10th Planet Jiu Jitsu is a grappling experiment gone out of control. Eddie Bravo, a self professed non-athlete musician from Orange County California is leading the advancement of no-gi jiu jitsu.

10th Planet Jiu Jitsu is a unique branch within Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.

Eddie trained under Jean Jaques Machado who helped him in developing his style early on.

Jean Jaques is missing the fingers on one of his hands so instead of grabbing the sleeve and collar he would use over & underhooks to set his techniques up. This greatly influenced Eddie.

After the early days of the UFC with Royce Gracies succes Eddie watched as BJJ world champions would go into the Octagon and lose to the aggressive "Ground & Pound" style of MMA fighting.

Eddie was sharp enough to see that the reason for the decline of BJJ in MMA was that the jiu jitsu fighters trained all the time in the Japanese Kimono or gi but when it came time to fight they were competing against opponents that did not wear the gi. On top of that they didn't wear the gi either.

When a grappler takes off the gi they will easily lose 50% of their offense. From setups, to transitions and submissions the impact of taking the gi off can be seen everywhere in their game.

Eddie has been very vocal about this idea and has recieved a lot of heat as a result. So in order to put his money where his mouth was he entered the 2003 Abu Dhabi Combat Club trials.

Eddie ended up qualifying for the competition and it was off to Brazil to fight.

Eddie's first fight was against Brazilian Jiu Jitsu World Champion Gustavo Dantes. Eddie quickly took his back and choked him out.

Next Eddie faced BJJ legend and undefeated in ADCC competition Royler Gracie. Up to this point not only had Royler been undefeated but nobody had even scored a point against him in three years of ADCC competition!

It was an excellent match with a high level of technique displayed by both men. Eddie executed many of his unorthodox techniques in the match but won by Triangle Choke in the last moments using a no-gi setup that he learned from Jean Jaques.

Leading up to Abu Dhabi Eddie had made a name for himself in BJJ competition. That name was the "Twister" which was given to him by his instructor Jean Jaques Machado.

Jean Jaques gave him that name because of an old 'wraslin' move that Eddie brought into BJJ. The wrestlers guillotine has been called the 'Twister' ever since.

The Twister has been banned from most grappling competitions at this point.

The Rubber Guard is an innovative way of playing guard that was in it's infancy when Eddie fought Royler Gracie. Since that time it has exploded with a wave of new techniques that the MMA world has yet to catch up with.

With the Rubber Guard your first objective is to break your opponents posture down. You can accomplish this goal any number of ways.

Once your opponent is broken down you use your legs locked over their back to keep them in place. From 'Mission Control' there are a number of submissions and transitions including the Invisible Collar, Kung-Fu Move and the Inverted Armbar.

If you are interrested in seeing some of Eddie Bravo's techniques in full color then check out the books Mastering the Rubber Guard and Mastering the Twister below. You can also pick up the DVD for Mastering the Rubber Guard at http://www.No-Gi-Grappling.com/mastering-the-rubber-guard.html.