Learn This Submission System From Dorian Olivarez
Two-Time Trials Winner North-South System
Dorian Olivarez just won the ADCC East Coast Trials for the second time, in probably the most stacked division that has ever been in any Trials.
I’m not going to lie, I hate how good Dorian is. Imagine fighting a jacked bulldog sprinting at you for 10 minutes, without slowing down. I guess going against Dorian has to feel like that.
I would love Dorian to be just a wrestler who takes you down and stalls the whole match without engaging in guard, but, no, he had to learn actual jiu-jitsu. He just passes guards easily and has a stupid submission rate. I hate that.
But, as much as I would like to spend the whole post talking about how unfair Dorian as a human being is, that’s not what I’m going to do today.
Instead, what I want to do is to analyze the submission system that he used to go 100% submissions in No-Gi Worlds as a brown belt last year, and that he probably used in these last Trials as well (even though I don’t have FloGrappling and therefore haven’t watched the Trials).
I won’t waste any more time complaining, let’s go into it.
North-South Submission System
North-South Passing has been really popular for a while. Some athletes, like the Ruotolo Brothers, Andrew Tackett, and Gabriel Sousa, have shown its effectiveness, passing some of the best guards in the sport with it. Dorian is a master of it as well.
But here’s the thing: I don’t believe anyone has ever capitalized as much on the north-south position since Marcelo Garcia as Dorian does now. He has an intricate submission system from that position, punishing all possible reactions from there.
Before going into the system itself, I think it would be good to highlight all the attacks he’s going to look for in that position, so then it will be easier to show you how he connects them together. He’s looking for:
Kimuras
North-South Chokes
D’Arce Chokes
High Wrist Guillotines
Back Takes
With that in mind, let’s see how he does this.
Guillotine Grip
Dorian favors the Guillotine Grip from side control and north-south compared to a standard crossface. This is on purpose, allowing him to control his opponent while having a constant submission threat.
From north south, this grip allows him to immediately look for a north-south choke.
Now, finishing this choke can be tricky, but with this, you can start setting the other submissions I listed before, and that’s what Dorian does the best.
To finish the north–south choke, Dorian wants his opponent flat on his back, so a common defensive response is turning to their side.
Elbow Exposure
When you turn to your side, you are giving up elbow exposure, allowing your opponent to get behind your top elbow. This can have multiple effects, and Dorian usually uses this condition to get to a kimura grip.
From there, his goal is to isolate the arm from anything else, so he can pull it to his opponent’s back and finish.
That being said, this process of isolation can be hard, and his opponent can start to rotate to try to get free. If his opponent gets to his knees, that would be a good moment to abandon the Kimura and chase the back.
Front Headlock Series
Going back to the north-south choke, another possibility is that his opponent actually turns completely to his knees, ending in a front headlock. If you know anything about Dorian, you know that’s probably his favorite finishing position.
I don’t think I have ever seen Dorian doing a normal guillotine with his hands on the throat. He’s always looking to get his hand to the far shoulder so he can cover both sides of the neck and get a stronger strangle.
Now, getting your hand to the far shoulder can be quite hard, especially if your opponent is defending adequately. What Dorian does is actually genius. He almost never goes directly for the guillotine, but rather, attacks something else first.
In this case, he looks for the north–south choke, and when his opponent turns, he uses that rotation to set his wrist into place, getting a strong finish.
Head & Arm
Sometimes, if Dorian is transitioning from side control to north-south, the near arm will be in the middle. Dorian traps that arm, together with the head, and makes sure to stay behind the elbow. This forces his opponent to rotate to his side, landing directly into a D’Arce Choke.
Now, people have really good D’Arce Choke defense, so while ideally you’ll get the tap, you have to be ready to switch from it to other submission attacks.
For example, here Craig Jones is attacking a D’Arce, but Jeremy gets his back to the mat, so Craig switches to a north-south choke, because back flat on the mat is exactly what we want for this submission.
Another possible defensive reaction to the D’Arce is limb extension. The D’Arce is a head and arm choke. To finish any head and arm choke, you want to push your opponent’s shoulder to his carotid artery. If your opponent extends his arm away from his body, that’s hard.
But every time the arm goes away from the head, the guillotine is available, and there’s nothing stopping you from going high wrist.
Summary and Final Thoughts
As hopefully you can see, Dorian has a submission system that allows him to switch from one attack to another instantly, keeping his opponents in constant danger. It’s easy to defend one submission; it’s hard to defend the other three that are coming.
What’s also great about it is that he can come back to initial attacks, going from a D’Arce to a north-south choke, or from a guillotine to a back take. That’s how you know how good Dorian is at jiu-jitsu. He’s not just a wrestler. He has never been.
Let’s quickly summarize all the information, because it’s a lot to remember.
From north-south and side control, Dorian favors a guillotine grip over a crossface.
He uses that grip from north-south to attack a north-south choke.
When his opponents get on their side to defend, he goes behind the top elbow to attack a Kimura.
If he can not separate the arm from anything else, and his opponent starts turning, he takes the back.
If from the north-south choke his opponent turns completely to his knees, he goes high wrist guillotine immediately.
If he’s still behind the near elbow with the guillotine grip over the head, he uses it to turn his opponent to his side and attack a D’Arce Choke.
If his opponent goes to his back, he goes back to his north-south choke and the dilemmas we already discussed.
If his opponent instead defends by extending his arm away from his head, he goes high wrist again.
Wok on this in training, and you’ll see how effective it can be.
So…
I wanted Gavin Corbe to win Trials, but it is what it is. Dorian is a beast, and he deserves everything that’s happening to him.
Obviously, he takes advantage of his attributes (like his infinite cardio), but those require work as well, and we can’t act like he isn’t a technician, because he is, unfortunately.
I really like learning from Dorian. I love north-south passing and front headlocks, so studying someone like him really helps me with my game. I hope it can help you as well.
Anyway, that’s all I had for today. Have a great day!
Another great one brother