Third Version

People usually say that there are two types of Jiu-Jitsu training that they classify as being either Sport, or Self-Defence.

I contend that there are actually three versions.

A Self-Defence focused curriculum would be such as Ryron and Rener Gracie have developed for their beginner program, that they call Combatives.

The students in this program NEVER free-roll. Every technique and every bit of practice goes into developing the skills necessary to survive the most common forms of street attack. Students are not there to learn how to defeat trained Jiu-Jitsu people, but rather people with the fight characteristics most likely to arise in a real life confrontation.

Conversely, a true Sport school wouldn’t work on this sort of thing at all. They would be working on the types of things that they are most likely to experience in a tournament setting. They would have a complete understanding of the rule set, and develop strategies to get the maximum advantage out of it. They would not be concerned with striking defences at all, as these are forbidden within a sportive context.

Most schools are somewhere in between, at least a little bit.

Even at Gracie University, once the totally self-defence beginner course is completed, the students join the main advanced class. There they start to free-roll, and many of the techniques taught are geared not for a street fight, but rather for a roll with another trained Jiu-Jitsu person.

So what is this third type of which I spoke.

The third is the type of rolling that goes on between two Jiu-Jitsu people after a normal Jiu-Jitsu instructional session. Almost every class ends with free-rolling.

Nobody is worried about getting punched, or body-slammed, or scoring either points or advantages. They are just rolling.

Perhaps they end up in a position where the person on the bottom traps the person on the top’s arm, whilst the person on the top’s other arm is quite free, and able to strike.

If they are concerned with self-defence, the person on the bottom would need to respect the danger more than get excited about the possibilities of the trapped arm, and could well decide to release the trap and move on.

If they were thinking about competition, the person on the bottom would ignore the potential strikes, and try and use that arm for control, or perhaps to try and work it towards a submission, or to advance their position.

If they are doing neither, the person on the bottom could well use a bit of pressure against the wrist of the person on top to form a wrist lock, to which their partner would likely tap, before they moved on to something else.

A Self-Defence person watching might be horrified, as the danger of the strike should have taken priority, and a Sport person would decry the clear violation of the rule forbidding wrist locks.

They reach another point, and the person on the bottom, gets his a hands into a crappy collar choke, and the much bigger person in their guard, stands up. The bottom person releases their legs and drops gently to the ground and lets the now useless collar go.

A Self-Defence person would say that the combatant on top should have started throwing big punches once the bottom opponent’s hands were tangled in the choke, but that if they did stand up, the bottom person did the exact right thing by aborting before they could be body slammed.

The Sport person would say that the bottom guy did the wrong thing by aborting, and should have kept the position as they were lifted, and worked to sink the choke in better, as both punches and body slams are against tournament rules.

These disagreements would continue throughout the roll; Self-Defence decrying any use of spider guard, or de la Riva, or deep halfguard, while the Sport guy would be cheering those self same moves, while critical of any consideration being given to punch defence, or rule-illegal moves no matter how effective they are.

The two guys actually rolling are ignoring this debate. Likely they are from a school that is more balanced than either strictly Self Defence or strictly.

I think a good name for the third type of Jiu-Jitsu would be to call it Fun.

This is pretty much the situation within Ryron and Rener’s organization. In free rolling, usually the participants act much as I’ve described in the examples. Students are usually encouraged to try anything within the parameters of a safe environment.

Usually, but not always, punches are not allowed, nor body slams. Sometimes they are. Biting, eye gouging, and things of that ilk do not happen, but not due to any enforced outside set of rules. The unspoken rule is that everyone is expected follow is, “don’t be an asshole.”

I have been training for seven years within their umbrella, and have no idea about how tournament points are scored at all.

If asked what the most important aspects of free rolling are, most of the students there would say that it is a good general way to practice whatever you want to work on, and that it is fun.

Fun is important.