BJJ in a Gi for MMA

[Tim]

I think it is due to the complexity of the gi game and the level of control you opponent will have on you due to the grips when wearing a gi. If you use a pass with the gi, quite often you will need to be technically better to do the same pass as your opponent will be able to use the gi and grips and general friction to stall your progess. Without the gi, the same pass can often happen more easily due to less control and the speed, especially when sweaty. This will often lead to a slightly less technical ability in the smae technique when comparing gi and no-gi. Please take note that this is an opinion developed from training with a gi myself first!

[staffie]

It doesn't make you any tighter, but it does encourage you to slow down a bit, it's less scrambly so you need to use a lot more technique to get out of bad positions, for example, you can shrug out of an armbar a lot of the time in NoGi, you can't wearing the GI, therefore you concentrate more in not getting put in an armbar in the first place, rather then learning to just escape them.

Hope that makes sense.

[mainsy]

Training in a gi will make you more aware in general however if you roll in a gi alot (like me) when it comes to no gi I need to change my mind set a little i.e. move alot more, change my sweeping game.

[Ralph]

Thanks for those answers thats more what I was looking for, I havent worn a gi for years but still like to watch fights on youtube etc and yeah I can see the point about not getting caught as its hard to get out etc, how many of us give the arm or triangle so we can pass in no-gi... would be pretty hard to do in pyjamas I guess!

Still not entirely convinced you have to wear a gi to get better for MMA yet tho

PS interesting article Xanthic, thanks for that mate

[DanCrase]

Currently I only train No Gi, but I'll soon start training Gi in at least one session a week on top of No Gi for the above reasons and also because you can't grade No Gi

[shielsy]

Still not convinced that it will help your MMA game after all the responses?? Xanthic's was pretty much all that needed to be said really ... Your opinion though fella but the evidence is right here

You say that the nogi/mma guys you've rolled with are high level, I have no doubt they are, I just bet if you throw the cloth on and hit up a Gracie Barra or at least a half decent BJJ club where there will be a legit black belt/brown belt, I'm pretty sure you will experience a 'different' high-level of BJJ/groung work.

...and it's a Gi not pyjamas ha.

[Stunan]

I can't really offer much of a well constructed response to this argument but what I will throw in the mix is a list of the UFC title holders and if they train in a gi or not to get an idea of who at the top trains in a gi:

Dominic Cruz - Yes
Jose Aldo - Yes *
Benson Henderson - Yes
GSP - Yes *
Anderson Silva - Yes *
Jon Jones - No
Juior Dos Santos - Yes

* - is a black belt.

I'm not going to say that training in a gi IS definately better for mma but if you look and notice that all of the current UFC champions all train in the gi apart from 1 then that must surely say something about the importance of training gi for mma?

What do you guys think?

[Ralph]

Still not convinced that it will help your MMA game after all the responses?? Xanthic's was pretty much all that needed to be said really ... Your opinion though fella but the evidence is right here

You say that the nogi/mma guys you've rolled with are high level, I have no doubt they are, I just bet if you throw the cloth on and hit up a Gracie Barra or at least a half decent BJJ club where there will be a legit black belt/brown belt, I'm pretty sure you will experience a 'different' high-level of BJJ/groung work.

...and it's a Gi not pyjamas ha.

How do you know I dont regulary roll with bjj black/brown/purple belts already at legit clubs... thats a big assumption!

And my question wasnt about me and my training as I have previously stated, it was a genuine question wondering why it is always stated that rolling in a Gi will tighten up your ground game for MMA.

Ie hypothetically speaking if you spent 3 months rolling/drilling on a daily basis with the same high level BJJ guys in a gi would you suddenly develop a better ground game for MMA than if you had spent 3 months rolling/drilling with exactly the same lads in the same environment without a gi... I wanted to understand why this was often said.

I hope you can understand this.

[Ralph]

I can't really offer much of a well constructed response to this argument but what I will throw in the mix is a list of the UFC title holders and if they train in a gi or not to get an idea of who at the top trains in a gi:

Dominic Cruz - Yes
Jose Aldo - Yes *
Benson Henderson - Yes
GSP - Yes *
Anderson Silva - Yes *
Jon Jones - No
Juior Dos Santos - Yes

* - is a black belt.

I'm not going to say that training in a gi IS definately better for mma but if you look and notice that all of the current UFC champions all train in the gi apart from 1 then that must surely say something about the importance of training gi for mma?

What do you guys think?

Nice list, thanks for that... do you know if they all originally started in a Gi or have they moved onto it to improve their game?

[Jay]

Pretty sure Ben Henderson is a BJJ black belt now too, got promoted quite recently.

I like the gi for some of the aforementioned reasons. Slows you down, makes you more methodical when passing/escaping. I haven't had all that much time to wear it the past couple of years as I've had MMA as a priority and not enough hours in the day, so less gi time, but if I had more training hours available then I'd definitely do more of it.

I just enjoy it too. That's what most of us are in the sport for!