Tricks and Tactics for Mental Dominance

Winning the Mental Battle through Aggressiveness and Annoyance

Having a solid inner BJJ game is not just an addition to being technical and strong; it is as important, if not more important, than the physical aspect of BJJ.

In this issue, I want to cover some tricks I have found useful in winning the mental and psychological battle of BJJ, even when you are not the most mentally strong fighter, especially when you are the smaller or weaker fighter, as I usually am.

This is not going to be a pep talk. I am a perpetual student of the mental side of performance, and I cannot claim to be an expert by any means. However, I have a good understanding of my own mental game, and thanks to that understanding, I have incorporated a couple of tricks and hacks into my game that help me tremendously and make me look and feel more confident when I am fighting. Looking confident is not just a cool thing; it actually boosts your confidence and undermines your opponent's confidence.

The two main things I have learned to be important in a fight are appearing courageous to your opponent and playing with their psychological state.

The good thing is that the two tricks I will share with you here accomplish both objectives effectively.

Trick #1:

Always outmatch them in terms of aggression: Do not go full blast with aggression from the beginning, but make sure you are always at least one step ahead of them in terms of aggression. This trick works especially well with bigger guys because they are used to people being overly shy and fearful of their aggression. The most common response to aggression is shyness.

Trick #2:

Be annoying and try to provoke some anger and recklessness in them: Anticipate the fact that after an annoyance, your opponent will likely flurry and attack aggressively for a couple of seconds. If you anticipate this, you can position yourself in a "safe-house position" where you can withstand their flurry and wait for them to tire themselves out. The best strategy is to annoy them in cycles until you can sense their psychological game breaking.

Another fundamental aspect of winning the mental fight is ensuring you do not fall for these tactics yourself when you are on the receiving end. Look at Vagner and study him. Some people try to win the aggression battle against him, but he rarely loses his cool. His reaction is to smile at them, which makes his opponents back off a bit because he seems to enjoy the aggression, even when he is the victim.

How to be annoying without breaking the rules:

• Push their head repeatedly.

• Interlace their fingers.

• Twist their wrists and forearms instead of just holding them. I prefer grabbing a bit closer to the palm of the hand so I can generate torque.

• Inflict small amounts of pain whenever possible (use your elbows, knees, chin).

• When passing, step on their legs (Ruotolo style).

• Use thumb posts on affordances (chest and armpits) to maintain frames.

Some Visuals

Thumb Post/Push

Match and surpass their aggression.

This grip is so good it should be illegal!

Be annoying from everywhere

Masters of the psychological game:

In my opinion, Tye and Kade are the ultimate masters of this game. They are the only ones who play this game without resorting to illegal tactics.

Vagner Rocha is also a master, but he can sometimes get too rough and approach the line of legality.

Gordon is a master of the pre-fight mental game. Regardless of whether you love him or hate him, you should appreciate the mastery he displays. He may not be elegant or subtle, but he is a master of it.

Meregalli's approach may be a bit cringe-worthy, but he is worth studying.

Renato Canuto is probably my favorite fighter to watch. His style of fighting destroys his opponents' confidence. He uses flashy moves to not only make his opponents scared of him but also make them feel less technical and proficient than him.

I do not condone any illegal actions. The goal of this issue is not to promote illegal tactics. However, I believe people often forget about the warfare aspect of our sport. BJJ is a combat sport, and acting aggressively and playing the mental game of war is not only a part of BJJ but also a fundamental part of any combat activity.

80/20 BJJ Coach Update!

I have created an Instagram account to post summarized versions of the posts and other useful content. Make sure you follow the new account to get bite-sized 80/20 coaching. Check it out here:

I am designing and building the new website for 80/20 BJJ Coach, where I will host the blog and offer premium interactive ebook instructionals. Here's a sneak peek:

That’s it for this week! Thanks for reading 👊

PS.

I have been working on my first instructional for two months. It will cover the Kimura as a central node in an 80/20 approach. I want to provide a framework for building your game around the Kimura. I call this approach the "Central Node." I will cover it in the future.

My goal is to make you the top Kimura practitioner in your gym.

In order to gather feedback and test it before it's ready for sale, I will offer it for FREE to a select group of 20 people as soon as I finish the first version. If you are interested in joining the beta group, let me know! (Beta group participants must be willing to provide honest feedback about the product.)