Are You Helping or Hurting Your Game By Studying Your Opponents?

When preparing for competition, I’ve heard of people studying their competition in their division or not at all. Of course, at the white belt level, it’s more difficult to study your opponent, as it is likely that they are competing for the first time on a larger scale (i.e. IBJJF). However, thanks to social media venues such as YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, and people’s quest for recognition, you can almost always “research” your potential opponents whether you get to see video of them in action or not.

On a bigger scale, like at the colored belt level, are you actually helping or hurting your game by studying your opponents? When you’re studying your opponent’s game, are you actually breaking down their signature moves or are you playing into their game by trying to incorporate their game in yours to potentially beat them?

This can be a slippery slope, as we may overcompensate and without even realize it – play into our opponent’s game instead of solidifying our own. Perhaps we see this in action more often at the black belt level, as you can easily find video footage of their fights thanks to Instagram, Facebook, and Flograppling. Similarly, this also happens with our own training partners in our academy who we just can’t beat.

Leandro Lo beating Nicholas Meregali during their second meeting at the 2017 Pans. Photo credit: Dion Watts // @shotbywatts

For example: Nicholas Meregali has fought Leandro Lo three times in the last year. He lost two out of the three times they fought but maintained his guard game. At Worlds, he continued to maintain his same game and ultimately took home the win because Lo could not pass. On the other hand, there is Lucas Lepri. Everyone knows he has an amazing passing game, yet his opponents played into his game by trying to play guard with him rather than trying to stay on the top.

Romulo Barral coaching Edwin Najimi at the 2017 Worlds. Photo credit: Dion Watts // @shotbywatts

For those of us who are not on this level, I’ve learned that it’s best to stick to our confidence in our own game and let our coaches handle the rest. A good coach will help you develop your game to its strongest point during your training camp and will also be paying attention to the matches going on in your bracket or have prior knowledge of the game of opposing teams and their game plans at the competition. If you have trust in them and trust in your own game, you won’t get sucked into the mental game of competition and are more likely to become victorious.