

Photos by Nick "The Tooth" Gullo

At first I hated training in a gi. Couldn’t understand why anyone willingly grappled in those floppy pajamas. Always coming loose, dripping sweat, opponents clutching the collar and choking me senseless.

Coming from wrestling, it wasn’t an aesthetic issue—after all, wrestlers compete in singlets, arguably the most ridiculous sport’s uniform ever created. Ever.

Better than baseball knickers, or the Mad Max head-to-toe football gear. And, as a lifelong fan of old kung fu flicks, I kind of dug the monk-wandering-the-countryside-in-search-of-adventure look. Hell, in a bind, you could even rock the pants on a run to the grocery. That is, until you saw people pointing and snickering from the fruit aisle, whispering, ’Oh, look, it’s Rex Kwon Do!’

Point is, after a while you grow to love the damn thing. But before then, you’re probably thinking, Pump the brakes, bro, I’m into learning MMA and self-defense, why wouldn’t I just train at a no-gi school and save $150?

Good question, which I also repeatedly asked. The first to set me straight was Fredson Paixao, multi-time BJJ world champion, who I trained with at UFC headquarters in Las Vegas. Fredson stressed that to improve my no-gi grappling I should train with and without a gi. Then, back home in California, I started training with Guilhermeand Rafael Mendes, also multi-time world champions, and Rafa, a 2x ADCC no-gi champion, gave the same advice: training in a gi helps your no-gi, and vice versa.

How is this possible, you ask?

Throws

Ronda Rousey is the perfect example of a fighter who honed her MMA grappling in a gi. Training judo since eleven years old, if you step near her in the cage no question she’s gonna give you a 180° overhead view of the arena. We’ve seen it time and time again.

Ronda’s reaction is so quick, it’s not just unconscious, it’s embedded in her DNA. That’s what happens when you drill something so many times that just a person moving near you triggers a twitch in your hands, a twist in your hips, and next thing, the fight is over.

Forget the armbar. The harai goshi hip throw is why Ronda will never lose. She ever starts eating punches, it’s going to the ground, in a very painful manner.

But couldn’t she learn those throws in no-gi? Well, anything is possible, but most kids learn to ride a bike with training wheels—it’s easier, safer, and all around more efficient.

So think of the gi as training wheels for grappling. At least that’s been my experience. Take Ronda’s patented throw, the harai goshi. First, get the proper: high on the collar, and on the sleeve. Then, and only then, pivot the hips, and throw.

Without the kimono, it’s hard to set up. And when your partner is sweaty, the move is damn-near impossible to learn. But train this movement in a gi year after year, and in the cage you don’t need the training wheels. Your opponent closes the distance, you react, and BAM!

Positions and Submissions

It’s no different with the arm-bar, omaplata and triangle submissions. Training in a gi helps to slow the pace by allowing you to secure your partner in a vulnerable position, then, and only then, attempt the sub. In no-gi, most of the time you’re scrambling, moving for an advantage, losing it, starting at square again, etc.

Hence, the primary mantra in grappling, Position before Submission. And there’s no better way to learn side-control, knee-on-belly, north-south, than with the aid of a gi.

Allan Goes, who fought Frank Shamrock and Sakuraba, is regarded as possessing one of the best guards in MMA. Employing a butterfly variation where he gripped elbows against his knees, opponents couldn’t move, much less attack. BJ Penn used this same guard in the cage, and both fighters learned it in the gi.



Gui Mendes and Mason Monsevais demonstrating 'Goes Guard'

Even most of Eddie Bravo’s 10th Planet techniques, which I study and employ, are designed to immobilize and reduce the scramble. The rubber guard, the lockdown, and other variations work in place of the gi to impede the action and allow you to think for a few moments, then attempt a sub.

But by the time someone gets you wrapped in the rubber guard, you’re fucked. So you do everything to avoid the position. Thus, another reason to first train in the gi, then refine the movements without—which is how Ben Saunders recently pulled off the first-ever omaplata submission in the octagon, versus Chris Heatherly, at UFC 49.

Employing training tips from Eddie Bravo, Ben gracefully transitioned from rubber guard to to the finish.

Escapes

This is the holy grail of gi training. Whilst rolling in trunks and a rash-guard, in minutes you’re slipping and sliding, pulling out limbs, wriggling to your feet from awful predicaments. Lulls you into thinking you’re better than you are.

That’s why, for learning to escape bad positions and submissions, there is no better training than in the gi. It’s like running with a weight jacket, or shadow-boxing with light dumbbells: once you become proficient at escaping in a kimono, wearing trunks feels like strapping on wings and jumping off a cliff. Fly bird, fly!

Consider the armbar: in no-gi you get caught, stand straight up and rip your hand free. But the proper way to stifle the armbar is to keep your elbow bent and stack your opponent, as if balancing on an inflated ball until he loses strength or the round ends. Extend the arm and try and yank, your just asking for tendon damage. Ask Jon Jones what happened in his near-loss to Vitor Belfort’s at UFC 152. Once caught, he rose up and yanked out, but not before his arm popped a few times, necessitating weeks in a sling and rehab therapy.

Like the gi, MMA gloves provide a grip-point from which you often can’t escape without injury.

Conditioning and Strength

This is something I never considered until hearing that Johny Hendricks, UFC Welterweight champion, trains in a gi ito build his grip stamina and strength. Grips on arms, neck and legs. Pummeling against the cage for better position. Atop an opponent, trying to hold with one arm and drop the other fist. All this over twenty-five minutes of a championship bout requires super-mutant endurance.

That’s when you gotta figure: if the gi is good enough for a lifelong wrestler like Hendricks, who still only holds a blue belt and has no intentions of competing in a BJJ tournament, then it’s good enough for you.

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