets into a book but rather passed it down to the next generation of those they trusted, or those they had groomed for succession.

What Barnett did could be argued as a classic MMA strategy, because the rules of MMA have been influenced largely by BJJ (obviously). Barnett looking for mount in No Gi grappling competitions as well is a product of the ruleset, and what scores points. In MMA the mount opens up ways of striking with both hands through Ground ‘n’ Pound as well.

Going to mount makes sense but if you want a specific difference, Barnett’s use of side control is more wrestling based than BJJ based. Instead of having his knees up close to block Rogers’ hips and near arm like you would in BJJ, Barnett has his hip side leg sprawled down and he’s driving the upper part of his chest through Rogers to try and pin him in place and ride heavy. He has his arm side leg up to block, but he’s also turning Rogers head away and putting pressure on which makes it incredibly difficult for Rogers (or anyone) to turn and shrimp in to regain half-guard or guard.

Also the one time he was in Half-Guard his hips were low again and he used what he calls a power-half grip (as it’s similar mechanically to a power-half nelson) to grind and drive across Rogers neck and face.

In this instance a BJJ player or a Catch Wrestler has the same destination, but a slightly different approach to getting there.