UFC 111: GSP vs. Hardy. A tale of failed armbars and Kimuras.

I watched this match 25-minutes long embrace and was a bit disappointed at the technical errors made by Quebec's reigning God of MMA, Georges St-Pierre, the ones that kept him from finishing Dan "Let it snap: don't tap" Hardy. After all the hype about how amazing his form is, and how stellar his work ethic is, and about how he's the "best Georges St-Pierre ever," blah blah blah... Well, although he did neutralize Hardy's weapon (his stand-and-bang) and control him on the ground, he kinda fell short on some fundamentals integral to his ground game. While it's true that Hardy is a tough nut, in this match, GSP made his first glaring technical error when he failed to properly execute an arm bar in the last seconds of R1. Click here to watch a brief clip of GSP hitting the mat immediately after the fight to be corrected on that unsuccessful submission attempt: his legs should be narrow and tight on the opponent's body, his opponent's thumb should point up, and the arm should cross the chest/torso and the hip, which should be used as a fulcrum on the joints. To see GSP's muscularly-exuberant-but-technically-deficient armbar attempt, click here (FF to minute 123). He later admits he was thinking too much with his muscles and not enough with his technique. When interviewed by Joe Rogan in the ring after his victory, he admits he "did [sic] a lot of stupid technical mistakes" and that he'd need to go over the fight with his BJJ coach because he doesn't understand why he failed to submit Dan Hardy (starting @ minute 151). GSP, in his post-fight presser interview, mentions his "technical mistake" and acknowledges that it won't be a memorable fight for fans. Here, in an interview with Sherdog.com the following day, GSP talks a little about his UFC 111 game and errors.


Stephan Kesting of GrappleArts is kinda my go-to guy (unbeknownst to him) for BJJ technique tutorials. Here he breaks down some of the most common errors in arm bars.


Here's and example from Submissions 101:


Now let's focus on the flawed Kimura. If you haven't seen the fight, or if you need a refresher on this less-than-epic event, click here (FF to minute 115 to see the start of R1; FF to 134, 140, 145 and 147 to see some of his failed Kimura attempts).

Watch Stephan Kesting run through some basic Kimura mistakes from side mount: