First Things First

In the lead up to this year’s ADCC World Championships, we’re going to analyze the game’s of the athletes competing. If you want to read about ADCC’s newcomers so you can learn their skills, strengths, and understand the holes in their game, the ADCC Rookie Reports are for you.

ADCC Rookie Report

The Abu Dhabi Combat Club (ADCC) World Championships is one of the coolest events across every sport. The tournament assembles about a hundred of the world’s best grapplers every two years to wrestle and see who is the best.

To get in, you need to win a grueling qualification tournament. ADCC will spend about a year traveling the world hosting these tournaments so men and women can prove their mettle. And every event there’s always a newcomer to keep an eye on. Sometimes these newcomers, the ADCC rookies, end up winning the entire event and the crowd.

In the lead up to this year’s World Championships, we’re going to take a look at some of these winning rookies’ games. How do they win? What makes their game interesting and unique? What opportunities does that game present for their opponents?

We’re constraining these rookie reports to what the athletes showed in their trials winning performances. We’re going to start this series with an ADCC rookie that had the most impressive qualifying event this cycle. We’re starting with Jozef Chen.

Jozef Chen

Jozef Chen is one of submission grappling’s brightest young stars. Training primarily out of B Team in Austin, Texas, Chen qualified for the ADCC World Championships at 19. He straight up stole the show by beating three separate ADCC World Championships veterans in the process.

Chen’s strength is in his length. He puts pressure on people from a distance before quickly crowding them to pass and get to his finishing spots. He does his best work after he has gotten a leg in between his opponents’. From their, he holds their torso with under hooks and raises his hips to step around the guard.

One of the most interesting things I picked up from his matches is his focus. His coach constantly called out to “reset the system” during his matches. It’s clear Chen knows what he wants to do and won’t waste effort on anything less.

Let’s look at how he gets it done.

Passing

Chen does his best work on top. He pokes, pulls, and pushes his opponent while walking around until he can get to a position where he can stand over their hips. From there he’ll work up their body with an under hook and head position until passing is an inevitability.

Look at some important points of control below.

1. Chen has a strong under hook

2. Chen’s same side leg is already passed

3. Chen’s head is high on the opposite side of his under hook

The combination of these three points leaves Chen’s opponents flat on the mat while he has a free arm to help complete the pass. This makes you feel helpless and forces you to give up the pass.

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