Mastering the Rubber Guard: Jiu Jitsu for Mixed Martial Arts Competition Paperback – December 15, 2006

Eddie Bravo's success, to me, closely parallels that of Royce Gracie in UFC, in that they were both successful in finding a powerful niche. Royce was able to exploit an area largely neglected by other disciplines--ground submission grappling--and beat bigger and more atheletic opponents. Eddie, likewise, was able to find his niche in a position--half-guard--that other BJJ practitioners avoided or did not focus on. Having watched his celebrated match with Royler a few times, it is my opinion his victory actually is more attributable to his half-guard skills, which frustrated Royler into being careless, than his rubber guard. Certainly, without his half guard, Eddie would have been mounted within a minute into the match.The half guard portion of this book is truly remarkable. The moves not only work, but have already become classics. Even if you have no interest in becoming a half-guard expert like Eddie, you should become familiar with those moves because you will be defending against them sometime in your grappling career. The fact that Eddie was able to hold off someone like Royler in his half guard for five minutes should tell you how effective the moves can be if you are unfamiliar with them. My recommendation is this book is a definite buy just for the half-guard materials alone.I am less enthused about his rubber guard. The rubber guard is a decent way to hold off an opponent and create some breathing room but I don't think it is revolutionary. Eddie has made conflicting statements on the issue, on one hand advertising the guard as being revolutionary but on the other hand admitting that rubber guard, like all guards, is inherently risky and ineffective. It seems somewhat more effective in no-gi, but that is not surpring because it was designed for no-gi. Regardless, I think it definitely belongs in the "good to know" category, so you can defend against it, even if you are not interested in using it. If you are interested in learning about the rubber guard, then certainly I can think of no better authority than its creator.The book as a whole is easy to read, with color photographs that makes it easy to distinguish the limbs of the practitioners. It even has a flow chart. Overall, one of the best executed martial arts books I came across.As an aside, I am a bit astounded by other reviewers' focus on the book's preface. Certainly, Eddie advocates the use of marijuana but I am not sure why this seems to offend many. He sincerely and strongly believes that marijuana improves his BJJ game. Then it would seem only natural that he would recommend its use. It's his book and he can say whatever he wants to, just as a reader is free to disregard or rip out those sections. I certainly do not think his belief on the issue affects the content of the book in any negative way (except for the funky names). I think the issue should not be given much thought.

This is the best martial arts book I have ever read. Very entertaining and informative. Descriptions, and transitions are thoroughly and thoughtfully laid out with great pictures of the positions. The quality of this book, the shear volume of valuable information, make this edition an absolute steal at the price offered here.Bravo attributes pot smoking with much of his success at BJJ. I am not convinced, but Kudos to this gappling Genius in any case. If you have any fragile sensibilities then you might be offended by his introduction. If you can look past this then you will love what this information can do to your grappling game.If you always find yourself getting demolished on your back, or you just can't seem to maintain a solid guard system whilst defending, then you definitely need this book. It is a problem solving manual, that presents many clear and succint tools that work a HIGH PERCENTAGE of the time. I think this point is critical when learning any system, that is, you want the technique to be effective most of the time with most opponents.Bravo starts off teaching you his half guard defense game, which when you apply his methods, becomes an extremely offensive approach for sweeping, submitting, and transitioning to other positions.He also covers his butterfly guard, pyramid guard (which I have never seen anywhere else), and also half guard dog fight positions (very wrestling orientated).Later he walks you through his Rubber Guard game which is just amazing. I have tried his lock down methods and they really work. However it will still take me time and practice to get the techniques really tight and to improve my flexibility. I would say the Rubber Guard techniques may be a bit beyond some peoples anatomy at first (i.e. flexibility plays a big part here). However Bravo does outline some very good stretches to slowly develop this flexibility over time.I think Bravo's methods are cutting edge and possibly revolutionary. If you do not take the time to learn this stuff now, then you will surely find yourself on the receiving end of it at some stage in the near future. I say get in there now before everyone else, and make it an integral part of your grappling game.

Eddie Bravo is in my opinion the next Helio Gracie as far as jiu jitsu goes. Helio took japanese jiu jitsu which used more strength holds and adapted it to his smaller size by using leverage and the gi. Eddie Bravo has taken the Gracie jiu jitsu system and adapted it to mixed martial arts fighting without a gi. When no gi is present you must use other positions and techniques to accomplish similar goals. This book will teach you that system. Beware flexibility is not required to practice some techniques, but most will require a yoga type level of flexibilty. But hey if you wanna throw up crazy arm bars and triangles you must be flexible anyway. The system is great and you are beginning to see it in mma more and more. This is just the next level of jiu jitsu. I am sure more will follow as the sport grows, but for now these are advanced teachings. I want to trow in that my favorite technique is the electric chair. When someone has you in half guard revert to the electric chair and on someone who is not super flexible you will have it won in a suprising way. I recommend this book to anyone who loves the jiu jitsu game or mma.

Well put together book. Good pictures, great explainatory text. From basics of stretching to more advanced moves & transitions, this book delivers quality tips. I may never be as flexible or imaginative as Eddie in the ground game, but after reading this book I can't say I wasn't given a chance to work it out ...

Its grate, and for any of the moves i dont understand there youtube (only one i was unsure of so far) which has most stuff on it . although not presented in the same way. the book is grate. gives real structure to my BJJ game.

very good would buy again. very good service came very quick and the sound quality is awesome very good book

A great step by step resource for someone expanding their knowledge of Eddie Bravo's system, whether to pick up some new techniques, or to be aware of the methodology of people who study Eddie's System.

Das Buch ist von seinem Niveau her einzigartig und das beste Kampfsportbuch, das ich je in Händen gehalten habe.10P4L :-))