Guest post by Phil “Jiu-Jitsu Matrix” Migliarese a 5th degree Relson Gracie Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Black Belt. He is the co-founder of Balance Studios which he co-owns with his brother, Ricardo Migliarese.
On Friday, April 14th, I had the pleasure of coaching a west coast friend in an east coast event. The Fight to Win promotion had an event here in Philadelphia, my hometown. The Jiu-Jitsu culture is rich in Philly and there were tons of great fights between local fighters. But one match stood out to me, the one that I was coaching, a 145-pound black belt named Jason Youseph. He stood out for three reasons: he faced an opponent who was nearly 50 pounds heavier, he does not warm up before fights, and he is 100% submission oriented.
Jason comes from the Carlson Gracie lineage, which is very familiar to me as a Relson Gracie black belt. Relson raised my family in the style of jiu-jitsu that works on all fighters, regardless of size or strength. Carlson Gracie taught the same thing, and that strategic tenaciousness was a apparent in Youseph.
Jason specifically asked for a much larger opponent. He prefers fighting bigger guys. He was able to submit his opponent in a minute, even after being slammed on his first triangle submission attempt. As you will see in the video, his opponent was shocked by the difficulty of his guard and by his comfort facing bigger fighters.
I spent a lot of time with Helio Gracie. He often expressed what he liked and disliked about jiu-jitsu competitions. One thing that he did not believe in was warming up before a fight. Jason was very much in alignment with this idea. As you can see in the video, Jason was calm up until they engaged. Youseph believes that warming up creates too much anxiety and exhaustion before a fight. He prefers to keep calm and in control, before and during the fight.
Lastly, Jason fought for the finish, not the points. This is a very “old school” Gracie mentality that I don’t see too much these days. Before the fight, my brother Ricardo Migliarese and I worked with Jason (145 lb) to help him find the path to submission, not just survival. It was challenging because his opponent, Levi Levonde (200lb), did not have any previous competition videos on youtube or clear lineage online, so we built the submission gameplay based off of my brother’s sparring matches with Levi. Jason was able to finish the fight in about a minute.
Check out the match! It was awesome!
Also, If you are in the Irvine area, check out Jason’s school!
Jason Youseph
Check out Jason Youseph (Carlson Gracie lineage) vs Levi Lalonde (lineage unknown)
