Add to Favorites 1267 Remove From Favorites 1114 days ago
From the closed guard, Takamasa pulls his legs in to break his opponent's posture, as he pushes his arm across his body using a sleeve grip. His other hand reaches over the back and grips the shoulder blade. Next, he escapes his hips so he is on the side of his opponent, not underneath. He extends his shoulder, posts his head on the mat, stretches his top leg and slides his bottom leg to make a hook. Now he posts his hand on the mat and climbs the back and makes the second hook.Add to Favorites 1233 Remove From Favorites 1115 days ago
From the butterfly guard, Takamasa makes a cross collar grip, and kicks his opponent's knee back on the opposite side of his collar grip, while simultaneously pulling his posture down. His free arm holds the head down behind the neck as he loops his collar grip over his own hand. Now he falls to the side and brings his far foot onto his opponent's back for leverage, and he finishes the choke.Add to Favorites 1077 Remove From Favorites 1118 days ago
Takamasa sets up the omoplata in the same way as he showed in the previous technique, and is sitting up while gripping the cross sleeve, same as before. From here, he reaches his free arm between his legs and feeds it the sleeve from the other hand. Now he posts his outside leg on the mat, and kicks his other leg across his opponent's back in an explosive motion, causing his opponent to turn on his back. This sets Takamasa up in the perfect position to attack the armbar from the mount.Add to Favorites 986 Remove From Favorites 1120 days ago
From the spider guard with both sleeves controlled, Takamasa lassos his opponent's arm, and then pulls the other arm to his body as he pinches the elbow with his knee and swings his leg over the head. Next, he reaches around his leg and under his opponent's arm to feed the lassoed sleeve to his other hand. He releases his lasso leg and plants it to escape his hips, settling in the omoplata position. Now he sits up and lets go of the sleeve so he can reach over the back, and finish the omoplata.Add to Favorites 1252 Remove From Favorites 1121 days ago
With his opponent on his back playing open guard, Takamasa engages by grabbing the pants on one leg and underhooking the knee on the other. He pins the bottom leg to the mat and hugs the knee tight to his body. From here, he lets go of the knee and his arm wraps over the top and grips the bottom leg underneath, and his other hand makes a collar grip. Now he cuts his knee across the bottom shin, and works his way to the side. His collar grip now moves to a grip on the back, and he uses shoulder pressure to flatten his opponent, where he can establish side control.Add to Favorites 1023 Remove From Favorites 1122 days ago
Using the same set up to pass the butterfly guard as the last position, when Takamasa lowers his head, his opponent also lowers his head to defend. Takamasa reacts by letting go of his shoulder grip to whizzer the arm, and make a cross lapel grip. With his other hand, he makes a grip behind the neck with his four fingers inside the lapel. From here, he pulls guard and uses his leg to prevent his opponent from jumping over. Now he can finish the cross choke.Add to Favorites 1058 Remove From Favorites 1125 days ago
Takamasa's opponent is playing butterfly guard and has the underhook on him, so he reaches across the back to grab near the the shoulder blade, and his other hand grips the pants at the knee. With his legs close together, to keep his base heavy, Takamasa sprawls back his leg on the side of the pants grip, and lowers his head to his opponent's chest, as he turns him to the side. Now he lets go of the pants grip and pushes the near leg out of the way to pass the guard.Add to Favorites 1181 Remove From Favorites 1126 days ago
From standing, Takamasa makes a cross collar grip, and pulls his opponent's head down as he steps toward him, looping his arm around the neck like a guillotine. He lowers his level and grabs the ankle, but rather than picking the leg up, he just blocks it from moving as drives his opponent backward and to the ground. He circles to side control, and has the option to finish the loop choke.Add to Favorites 1116 Remove From Favorites 1127 days ago
Takamasa's opponent has a grip on his collar, so his first step is to break the grip. He keeps control of the sleeve and pushes his opponent's arm as he takes a big step forward, placing his foot between the legs. As he steps, he reaches down to grab the heel, and pulls the leg up to finish the ankle pick.Add to Favorites 1363 Remove From Favorites 1128 days ago
With the standard collar and elbow grips, Takamasa steps in and pivots, putting his leg across his opponent's far shin to try a tai otoshi takedown. His opponent reacts by stepping over the leg, so he keeps his hand on the collar, drops to his knee and grabs the heel and picks up the leg. While pushing on the collar, he stands up, switches his stance and uses the collar to pull his opponent to the mat, finishing the takedown.Add to Favorites 839 Remove From Favorites 1129 days ago
Takamasa Watanabe, black belt under Rickson Gracie, talks about his background in Jiu-Jitsu, growing up in Rio, and opening Axis Jiu-Jitsu in Tokyo to be the first ambassador of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu in Japan.