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Learning From Competition Black Belts & Learning From Those That Don’t Compete

Learning From Competition Black Belts & Learning From Those That Don’t Compete

A few years ago, Keenan Cornelius made a video on a guard break that he said was WRONG and a worthless technique. This was the basic closed guard knee in the middle opening from the knees.

The video got shared throughout the community and caused some controversy:

Saulo Ribeiro’s Signature Closed Guard Pass That Keenan Cornelius Says is Wrong

Rickson Gracie black belt, Henry Akins then made a debunk video, where he showed some details that make the pass ore effective:

Henry Akins Debunks Keenan’s Claim That Opening Closed on The Knees is Wrong

Keenan felt obliged to respond, and he did through Reddit/bjj 

He went in to more detail of why that type of guard pass only works at a lower level, and how competition black belts have a more realistic approach to teaching as they have tried and tested their techniques against equally skilled opponents:

The thing about learning techniques from people that don’t compete is that they never really get to test it against multiple people who are as skilled or more skilled than them.
If you are the black belt of a non competitive academy, there are maybe 1 and if you are lucky 2 people who can give you tough rolls. So they never really have an accurate measure of how effective the technique is. The techniques that are taught by competition black belts are tested against 100’s of equally skilled and equally athletic opponents.

In these situations the cream will rise to the top and the most effective techniques become dominant. The reason you don’t see people passing closed guard on the knees is because it is less effective than the standing closed guard pass. Both techniques require the same amount of movement, precision and skill. But one is mechanically more effective. Proven over the course of 1000s of competitive matches. In my video I don’t go into the details of the closed guard escape not because I don’t know the technique properly. But because I know that it is less effective against equally skilled opponents.
I have been training 12 years and have endlessly experimented with variations from every position. My point of the video is not that the “basic” closed guard open doesn’t work. But that it is LARGELY less effective (aka it’s a sh#t move and doesn’t work) And before anyone says “what about John Danaher.” He has been training with hugely talented students and fighters for most of his life. Which is also a good study ground for the effectiveness of techniques.