No, this is not a rematch of the famous Rumble on the Rock 6 which saw BJ Penn take the unanimous decision over Rodrigo Gracie, but it is a fight of sorts. In this literary encounter, we are pitting BJ Penn’s new MMA Book of Knowledge against Rodrigo Gracie’s No Holds Barred! Fighting Techniques. Who will be the winner? Without further adeu, let’s get to the action…

Round One - Striking: Both books come on strong in this department, but there is definitely a clear winner when the smoke clears. Rodrigo’s NHB Techniques! discusses some interesting philosophies on range, combinations, and standing strikes - while showing some basic striking strategies on the ground. The feel of Rodrigo’s striking instructional is a little basic, but it does get the job done without too many complaints. The MMA Book of Knowledge also covers these areas as well as going one step beyond Rodrigo in one important area… BJ completely integrates striking into all aspects of his MMA ground game. Whether it is wrestling, the guard, standing, or rolling, BJ shows how to use striking to create openings for either more strikes, takedowns, or the match winning submission. Round One Winner: 10-8 BJ Penn, by strikes then a submission attempt followed by even more strikes.

Round Two - Takedowns and Defensive Work: The MMA Book of Knowledge comes out with some great clinch work and exquisite wrestling style takedowns that Rodrigo’s book just cannot keep up with. The wrestling in BJ’s book is really great MMA style technique, while Rodrigo’s is a mix of solid old school Gracie Jiu-Jitsu applied to modern MMA. When it came to defense, BJ’s book also has an advantage due to the strong strike defense throughout, but don’t count Rodrigo out yet with his savy positional defense and MMA submission defense. Most will be happy to see that both book competitors include some clinch defense (especially the thai clinch) and they take differing perspectives that are more than interesting. Round Two Winner: 10-9 BJ Penn, Rodrigo came on strong with his kimura defense and intelligent defensive posture, but BJ was just too strong with his chapter on clinch work and his perfect defensive posture as well.

Round Three - Matwork: In this final round, Rodrigo Gracie’s No Holds Barred! comes out with some very strong groundwork that is indicative of the young Gracie’s style. There are some nice neck cranks and chokes, even if some of them do seem to be built off of the opponent doing the absolutely wrong thing (like when Rodrigo’s opponent goes to a sit up guard and hugs Rodrigo’s leg as he stands to pass or strike). BJ’s MMA Book of Knowledge also proves to be a little too strong in this round as well. When you thumb through BJ’s book there is definitely the feeling that BJ is showing how to do MMA effective jiu-jitsu, while Rodrigo’s does have some less than likely moves that have been covered to death in Kid Peligro’s other books (i.e. the step over triangle from side control). Round Three Winner: 10-8 BJ, it should be noted that Rodrigo did come out strong, but in the end, his moves felt a little too much like regular gi jiu-jitsu while BJ’s showcased how to make that leap towards very effective MMA style BJJ.

Judges Decision: Unanimous Decision in favor of BJ. Rodrigo does have a good book on his hands, but like many of Kid Peligro’s books there is some overlap with other editions in the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu series. Rodrigo does showcase some great MMA style maneuvers, but there is a tendency for some of them to feel like jiu-jitsu or self defense jiu-jitsu with gloves.

With all of this said it may seem like BJ presents the perfect book, but as many readers have come to find out, I do not find perfection very easily and this case is no different. Though this book is another strong showing from the publishers of Eddie Bravo’s sucessful Mastering the Rubber Guard, it also falls into the same pitfall. That is, both Eddie’s book and the MMA Book of Knowledge sometimes draw out techniques in an attempt to achieve 300 techniques or whatever the goal is. For instance, if one technique goes through 8 movements to achieve the position and the next technique just changes the end submission, the readers probably do not have to look through all of the seven preceding movements again like it is a completely different technique. This is where Kid Peligro’s books and both The Guard and Passing the Guard have all shined-no wasted space or filler to make the technique quota.

Which should you buy? If you can only afford one, get the MMA Book of Knowledge. It is the best MMA book on the market, period. This is not to take anything away from Rodrigo, but I do feel his book appeals more to fans of the Gracies and Kid Peligro’s book in general. No Holds Barred! is a good book, but it just does not capture the MMA game as well as BJ’s first effort. The MMA Book of Knowledge is just an amazingly technical approach to MMA; fans and fighters alike can learn a lot about the intricacies of fighting from this book. Like I said earlier, BJ uses strikes to set up submissions and submissions to set up strikes, just like a truly evolved MMA fighter.

Happy Training,
Kevin

Tags: MMA Book Instructionals

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