Novagen Sutton

Had a great time at novagen sutton. The club has only recently opened so was a small class, but great guys. Micah was a very friendly and easy to like guy. Micah also has a club in south africa that he started with his brother in Durban. One of the first if not the first BJJ club. They travelled around to different clubs in Brazil and UK. Micah is a brown belt.

Technique wise we covered an overhook to cross choke, with then options of the straight arm lock, triangle or omoplata.

Micah also gave me some great tips on the long range half guard which I was abit ignorant of. As Ive been using alot of deep halfguard but been getting flattened to much. Very usefull to be able to change range. Ill post more about half guard variations in the future.

We then sparred, me and a blue belt had a fun match. Got caught in a triangle which I managed to escape using the trusty catdip escape and then single lapel choke once I had tired his legs out, but didnt finish. Was quite an even match and couldnt control after passing or finish anything from guard. We had abit of a leglock tussle with him getting the better of achilles lock, I didnt tap and tried to work a calf slice of my own. On second glance I probaly should of tapped to the lock as it was tight and painfull, just not enough for me to expect damage.

2nd Roll was with Micah which was enjoyable. But odd. As far as I could see, he never moved. I just simply jumped about and rolled myself into submissions. Another thing Ive noticed with instructers is they giggle to themselves mirthfully whenever I try my cartwheel pass for open/butterfly guard.

3rd Roll was with a guy new to the art, he was calm and had pretty good posture. Still learning the ropes obviously but was enjoyable and I worked on that long distance half guard.
Had the usual nightmares with the camera, turns out it has a timer that micah found!. Micah also gave me a patch which was really nice to get, good looking patch to. You can check out there website: http://www.bjj.co.za/

If you get the chance and find yourself in sutton, go train with these guys. They are right opposite the train station above a gym so very convenient.

MMA Dartford this saturday with my buddy Terry. Looking forward to it!