Who's going to buy BJ Penn's MMA book?

Discussion in 'MMA' started by spirez, May 2, 2007.

  1. spirez

    spirez Valued Member

    Released some time this month apparently, looks like it could be quite useful.

    I like Eddie Bravo's book on mastering the rubber guard and hope that BJ's will be of the same quality, which i'm sure it will after the efort he's putting into the tutorials and episodes on www.bjpenn.com
     
  2. callsignfuzzy

    callsignfuzzy Is not a number!

    MEEEEEEE! :D

    Got it pre-ordered on Amazon, along with Couture's.
     
  3. Apotheosis

    Apotheosis Valued Member

    I've heard a lot good things about it so I may buy it
     
  4. Gufbal1981

    Gufbal1981 waiting to train...

    ME! i'll buy it.
     
  5. spirez

    spirez Valued Member

    Didn't know Couture was doing one, will have to get that too!
     
  6. callsignfuzzy

    callsignfuzzy Is not a number!

    Yup, "Wrestling for Fighting" or something like that, due out in Aug I think.
     
  7. Sever

    Sever Valued Member

    If Couture's book is a patch on his video series, it'll be great. They're a bit old now, and his presentation's a little wooden, but you just can't argue with the quality. His book should be well worth a buy. I'll be very interested to see Penn's one too
     
  8. KempoFist

    KempoFist Attention Whore

    Pre-ordered.....I was up in the air on whether I was gonna buy it or not, but then I heard how he talks about different body types and suitable fighting styles in MMA for those types. And on top of that he named the book, "THE BOOK OF KNOWLEDGE" and then had the balls to make his name bigger than the title on the book! He definitely deserves my money for that! :D
     
  9. Doublejab

    Doublejab formally Snoop

    Has anyone got it yet? I wanna know how good it is before investing my hard earned :D
     
  10. callsignfuzzy

    callsignfuzzy Is not a number!

    Amazon.com says: expected shipment date is 23-26 May. Not even supposed to be out 'til later this week.

    We'll keep ya posted, though. I can't imagine it would suck.
     
  11. Apotheosis

    Apotheosis Valued Member

    I've heard a lot of great stuff about it but will wait a bit to see what the "masses" think
     
  12. callsignfuzzy

    callsignfuzzy Is not a number!

    Update: book delay

    Amazon.com just sent me an e-mail saying the book won't be out 'til late next month, for those interested. No other info given. My updated shipment date is the 24 Jun, I think.
     
  13. callsignfuzzy

    callsignfuzzy Is not a number!

    Got it

    It's pretty good. When taking print quallity into account, it's actually excellent.

    Starts off with an intro, in which BJ discusses his history in BJJ and MMA, though in brief. It's interesting to hear what he learned from each fight. Very insightful, despite how short it is. He also talks about general training for MMA ('bout a full page) where he discusses using one's strengths to develop a style suitible for your strategy. Not anything revolutionary, but still a good read. He then gives some sample cross-training routines. Some of them are sport-specific (1 minute of punching to the shoot, 1 minute of TD defense, and so on) while others are fitness-based. He gives you an idea on how to develop your own routine.

    The technical section of the book is divided into "stand up" and "ground". The standup section covers basic stance & punches (no kicks 'cause they don't fit his style), punching to the takedown (only single & double-leg showed), takedown defense, countering punches & kicks, using the clinch and cage for striking & takedowns, and attacking an opponent who's on the ground while you're standing.

    The ground section includes having guard vs. a standing opponent, and strikes, escapes, and submissions from guard, mount, side control, and turtle/back mount. He covers these possitions from both the top & bottom.

    Overall, it was a very good book. The photos were in color, and the upper corner of each section was color-coded. For example, takedowns were in yellow, side-control was grey. The sub-sections were also given a "color-within-a-color" scheme. For takedown defense, most of the upper corner was yellow, but the tip of the colored section would be (for instance) red. Anyone who has Eddie Bravo's "Mastering the Rubber Guard" book, this is formated in a similar way. Same publishing company, after all. Other pluses included showing how to utilize the cage for escapes from the bottom, and the highlighting of important points at the intro of each chapter. Some things that stuck with me are how he likes to shoot off of a hook, which utilizes the counter-rotation of the torso, and to use strikes to set up guard passes, and vice-versa.

    It's hard to say anything bad about the book. I was surprised that he didn't present more submissions, especially from the guard, but the general strategy BJ has seems to be to strike where-ever possible, submit when the opportunity presents itself. One could make a case that it was lacking some techniques, but all the stuff presented was easy to use and stuck to the idea of using striking and grappling in concert in order to win a fight.
     
  14. spirez

    spirez Valued Member

    Thanks for the in-depth review, much appreciated.

    I'm going to pick this up when i get the chance. I have Mastering the Rubber Guard, and like you say the publishing/print quality is excellent.
     

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