Here we have week 3 of "The Road to Rampage," the video series following Matt Hamill as he trains for Quinton Jackson and the main event at UFC 130. So far we've seen an intro to the fight, and a look at Hamill's stand-up. This time, we take a closer look at his jiu-jitsu game, or, to be more precise, his jiu-jitsu trainer, Bruno Tostes:
Not much about Hamill himself here as the focus is more on Tostes and his story. Tostes is a black belt under Renzo Gracie, meaning Hamill's jiu jitsu training traces linearly back to the roots of BJJ and Carlos Gracie. He's been working with Hamill since the Rich Franklin fight at UFC 88. Tostes has no personal professional MMA experience, but has competed at high level jiu jitsu events.
Sadly, we don't get to see much footage of Hamill rolling with Tostes, which would have been nice. As Hamill says in this video, not many people have seen his jiu jitsu, so I would be interested in seeing how he uses it. What little we do see and the comments he makes seem to indicate Hamill is using his wrestling as the base to build his jiu jitsu game, which is a different kind of approach. In some ways it's similar to the approach Matt Hughes used in order to develop his jiu jitsu, which eventually became a very worthy part of his game.
I certainly don't see Hamill suddenly submitting Rampage next weekend, and given Rampage's style, I don't see him really needing the jiu jitsu skills much in their match. But as he looks to move further up the light heavyweight ranks, he'll definitely need to keep developing that aspect of his game.
For the Rampage Jackson side of things, don't forget to check out the latest edition of "The Rampage Diaries."
Not much about Hamill himself here as the focus is more on Tostes and his story. Tostes is a black belt under Renzo Gracie, meaning Hamill's jiu jitsu training traces linearly back to the roots of BJJ and Carlos Gracie. He's been working with Hamill since the Rich Franklin fight at UFC 88. Tostes has no personal professional MMA experience, but has competed at high level jiu jitsu events.
Sadly, we don't get to see much footage of Hamill rolling with Tostes, which would have been nice. As Hamill says in this video, not many people have seen his jiu jitsu, so I would be interested in seeing how he uses it. What little we do see and the comments he makes seem to indicate Hamill is using his wrestling as the base to build his jiu jitsu game, which is a different kind of approach. In some ways it's similar to the approach Matt Hughes used in order to develop his jiu jitsu, which eventually became a very worthy part of his game.
I certainly don't see Hamill suddenly submitting Rampage next weekend, and given Rampage's style, I don't see him really needing the jiu jitsu skills much in their match. But as he looks to move further up the light heavyweight ranks, he'll definitely need to keep developing that aspect of his game.
For the Rampage Jackson side of things, don't forget to check out the latest edition of "The Rampage Diaries."