Aaron MacKinnon (Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu coach)

1)      Martin Rooney has expressed in the prologue of his latest book “ultimate warrior workouts II” his fear that the progression of MMA has resulted in the creation of Gym’s across the country teaching “MMA”. Without the training in a specific combat sport, Rooney expressed his fear over loosing that type of expertise in the sport of MMA today.

Not only… lets not even talk about or focus on protecting these original martial arts, lets just set that aside because some people might not be into Judo, Brazilian jiu-jitsu, wrestling. When you only learn stuff that is being used in the cage, at this latest cycle, ya know, the way it is going right t now. It kind of stunts you. Because later on… let’s say they make a rule change, and let’s say there where no elbows allowed, and no one is learning elbows. And then all of a sudden they allow elbows again, Ya know, where do you go to learn elbows if you have trained only MMA, lets say they added leg locks after a ban, that type of thing. Ya know so… you are better off having this really strong foundation. Ya know, it doesn’t nessicarily even have to be what is deemed a “traditional martial art” be it boxing or wrestling. Which ya know, it is second to none. Um… and if you need to subtract some of the stuff you have learned over the years, so be it that is fine. But it is better than needing it later on and not having it. So just from the standpoint of fighting alone, how do you know what you are going to need? Ya know at all times. If I could predict that, ya know if I could do that I would win everything id ever does.

2)      There is a lot of people and gyms out there that hold a really strong opinion over training Gi or No Gi for MMA, what is your take on that?

I am obviously bias, ha-ha .the Gi is a huge equalizer when it comes to athleticism. Um. You could be a great athlete, and there might not be as many people as athletic as you, so you could get away with certain physical attributes that you where born with and never pay the price during your training sessions depending on  the gym you are coming out of and your background. But when you put that Gi on, it can rain in that athleticism a lot. And your training partners can rain that in a lot. And now you are forced to use proper technique and then what happens is you go to fight in higher levels, everyone is top of the food chain there. Even the biggest so called “bum” in the UFC would run right through ya know any studs in the local gym. Ya know a guy that is basically fodder in the UFC would run through people. You have to have proper technique to overcome it because you know, if we are equal athletes, whoever is more technical is going to win. Ya know, and I am just a huge proponent of the Gi because of that, you are forced to slow it down because your training partner can control you that much more. And really work on the mechanics as opposed to, if you could just explode out of anything no Gi, with not as many grips, I can’t effectively put as much weight on you. And you might be quicker than me, and be able to scramble out of things faster than me, I might not be able to pin you down and penalize you for certain mistakes that you make. All of a sudden you have got a guy who is as quick as you fast as you, as strong as you, and he has so much more technique, he is able to take advantage of this stuff, and you don’t have the technical knowledge to get out of this with the use of proper mechanics.

3)      Um… what percentage of people that come here would you say are here for the Brazilian Jiu Jitsu classes?

70% but that number might be misleading because we have a lot of guys that are coming over here now, there are five Brazilian black belts here and they have all trained at different schools. A lot of guys are coming here because of them, and they are following them here. However, as far as new sign up is concerned I cannot rely speak to that.

4)      How important do you feel BJJ is to MMA?

I think you are dead in the water without it. You might not see it at the UFC level, because everyone knows at least some Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. Ya know there very proficient in it. At a minimum Ya know look no further then Houston Alexander to see what happens if you are not, you look like a dead fish he second you hit the ground. He looked like a world beater he came out and knocked out Keith Jardine y know next few fights he looked horrible. People figured out “take him down lets see what happens” then, nothing on the ground. He looks freaky strong and explosive ya know, standing up. Some of that crosses over to the ground, but there is no was no technique on the ground. I mean I don’t even know how bad his Jiu Jitsu is. He might have some of it but, you need it. Because I think there are three legs. It’s a tripod. You need some sort of effective takedown be it, judo. Wrestling or Sambo what have you? And you need an effective groundwork and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is it. Then obviously striking being the third.

5)      Do you think the rules in events such as the UFC keep a level playing field for Brazilian Jiu Jitsu practitioners?

Yes. These other guys are cross training. Learning how to avoid submissions and even get submissions themselves. They come from different backgrounds, say from wrestling and all that, kickboxing, or boxing. They put their time in. if you don’t want someone to take you down, go show up at the wrestling room. And stop them from doing it. If you don’t want someone punching you in the face, then you go and learn how to do it. We all know all the rules, we all know how it is scored. Ya know you can’t give yourself that option as an excuse. “Oh, the rules don’t favor me” the rules are what they are. If you don’t like them then don’t compete.

6)      Do you feel that BJJ here at TapouT gives you something that other gyms wouldn’t be able to provide

I come out of a gym with 20 black belts over in Newton. I can’t say that it was anything lacking, for me to say that would be more disrespectful. What I can say is that I want for nothing here, as far as training partners. Ya know we have a great mix of size attributes and different games, between the BJJ instructors here, that I will be prepared to go against anyone I am going to see. Uh, without a doubt. So I have access to any knowledge I am possibly going to need, so at a very minimum I definitely have a fair and level playing field as far as getting ready for any type of fight, y know and I am defiantly ahead on most.

7)      If there was one comment that you could make on the BJJ here at TapouT to the readership if NortheastMMA.com what would you say?

It starts with john Clarke; he talks the talk and walks the walk. He sits there and tries to set a good example. On how to get this stuff done, and offer no excuses if it doesn’t go your way. Ya know come in and train smart. Learn proper technique. Drill it, be in shape, go and fight, fight hard, and if it doesn’t go your way, come back and do it again. And make the pepper adjustments and it is that that caries through with all of the guys here. That being said, he is approachable, Danielle is approachable (one of the other instructors) Bruno is approachable, me myself I have no problem with anyone asking me any questions. And I don t expect anyone to be subservient to me. Or anything like that, we are all training partners at the end of the day. And that is why we bow and shake hands at the end of practice to remind ourselves of that. And that works.