AMAs have long been the staple of reddit. Judo silver medalist and bjj black belt Travis Stevens was the latest to offer his insight and answer the questions of many jiu jiteiros eager to pose them. Among them were questions like:
Stevens is no stranger to bjj and he puts in regular training hours with the Danaher Death Squad. Here’s him below doing what he does best against Jake Shields:
So here’s the top 5 Questions and answers from Travis Stevens’ AMA:
I like the rule I think it forces athletes who live in less developed countries like the united states to not take the easy road an actually learn judo and not focus so much on the move that they can score easily with when they are a teenager
As far as Travis’ favorite submission goes:
For judo it’s a straight arm bar I dont choke to many people it hurts my fingers when they grab and makes me angry. For BJJ its straight ankle locks and wrist locks because people are idiots and they get purple, brown, and black belts and dont know how to defend them or they are to much of a wuss and just tap once you touch the foot
On competing:
That comes from years of doing newaza in competition and actually winning with it. But the real trick that I have is I never try to win on the ground. I try and break my opponents will. I know the ground game so well I can do everything forward and backward. Half the time I’m on the ground I’m just moving my partner around trying to kill the clock. Waiting for an opening to attack and if it never comes thats okay he will be tired from panic of me rolling him around. The other trick is always being able to transition from one attack to another I know when I can break an arm or when someone will pass out so If I think I cant break it or they are going to pass out I just move on and attack with something else this allows me to kill 30+ seconds on the clock every time
On which takedowns he feels work best against BJJ guys:
the short answer is foot sweeps and the list is so long its hard to find a foot sweep that doesn’t work. The Complicated move that works best is a drop sode double sleeve grip because when they try and take the back they dont realize until its to late that they have no grips and cant secure it LOL
You can read the entirety of Travis Stevens’ AMA here
