Pablo Popovitch No-Gi BJJ Seminar

Macedonia, Ohio

Jason and Rich had the pleasure of a private lesson and seminar with Pablo Popovitch. Pablo is a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu instructor and competitor. He trains out of Ft. Lauderdale, Florida at American Top Team. Chris Chard (www.ohiobjjc.com/) operates a BJJ school in Macedonia and brought Pablo in for the weekend.Pablo recently placed number 2 in his division at the ADCC in Long Beach, California. The ADCC (www.adcombat.com/) is by invitation only. The worlds best submission grapplers meet in the annual event to show off their skills and roll with the masters in the sport. Pablo was ranked #7 before the competition, but finished just behind Marcelo Garcia who won the ADCC in 2004. Garcia was ranked number 1 going into the event so Pablo had an impressive showing for his first year competing with the best of the best. The first hour lesson was spent working anything we asked. Pablo showed great insight and skill. He has not competed in MMA but still showed us a great many ways to escape from the mount in an MMA event or submission-grappling match. The key to learning BJJ is repeating the moves you learn over and over. You can never over “drill” any move or technique.The two-hour no-gi seminar covered some great techniques. We spent some time on getting up from the bottom, butterfly guard, and multiple submissions. The highlight of the seminar was a triple submission attempt. Going from a triangle, to an arm bar, to a knee bar. The speed and agility involved in the move is completely amazing. The two-hour seminar went very quickly. We came away with some great ideas that will be presented in class, and most of all even more motivation than one can imagine from a world-class instructor and competitor. Thanks to Chris Chard and Pablo Popovitch.Written by:Rich Catalano