My Coach's BJJ coach fighting in Bellator 53

[Steve]

Video of my BJJ coach's coach, Giva Santana, fighting in the last Bellator event. Giva lives and teaches down in southern California. Scary good jiu jitsu. He beat Damian Maia in the Pan Ams a few years back and went on to win the gold medal. 2005, I believe.

Anyway, they set him up with a pretty uneven match up for his Bellator debut, and the end was pretty predictable. I am excited to see him in a tournament against some tougher opponents. Fight lasts about 2 minutes.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=kf9Ai01I5EQ

[Cyriacus]

1:27 - I was half expecting an RNC from there!

Well worth the 3 Minutes I spent watching that.
Thanks for Sharing.

[Steve]

Yeah, it was a nice transition to mount, then immediately to armbar. That's the difference between good jiu jitsu and REALLY good jiu jitsu. The guys at that level are thinking several moves ahead.

I'm sure it's like any other style when taken to a very high level.

Anyway, just fun to watch. He's now 17-1. His only loss is a split decision, and 13 of his 15 submission finishes are by armbar.

[Buka]

That was sweet!

Man, armbarOholics are the toughest guys to fight. And beating Damian Maia in a jits match is no easy feat. Good for him! I wish him all the luck in his upcoming endeavors. Thanks for posting that.

[Cyriacus]

Yeah, it was a nice transition to mount, then immediately to armbar. That's the difference between good jiu jitsu and REALLY good jiu jitsu. The guys at that level are thinking several moves ahead.

I'm sure it's like any other style when taken to a very high level.

Anyway, just fun to watch. He's now 17-1. His only loss is a split decision, and 13 of his 15 submission finishes are by armbar.
The Deceptiveness is what I liked.
I seriously expected a Choke, then he slid into a Lock. The other Fighter probably thought exactly the same.

[PictonMA]

really nice!

[Steve]

Thanks, guys. Here's another one. This is a fight from August against Doug Marshall, former WEC LHW Champion.

Fight starts at 1:20 and ends before the 2 minute mark.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8kiFzRB7NM

[romaj]

That's cool, I don't live too far from him. I think he teaches out of Team Oyama in Irvine, CA? Unless that changed somewhat recently. I was thinking of going there, but they never got back to me.

[Steve]

That's right. He's the BJJ coach for Team Oyama. He's a very nice guy. Going to be up here next week for a seminar.

[Tanaka]

I like watching fights like that way more than a lot of UFC fights that come on.
I saw that Juji gatame coming, lol.