I received this DVD three days ago and watched it a few times like I always do before putting up this review.
Rani Yahya is one of the top grappler's in the world today and I was pleasantly surprised to hear that one of Rickson's former top competitive students was releasing DVD's on his game.
This is the first of a series of DVD's Rani and Otane will be producing on his No Gi style of game.
This DVD is based on Rani's guard game and starts with Rani in his closed guard showing how he does a hip bump sweep. The DVD continues on with Rani showing you what to do when your opponent counters the hip bump by going into a guillotine, then how to sweep from the guillotine position if your opponent defends. This whole series is very high percentage and you have seen pulled off by high level guys many times before.
The next sweep is based on if your opponent tries to open your guard while posting up on one foot. Rani shows a more unique version of a known sweep that I don't ever remember seeing on DVD before. Another high percentage move.
The next move is continued off the last where your opponent posts up on one leg and you go to hit the prior sweep, but this time he stands up. Rani shows you how to twist under him and take his back. This move would take some back flexibility and I don't see too many people with back problems attempting this technique. This is probably the only move on the DVD I would say is not very high percentage.
The set moves on to butterfly guard.
Rani shows you how to perform the basic butterfly guard sweep and how to deal with a couple of common counters to this sweep like you opponent posting a leg, or standing up. This series of sweeps and counters is very high percentage.
Rani now shows you how to deal with a standing opponent which continues from the last series of butterfly guard/sit up guard. He shows a nice counter on how to take the back using a modified de la riva position in which he uses his same set up technique as he did from the closed guard sweep earlier. I really liked this technique a lot because this situation pops up often for when you opponent pushes your head and puts you on your back from sit up guard, when he has his leg in the middle of your legs. He then moves on to a De La Riva style sweep with his back on the mat. These are all positions you end up in while rolling on a regular basis.
Rani moves on to how to perform the arm drag to taking the back which is a staple for no gi nowadays.
Rani then shows you how to get the heel hook when your opponent counters your arm drag attempt by posting his leg. I really liked this set up and this is a position you see very often, but more than likely never capitalize on when it happens with this technique.
Rani moves on to how to deal with your opponent passing your BF guard and moving to the half guard position. Rani explains what you need to do to make sure your opponent doesn't make this a position in his favor and how to regain the under hook and go for a sweep.
The next sweep he shows blew my mind because I love to play turtle guard and never even thought about doing it while in half guard. This is a very slick move that I have never seen anyone show on a DVD before and will really catch your opponent off guard for the sweep. Rani turns to his belly while in half guard while his opponent has the underhook and goes into a modified turtle position and uses his opponents own under hook to trap his arm and sweep him.
Rani continues on with this position and shows you how to deal with your opponent starting to go for the choke while in the last position. This was very interesting in the way Rani deals with this situation and still gets the sweep without being in danger.
There is a quick synopsis of what is on the DVD for those of you who wondered what to expect.
I wasn't sure what to expect from this DVD because this is Rani's first DVD, but I liked it a lot. I believe this DVD is more focused on blue belts, but there are a few gems on here for more advanced guys as well. This DVD is primarily focused on Sweeps from the different No Gi guard positions with a couple of submissions thrown in from those positions. This is not a DVD for submissions from the guard position.
Rani's English is good and even though he has an accent he is easy to understand and doesn't rush through explanations . There should be no worries about understanding him explain each technique.
The video quality is top notch and each move is shown from multiple angles.
The techniques shown on this set are high percentage moves which IMO is a plus. There is no fluff on this DVD which seems to happen often nowadays, but not here. There are a total of 17 techniques/variations on this DVD, but they are high percentage techniques, not dead fish rolling techniques.
This is the first of a series Rani is releasing with Otane and after seeing this first one I am very excited to see the rest. If you are looking for flashy BS moves that aren't used in competition this is not the place you want to look. If you are looking to learn Rani's style of guard attacks for sweeping then you have come to the right place.
I have not been around in some time now, but I will try to be around to answer any questions about the set, or the review. I will not however engage people in debates or arguments about this DVD. This is my opinion on the DVD and I respect your opinion on it, so please do the same with mine.
Thanks!
look turtle, i have a blue name :)
Thanks for the reveiw
Cool Thanks!
Good Review
just bought the dvd off your review. want to check out the hip bump/guillotine/sweep.
Thanks for the review, good to see you posting.
Thank you for the review. This DVD sounds very interesting.
-s-
Nice review! Thanks!
i have this dvd and love it
- what are the other series Rani is coming out with (guard passing?) please thank you :)
MCHAP,
Thanks, life gets in the way but I'm still going to throw up reviews for everyone.
QIK,
I don't know right now, but I will try to find out what is in store in the future with Rani's set.