The berimbolo is a staple of sport’s Jiu-Jitsu nowadays. However, the popular sweep is frowned upon by many practitioners of Jiu-Jitsu, mostly from the self defense based practitioners, arguing that the move is not realistic and not applicable in a real fight.

Kron Gracie , one of the greatest exponents of the traditional Gracie Jiu-Jitsu style was the latest to criticize the berimbolo, in an interview with Tatame magazine.

“The berimbolo is a mess, it’s sh*t, a way to cheat in order to score points. The athlete stands in a very bad position, and if was MMA, he would take a big punch to the face and it would mess him up. It is a position that, like 50-50, maybe one time or another you should train it, find that it is also part of Jiu-Jitsu … When spending more time on it, you see that it does not work, people will see that they lost much time training the wrong way. There are people winning titles with it, but it is not pretty Jiu-Jitsu, that you want to teach your child. I am against it, however, I am not God to say what people should or should not do. I’m happy with my way of fighting. If people want to do like me, great. If they want to do berimbolo, do the berimbolo ”

There are many great uses for the berimbolo. When your opponent is facing you in combat base,  you can use the berimbolo sweep and take the back.

Many people are put off by the berimbolo because they have a hard time inverting.

Inverting as we all know is not exactly very good for your back:

Carlos Gracie Jr On Long Term Effects of Too Much Inverted Guard

What if you didn’t have to invert to do the berimbolo?

In this video, Jonathan Thomas and Lucas Galbusera showing a Berimbolo alternative which doesn’t require any inversion:

Learn The Never-Before-Seen Techniques That Have Allowed The Miyao Brothers To Dominate The Jiu Jitsu World: The Berimbolo & Beyond on BJJ Fanatics.
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