This might be what you're after...if not it might be of interest anyway:
These are not my posts...I copy and pasted them from elsewhere....
1. Rickson understands the principles of base (Base is the word Brazilians use to explain balance and leverage. It is the foundation behind the way they use leverage to overcome size and strength) better than anyone else. In my opinion, this give him the ability to capitalize on the smallest mistake by his opponent and avoid making mistakes that others could use to beat him. How else could avoid tapping to anyone but yet tap everyone else?
2. Rickson never taught me technique, he taught me principle. When I was sweep, he would try to explain to me how I lose my base. When I was stuck in a position, he tried to explain to me how I was not taking someone base and was therefore stuck. The way that he taught me allowed me to grow on my own. To this day, I seldom practice technique. Instead I work on taking people's base, keeping people from taking my base, controlling people from any position, and getting out from any position where my opponent controls me. This is how he thinks when training and why he is so fundamentally sound. It has allowed me to evolve into a brown belt in BJJ without ever training consistently or training under a black belt.
3. I bet you there are 100's of teachers who could show more technique than Rickson. However, I have never seen one that can teach the details that make the difference when competing against someone like Rickson. He makes it look simple because it is simple to him. Look at his vale tudo fights. Rickson clinches, Rickson gets to the ground without being hurt, Rickson mounts his opponent. Rickson wins by rear choke or armlock. Some people see this as a lack of technique. For me, I understand it is effectively using his skills to win his fights.
4. Rickson is a gifted athelete. He is flexible, fast, strong, and his cardio is unbelievable. These qualities obviously help his game.
5. Rickson has been doing this for over 35 years. Experience is your the best teacher and he has a lot of experience.
6. Rickson used to always tell me. When you train, let you opponent get any position or submission on you. You must learn how to upset their base and take away the elements they need to (1) control your base, or (2) submit you. This is how I have always trained BJJ. More important, I try to learn how to do this without linear strength but more with circular movement. By the way, when I started to learn how to compete without strength and really focus on movement, my game went to a whole new level.
7. Rickson has a way of creating trouble for himself regardless of who he trains with and where. For example, I have trained and been tapped by him when he has his hands in his gi. I have seen Royler get tapped in the same way. Why does Rickson train with no hands? To make his training harder when training with someone who is not near his level. Other times he will let people start with any submission they want and he works his way out. Personally, I think Rickson wants people in their best position or submission so he has to work harder to win the game.
8. We have forgot to cover one important principle that makes Rickson unique. The area would be the clinch. Many people feel Rickson has a weak clinch. Considering that NO opponent can finish him on his feet and EVERY opponent ends up on the groud, I am not sure how they come up with this conclusion. Here is what I remember when working with Rickson on the clinch. First, he told me their were two elements that I had to recognize that must be there for my opponent to hurt me - distance and base. Distance was simple. If I am at a range where someone can hurt be then I am at risk. The key is to take away that risk in an efficient manner. How? By taking away the other element they need to hurt me - their base. In standup, base is accomplished when someone has foundation to the ground. For this to occur, weight has to be distributed to one leg. Generally, this leg is the front leg which is why the front knee kick is so effective. If the TIMING of the kick takes away the ability for the opponent to get the base long enough for me to close distance, then I have taken away that element in their ability to hurt me. There were three other important elements of the stand up I remember from him. First, you must avoid reaching with your arms to early because you leave too big of an opening to be hurt. We used to work a specific drill to correct this instinct. Second, I was told to never back up. If you study Rickson's fights, you will probably notice his movement is always cutting off distance. This allows him to stay in base and also reduce space necessary for the opponent to hurt him. Finally, when you clinch, keep your hips close and your head up so you control the opponents ability to sprawl his weight and create distance to hurt you again.
9.Regarding the clinch. First, the most important part is just like the rest of Jiu Jitsu, controlling your partners base. If you study Rickson's clinch, you will find that when he attaches and clinches his opponent, he takes away all their space to move. He keeps his hips forward and disallows their movement away from him. Even if he shoots low, he immediate moves up to control his opponents hips. Have you ever seen anyone sprawl on Rickson? The answer is no. The reason is because the sprawl requires your opponent to be able to move his his away from you. The way Rickson clinches takes this away. The timing of his clinch in addition to the principles he uses during the clinch are why he NEVER gets in trouble while clinching opponents, even those with great striking skills.
10. I forgot one other important aspect of Rickson's clinch. Study his fights and you will notice two important parts of his clinch. First, he doesn't move backwards or dance around. His movement is designed so he remains in base at all times. Second, notice how he moves at angles instead of in a line to close distance. I think he does this to take away movement by his opponent when he does decide to proceed for the clinch. In the end, Rickson's clinch is just like the rest of his game. It is based on principles and their is a detailed focus and strategy in his fights. For those that don't understand the efficiency of his simplicity, they call him boring. For those who do appreciate it, we call it masterful. The more you study and understand the foundations behind Rickson, the more you understand why he always wins and always taps his opponents.
11. Rickson's BJJ is so grounded in principle that he can adapt his game against anyone. Others lose because they have a one dimensional game. Mario Sperry is a perfect example. He is a great fighter and I am a huge fan. However, if you take away his ability to use his strength, it takes away his probablity to win a fight. Go study the fights he lost and you will see what I mean by this statement. Every fight I have ever seen him win was because he could utilize his strengths to win and avoid his opponent from taking them away from him.
12. He shared some unique concepts about his thoughts regarding his BJJ. In particular he stressed the importance of keeping his opponent in trouble (pressured at all times), holding any position, and finsih fights the first time an opportunity presents itself. He is the only BJJ guy I know who can do all those things in every fight. This was the first time I have talked with Rickson about BJJ for years. It made me realize why he is different than anyone else in the sport. With Rickson, you are always in trouble. Even worse, your first mistakes is your last one. In particular we discussed the guard. He explained with the sport jiu jitsu guard is bad for MMA. We actually watched some fights together including his fight with Funaki (I hadn't seen the fight before that night).
13. Maybe I can summarize some of what I talked about with Rickson last week. Regarding position, we watched fights and he pointed out how many fighters had great positions and either (1) lost them, or (2) failed to submit from those position. He seems to believe that hold any position is critical and must lead to what he called "checkmate". He said he always tries to capatilize and win his fight on his opponents first mistake. As I have always said, with Rickson, your first mistake is your last. The efficiency of his BJJ is beyond description. Most of the time was spent on the guard. He explained why the sport JJ guard was bad for MMA. His strategies in the guard with BJJ and MMA are very different because the situations are different. He felt too many people played in the position looking for crazy submissions and simply holding on vs. forcing the action to keep in opponent in trouble. We talked about many of todays fighters and their weaknesses because of their strategies in the guard. With Rickson, even when you are in his guard it seems like you never have control or can take a breather. I have never seen anyone that can see things about a person watching a fight more than Rickson.. I did realize that what is unique about Rickson (other than his mental and physical abilities) is his way he learned BJJ. No matter what the problem, he searched for answers. I think this way of training vs. learning techniques gave him answers to any situation on the ground. He seems to like to play in trouble and change the game to make it difficult for him. For example, when he rolls with his students he often trains with his hands in his belt to make the fights difficult for him.
'In the woods there is always a sound...In the city aways a reflection.'
'What about the desert?'
'You dont want to go into the desert'
- Spartan