Justin Flores, a three-time USA Judo national champion who has coached athletes ranging from Ronda Rousey to Keenan Cornelius, says he’s identified a recurring weakness in how BJJ practitioners approach stand-up grappling…
It’s that they accumulate techniques without ever connecting them into a working system:
I would say it’s move collecting versus a system…
A lot of Jiu-Jitsu practitioners at a high level, they know a few moves, but they haven’t filled in the gray areas.So they try these moves when the timing is not right.
Flores pointed to grip fighting as a clear example:
They’re trying to do a move or two from positions that don’t really make sense, but they know those moves.
So those are the moves they’re going to use.
Judo and wrestling address this differently from the start.
Athletes are trained early to identify their dominant side, lead with the correct foot, and link techniques together based on how an opponent reacts:
In wrestling and judo, you’re chaining techniques together because you understand how one leads to the next.
Rather than starting over, Flores’ fix is to build outward from what a practitioner already does well.
Someone with a strong uchimata, for instance, should connect that throw to related attacks on the same leg, use foot sweeps to set it up, and have a plan for when the first attempt fails – turning a single move into a sequence.
As Flores put it:
That’s the difference between move collecting and having a system.
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