10th Planet Bethlehem Packs House for East Coast Eddie Bravo Seminar

10th Planet Bethlehem Packs House for East Coast Eddie Bravo Seminar

This past Saturday, November 4, 2017, 10th Planet Master Eddie Bravo made a rare trip out to the east coast for a seminar appearance at Finishers MMA/10th Planet Bethlehem to teach rubber guard seminar details from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. The last time Eddie was in the area for a seminar was about two years ago, so when news got out he was coming back people were quick to jump on the opportunity to reserve their spot.

In order to help keep attendance reasonable, the date and time were never formally announced, and spots were mostly limited to people who train at 10th Planet or have trained at the gym before on a first come, first serve basis. 10th Planet Bethlehem co-owner Zach Maslany said he had to turn down over 100 people who had contacted him wanting to attend the seminar. Obviously there just wouldn’t have been enough room in the gym for everyone to attend that would have liked to. Even with these efforts though, the response was overwhelming, as you can see in the group photo below.

10th Planet Bethlehem Packs House for East Coast Eddie Bravo Seminar

Other east coast area 10th Planet locations made the trip out as well, with Chris Herzog from 10th Planet Rochester, Louis Ho from 10th Planet Montreal, Christopher Hendrick from 10th Planet Woodbridge, and Steve Kasten and James Hasemann from the newly established 10th Planet Long Island all bringing members of their crew out for the seminar.

Grace Gundrum of 10th Planet Bethlehem working with Louis Ho of 10th Planet Montreal
Grace Gundrum of 10th Planet Bethlehem working with Louis Ho of 10th Planet Montreal

The seminar was focused on paths from rubber guard and Eddie made some great points about how people disregard rubber guard because they say people can break out of it, so it doesn’t work. In jiu jitsu there are all kinds of techniques that work sometimes but not others, but that doesn’t mean we stop using those techniques because they didn’t work once. You just go ahead and try it again the next time to see if it works then. There will always be people who can break through whatever guard you are using, so to say that rubber guard never works just because someone has broken through it once seems odd, since no one really makes that argument about other guards.

It was probably a good thing we were working on rubber guard as well, since it requires minimal movement from both you and your drilling partner to accomplish the moves and with all the people on the mats we were pretty close to each other once everyone had found a spot. Bravo coached us through each step over and over to drill the techniques into our mind and muscle memory, taking us on a path from mission control to muddy waters and showing finishes such as the armbar, dead orchard, and omoplata.

@10pbethlehem seminar #invisiblecollar

4,726 Likes, 86 Comments – Eddie Bravo (@eddiebravo10p) on Instagram: “@10pbethlehem seminar #invisiblecollar”

The seminar lasted well past the 1 p.m. end time and Eddie stuck around to take pictures with everyone before he had to wrap things up and catch his flight home. This weekend Bravo unveils the inaugural Combat Jiu Jitsu Worlds event available for PPV on InchbyInch.tv or live at the Florentine Gardens in El Monte, California and 10th Planet Bethlehem co-owner JM Holland will be flying out this week to compete in the event.

 

JM Holland, 10th Planet Jiu Jitsu Bethlehem

Holland was a part of the very first combat jiu jitsu bracket at EBI11 along with 3 other bantamweights, and all four of the original bantamweight competitors, including champion Nick Honstein, will be back for Combat Jiu Jitsu Worlds. While combat jiu jitsu brackets have been incorporated into past EBI events, this will be the first time that an entire event is dedicated to the combat jiu jitsu ruleset. You can check out a preview of the event and full competitor list here.

 

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Laura Kent
Laura Kent is a 10th Planet jiu jitsu brown belt who trains at 10th Planet Bethlehem and 10th Planet Allentown under the Finishers MMA banner. She competes regularly and is an avid follower and fan of the submission only competition scene. Laura tries to make an effort to cover some of the local submission only events that get less coverage from mainstream MMA and jiu jitsu news outlets and will regularly cover the Eddie Bravo Invitational and Combat Jiu Jitsu events. Laura is an MMA fan as well, which is a large part of what led her to start her jiu jitsu training.