Violent hugging with Rafael Lovato Jr...

Had an awesome time last night down at London Fight Factory, as Rafael Lovato Jr was in town and when ever he's in town he heads down to LFF and delivers some real game changing shit, as they say in the business and last night was no exception.

Rafael had flown in on the day yesterday and was ready to hit the mats and share the positive energy from everyone that had come to train; after a little chat Rafael chose his favourite position, the mount and gave a masterclass on maintaining the position, describing one of the concepts as 'violent hugging' that helps you maintain the position and that alone was worth the entry fee.

From this position, Rafael covered the cross collar choke, adding in a few details to help finish your opponent and a number of what if scenarios from attacking the arms.  For those expecting fancy Berimbolo and 50-50 variations, this wasn't that type of class, as Rafael was at pains to explain that if you ended up in a real fight, it's the basics that get you out of trouble and basics trained well, something of which I'm in full agreement with Rafael and tell my students the same things.

The mount is one of the most dominant positions in Jiu Jitsu, but can be a position that's easily lost; with this in mind, Rafael showed a number of ways the position can be lost and then ways to regain the position, leaving you ready to attack again.

Some really great tips and pointers from a real legend and at the end of class, I managed to have a roll with Rafael and I'm very fortunate to be here this morning typing away after being handed a truly spectacular beatdown from such a legend of the sport, something I won't forget in a hurry.  After sweeping me to mount, Rafael did what he does best from this position and submitted me at will, after controlling me with a large dose of violent hugging and other unpleasentaries.  Awesome stuff indeed.

Once again, huge thanks to Luiz Ribeiro for arranging the session and Rafael told everyone on the mats that when ever he's in London, he'll always return to LFF to come and teach, so we look forward to seeing him again in the future.