The only USA Olympian to have won a gold medal in Judo has decided to take up jiu-jitsu following the success her teammates have had with it. Both team USA Judo coach Jimmy Pedro and silver medalist Travis Stevens are famous for their newaza – and apparently it’s catching on!

While the most common question she fielded was her interest in MMA (especially given that she used to be close to Ronda Rousey) she’s opting for a slightly different path for herself with her retirement pending – she has been quoted saying the Rio Olympics would be her last. Harrison is currently 26 years old.

 “I’m still going to continue to have some form of athletic pursuit in my life, I can’t just walk away from it,” says Harrison on her intentions to bjjstyle when retiring from competitive judo. “I’m going to continue to workout, start to help with the next generation of judo athletes and I’m actually going to start jiu jitsu. I think jiu jitsu looks like it will be a fun sport to learn and won’t be as hard on my body as judo is. I don’t mean it in a disrespectful way at all, but I think the mind-set for jiu jitsu is possibly just a little more relaxed and not so intense and crazy as judo can be.”

The scouting report ordered from Dr. Rhadi Ferguson and Chris Round on Kayla Harrison mentioned of her newaza in possible duels with Mayra Aguiar:

 While not regularly observed taking the offensive against Kayla in their matches, Mayra does have a significant ground game. She cross trains with the Barbosa Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu team. Kayla has beaten her on the ground before. Kayla does need to be more vigilant here. There are times when she is not protecting herself and where she is leaving her neck open. We have to assume that they are watching and analyzing like we are and if we were doing this for Mayra, we would certainly recommend attacking Kayla more in newaza as there are some opportunities where Kayla is not protecting herself.

Watch The Olympic Journey Of Judo Gold Medalist Kayla Harrison

The two experts also suggested Kayla develop her over under pass:

Kayla should develop a single under pass to immediately follow up when the over-under pass is stifled. While it will be difficult for Kayla to immediately follow the under pass into a pin, she can use the scramble to take her opponents back and work towards her powerful juji-gatame game.

The decision tree should look as follows:

1. Over under pass initiated

2. Opponent stifles Kayla’s movement to her left.

3. Kayla hugs the opponents left leg low on the leg just above the bend in the waste with her right arm, while simultaneously bringing her left arm inside her opponents’ right leg.

4. She should make a gable grip, with the right hand palm up, and the blade of her wrist cutting towards the soft tissue at the top of her opponents’ leg, just above the waste. a. It is important that she keeps her elbows in.

5. Decision Tree Diverges a. Kayla walks to her right, keeping her opponents’ leg tight, preventing them from turning to their stomach. When Kayla has rotated around far enough, she takes control of the top half of the body.

Likelihood: low b. As Kayla walks to her right, opponent successfully turns away towards their stomach. Kayla used their own momentum to follow them and places her right leg into the gap between her opponents’ right elbow and right knee. She should be able to high leg over very quickly afterwards.

Kayla Harrison also commented in the same interview:

“Judo is my thing, it’s my sport and it’s what I’m known for, but I think jiu jitsu will give a chance to still workout, but not at such a crazy, intense level as I have had with my judo,” explains Kayla. “At the end of the day it’s always good to learn something new and have some fun with it.”