What's in a tap?
Since getting back to training pure BJJ, I set myself a target. I had aimed to tap out the black belt I usually roll with. With the benefit of hindsight though, I realise that was a stupid goal… really stupid.
Last time I rolled with the black belt in question, I had top position, isolated an arm and got into a position where 99.9% of the time, the submission would be successful… then the round ended. As the bell went, he said, “saved be the bell” at the time I didn’t think much of it. Then after training I thought, “damn, I nearly got the submission and my goal there”, but straight away I thought, so what? When we rolled that day, we did a 6-minute round then went through the 1-minute break and did another 6-minute round. Throughout our 13 minutes of rolling, he tapped me out 3 or 4 times, it wasn’t a complete one-sided shut-out, but he is obviously better. We have rolled many times in my return to BJJ and he has tapped me out numerous times. Therefore, I feel that if I’d gotten that tap, the disparity in skill wouldn’t have changed. The only thing the tap would’ve helped would be my ego. If I placed this situation into a striking comparison – in a sparring scenario. In the sparring round, you’re landing shots at will, then after a few rounds, they land a punch on you. What does that punch prove? Are they better than you now? That you are all of a sudden worse or that they just landed a punch? If you train with someone long enough, you are going to get success against them in some way sooner or later. When rolling with the black belt I would rather get sweeps, escape positions and maintain control consistently than get the odd submission.
It has been quite cool to be on the ‘other side’ of the submission hunt – in MMA, people are hunting to submit me. Luckily for me, they have to get through striking and wrestling to get to my submission defence. By the time they have got me down and got position, hopefully there isn’t too much time left in the round. I always tell people to not celebrate the tap, takedown or punch. I say this because you never know what the other person is working; they could be focusing on being in a bad position or head movement for example.
A few years ago, there was a purple belt practicing arm-bar escapes, the white belt he was against did not know this and went for the arm-bar and the purple belt couldn’t escape in time and had to tap. The white belt celebrated. In reaction, the purple belt proceeded to put on a BJJ clinic for the rest of the round. All this did was confuse the white belt and the purple belt walked away angry. It is quite common for more experienced people to work in bad spots against less experienced people. This works well as both people get a good workout and both get something out of the round. I was in a situation rolling with a guy who I usually have quite a battle with. It is usually me passing guard with him maintaining guard/stopping me passing. We started rolling and I passed his guard rather easily and he worked hard but got his guard back, I then passed easily again, and he worked to get it back and that was pretty much the whole round. Afterwards, I asked him if he was working getting guard back, he said “yes, how did you know?” I just said that I have never passed your guard so easily, so I thought something was up.
When training, don’t get so caught up in the win or the loss as it’s just training. The focus should be on improving and working things; being prepared to lose rather than being the mat champion. As people get better, the victories become smaller. For some people I train with, landing a punch is a victory. For others, my victory is characterised by a takedown and control. Against people of that level, the odd finish does happen but for me it is more about beating them where I planned to. This can also be on the defensive side – not getting hit, not getting taken down, escaping a bad position and so on. To me, these victories are more important against people that are a challenge and you are beating them at their own game. Challenge yourself and see how you go against people in their strengths (as long as you are the same level as them). If you keep getting caught with chokes (RNC) then start off in a position where people have your back. If you keep getting taken down, start standing or give your opponent a start of a takedown. If you are getting caught with things, embrace it and practice that position until it not only feels better but starts to feel normal and you no longer need to worry about it.
As fighters, by nature we are competitive, but we have to use it in a way that helps us improve rather than stopping us from trying things through fear of losing. Tapping someone better doesn’t mean anything in the big scheme of things; the same goes for getting tapped out by someone worse. We are all just trying to get better, and above all, enjoy what we do. And let’s face it, we enjoy things we are good at so it makes sense to try and improve as much as we can. We just need to keep the big picture in mind about what we’re trying to achieve and keep heading towards it.
Gareth Lewis
Head MMA Instructor