{"id":120971,"date":"2014-11-30T15:27:03","date_gmt":"2014-11-30T23:27:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/backend.bjpenn.com\/?p=120971"},"modified":"2022-02-04T20:06:46","modified_gmt":"2022-02-05T04:06:46","slug":"firas-zahabi-considers-gi-achilles-heel-jiu-jitsu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/ufcnews\/firas-zahabi-considers-gi-achilles-heel-jiu-jitsu\/","title":{"rendered":"Firas Zahabi considers Gi &#8220;The Achilles heel of Jiu-Jitsu&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/backend.bjpenn.com\/quick-twitt-gsp-returns-to-training5\/gsp-returns\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-115953\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/backend.bjpenn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/gsp-returns.png\" alt=\"gsp returns\" width=\"550\" height=\"381\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-115953\" srcset=\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/gsp-returns.png 550w, https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/gsp-returns-300x207.png 300w, https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/gsp-returns-361x250.png 361w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 550px) 100vw, 550px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>One of the oldest traditions in Jiu-Jitsu is the Gi.  Royce Gracie wore it in every UFC appearance, and the Gracie Family stands by the use of the Gi in Jiu-Jitsu.  Eddie Bravo on the other hand, who pioneered 10th Planet Jiu-Jitsu trains practitioners strictly in no-gi Jiu-Jitsu, which has brought him criticism from the Jiu-Jitsu community.<\/p>\n<p>Now, MMA mastermind, and TriStar gym head coach, Firas Zahabi explains why he doesn&#8217;t like the use of the gi in Jiu-Jitsu, in an interview with <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bloodyelbow.com\/2014\/11\/30\/7309833\/firas-zahabi-talks-development-of-mma-finds-jiu-jitsus-lack-of\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">BloodyElbow<\/a> he explains why.<\/p>\n<p><em>The Achilles\u2019 heel of jiu-jitsu is, one, that they insist on the gi. Every attack has to have a counterpart. I always tell my students, let\u2019s play rock-paper-scissors. You\u2019re not going to be allowed to use paper. I have the option of rock, paper and scissors, [and] you have the option of scissors and rock. I\u2019m going to beat you 90 times out of 100. When I do jiu-jitsu with the gi and then I take it off, you\u2019re taking away my paper.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>If you look at Jose Aldo, he adopted this philosophy. He doesn\u2019t play guard &#8212; he gets up &#8212; and when guys try to hold him down, then he uses the guard. Sweep, submit or get up; he doesn\u2019t just try to sweep or submit, so he has rock, paper and scissors.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>He\u2019s not just a grappler &#8212; he can wrestle, too &#8212; but he uses his jiu-jitsu in reverse, where 99 percent of the jiu-jitsu community believes that you don\u2019t do that&#8230; His jiu-jitsu, I would say, is number one, because he\u2019s used jiu-jitsu in his fights. He uses jiu-jitsu in reverse. Why don\u2019t more jiu-jitsu guys do that? Why is it that only wrestlers are smart enough to use their skill in reverse? I\u2019ll give you my answer to that question, because I\u2019ve thought about it intensively.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>One, BJJ guys are s&#8212; athletes. No offense to the BJJ world. I love BJJ; I\u2019m a BJJ fanatic. I just think that their counterparts &#8212; the wrestlers &#8212; have outdone them in the physical realm. Two, the wrestlers are better strategists. Why? When you wrestle, you have three rounds, so you start thinking about strategy as importance. In jiu-jitsu, it\u2019s one round. When the wrestler starts in MMA, he\u2019s thinking, I\u2019ve got to win two out of the three, minimum. That\u2019s the minimum for victory. It\u2019s not what I\u2019m looking for, but it\u2019s the minimum. A jiu-jitsu guy will do something crazy at the end of a round he was winning. Maybe he goes from top position to the bottom looking for a fancy armbar and gives up the round or gives up the position. They make more strategic mistakes than the wrestlers. Wrestlers use their wrestling in reverse; jiu-jitsu guys, no. Third, jiu-jitsu guys, when they roll, when they train, it\u2019s too far from the reality of what happens in the cage, whereas if you look at the training at Tristar, we have to sweep, submit or get up. If we get up, it\u2019s my turn to wrestle you, and we wrestle.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Wrestlers are learning jiu-jitsu, and jiu-jitsu guys aren\u2019t so open-minded to the wrestling. They don\u2019t understand that wrestling is as technical as jiu-jitsu. It\u2019s jiu-jitsu standing up, why are you not in love with it? Why doesn\u2019t it fascinate you?&#8221;<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Zahabi certainly makes some interesting arguments against the Gi, what are your thoughts? Sound off in the comments section!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>One of the oldest traditions in Jiu-Jitsu is the Gi. Royce Gracie wore it in every UFC appearance, and the Gracie Family stands by the use of the Gi in Jiu-Jitsu. Eddie Bravo on the other hand, who pioneered 10th Planet Jiu-Jitsu trains practitioners strictly in no-gi Jiu-Jitsu, which has brought him criticism from the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2616,"featured_media":115953,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[2681],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v19.7 (Yoast SEO v19.14) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Firas Zahabi considers Gi &quot;The Achilles heel of Jiu-Jitsu&quot; | BJPenn.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/ufcnews\/firas-zahabi-considers-gi-achilles-heel-jiu-jitsu\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Firas Zahabi considers Gi &quot;The Achilles heel of Jiu-Jitsu&quot; | BJPenn.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"One of the oldest traditions in Jiu-Jitsu is the Gi. 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