Key Takeaways
- The Ezekiel to Glory Dinu Bucalet DVD is a three-part closed guard instructional built around turning the Ezekiel choke into a full submission network rather than a one-off trick.
- It focuses on posture control, pressure-based finishing, grip strategy, Gi and No-Gi adaptation, and chaining the Ezekiel into armbars, triangles, and back takes.
- The structure is broader than the title suggests, because Bucalet also spends time on anti-passing details, defensive awareness, wristlocks, common counters, and getting to closed guard safely.
- This looks best suited to grapplers who already play closed guard or want to make it far more threatening without relying on speed or flexibility.
- Rating: 8/10
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The Ezekiel to Glory Dinu Bucalet DVD has a very clear pitch: make closed guard dangerous again, and do it through pressure, posture-breaking, and a submission chain built around the Ezekiel choke. That is a smart angle.
Too many closed guard instructionals either drift into generic attack from everywhere territory or lean so hard into flexibility and explosiveness that half the audience is left watching rather than learning. Here, the sales page positions the system as one built on control, calculated pressure, and predictable reactions, which is exactly how a strong closed guard should feel when it is working well.
The Ezekiel Choke is Fun!
There is a reason the closed guard never really disappears, even when the sport gets obsessed with leg locks, false-reap dilemmas, and the latest open guard micro-trend. Closed guard solves a very old problem in Jiu-Jitsu: how do you keep someone close enough that they have to deal with your grips, hips, and upper-body threats all at once?
When used well, it forces the top player into a small space where every posture change matters. That is also why the Ezekiel choke is such an interesting anchor for a guard system. It is a choke that punishes people for assuming they are safe just because they are on top.
It does not need a ton of space, it creates urgency fast, and even when it does not finish cleanly it tends to make people expose arms, neck, and posture. In practical terms, that makes it ideal as a chain starter.
The catch, of course, is that the Ezekiel can become low-percentage if it is taught as a surprise move instead of a structured attack. That is where this instructional seems to make its case. Rather than promising magic, it appears to emphasize the boring-but-important things that make any closed guard submission work: posture denial, grip mechanics, angle discipline, and forcing reactions instead of chasing them.
About Dinu Bucalet
Dinu Bucalet is a Romanian-born BJJ black belt who received his black belt from Nick Brooks in 2019. He is also an MMA fighter and coach with a background in boxing and kickboxing, plus a certified physical trainer.
An Ezekiel choke-centered closed guard system works best when it is taught by someone who understands pressure, hand fighting, posture breaking, and how to make compact attacks work under resistance. Put together, that gives the instruction a believable teacher profile. He is not just a guy with a choke. He reads like someone who has spent a lot of time thinking about pressure and how to funnel people into bad reactions.
Bucalet’s results also include titles such as ADCC Spanish National Champion in 2022, Paris Open IBJJF No-Gi champion in 2022, and IBJJF European No-Gi Brown champion in 2018. One more detail adds a bit of flavor here: Bucalet was named Romania’s MMA Fighter of the Year for his 2013 results, when he reportedly went 3-0 in professional MMA with all wins coming by first-round finish.
Ezekiel to Glory Dinu Bucalet DVD Review
What I like straight away is that this does not appear to treat the Ezekiel as a novelty. The promise is not here is one sneaky choke. The promise is that the choke becomes the centerpiece of a larger attacking framework that includes posture control, traps, chained finishes, and ways to keep the top player from settling into safe defensive habits.
Volume 1 – What Not To Do
The first volume of the Ezekiel to Glory Dinu Bucalet DVD looks like the real foundation layer. The chapter titles are not glamorous, but that is a good sign. Bucalet opens with posture themes, what not to do, what to stop the opponent from doing, and then moves into dealing with specific passing problems like the closed guard smash pass and the Sao Paulo pass, while also covering long legs, high hips, and lapel use.
That tells you a lot about the teaching philosophy. Before he wants you hunting Ezekiels, he wants you understanding the kind of upper-body behavior that makes closed guard function at all. That is exactly the right order. A lot of people fail from closed guard not because their submissions are bad, but because they never really establish the conditions needed for good offense.
I also like that this section seems to address body-type variables early. Dealing with long legs and high hips is the sort of topic that usually determines whether an instructional feels practical or generic. Closed guard always changes a bit depending on your build and your opponent’s posture habits.
Volume 2 – Throwing in Wristlocks
Volume 2 is where the Ezekiel to Glory Dinu Bucalet DVD gets more eclectic. The chapter list includes wristlocks from a bunch of closed guard scenarios. On paper, that can look slightly scattered. In practice, I think it makes sense if you view this volume as the problem-solving and trap-building section.
Closed guard offense becomes much more dangerous once you can punish defensive hands, trap an arm cleanly, and remain calm when the top player starts firing back with stack pressure, guillotines, or collar chokes. The wristlock angle is especially interesting. Even if you never become a big wristlocker, the threat alone can make people hide their hands badly, which opens cleaner access to neck attacks and upper-body isolation.
The Kimura-to-arm-trap connection also fits the main theme well. It gives the system another way to create the reaction loop that a strong Ezekiel game needs. This is probably the least purely on-brand volume, but it may end up being the most useful for real rolling. Not every match turns into the clean attacking picture you want. Good instructionals account for the mess.
Volume 3 – Ezekiel Time
Volume 3 is where the Ezekiel to Glory Dinu Bucalet DVD cashes the check the title writes. The chapter titles move directly into “It’s Ezekiel Time” in two parts, then cover what happens when the opponent blocks the choke, combining attacks, posturing up, advice for competing, takedowns that put you in closed guard, and what to do if someone pulls closed guard.
That is a very sensible finishing volume. By this point, the instructional seems to assume you understand the platform and the reactions. Now the Ezekiel gets expanded into a true decision tree. If a closed guard instructional does not address the obvious defensive response, it is not really teaching a system.
I also like the inclusion of competitive advice and entries into closed guard. Those topics help the material travel from theory into actual match use. A lot of players love closed guard conceptually but never get there consistently under pressure.
Giving attention to takedowns that land you there, and to situations where the other person pulls closed guard, makes the course feel a bit more complete and less like a pure submission seminar.
Start Getting More Ezekiels
The Ezekiel to Glory Dinu Bucalet instructional looks best used in blocks rather than binged once and forgotten. Volume 1 should probably become your drilling and positional-sparring template for a few weeks: posture breaking, foot and hip engagement, and anti-pass reactions first. Then go tackle the problem-solving layer from Volume 2, and only after that try the final part stuff as your main live-round focus.
For most grapplers, the most realistic way to use this is to build one reliable entry into the Ezekiel, one secondary trap when the opponent blocks, and one fallback attack when posture changes.
That is enough to make your closed guard feel radically better without trying to memorize every chapter at once. Coaches will probably like it too, because the product page explicitly frames it as something useful for structured guard curricula, and the chapter layout supports that idea.
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Who Is This For?
The Ezekiel to Glory Dinu Bucalet DVD should appeal most to blue belts and up, along with ambitious white belts who already understand the basic job of closed guard. The sales copy also points toward competitors, smaller practitioners who rely more on technique than strength, coaches, and anyone tired of having their closed guard stalled out.
I do not think brand-new white belts will get the full value immediately, mostly because posture management and reaction chaining make more sense once you have already failed with closed guard a few hundred times. But for the average hobbyist who likes upper-body attacks, and for competitors who want a tighter, pressure-first submission hub from bottom, this looks highly relevant.
Gi-only players should still find value because the system includes Gi and No-Gi variations. Pure open-guard specialists may not love the style, but that is more a matter of taste than quality. If you dislike closed guard on principle, this course probably will not convert you overnight. If you already believe in it, though, it looks like a smart expansion.
Pros & Potential Drawbacks
Pros:
- Strong central idea: the Ezekiel is treated as a system anchor, not a gimmick.
- Good foundational emphasis on posture, frames, pressure, and anti-passing work before the submission layer.
- Includes Gi and No-Gi adaptation, which widens the audience.
- The chapter structure suggests realistic troubleshooting instead of fantasy-technique collecting.
- Useful for both individual study and curriculum building, especially for coaches who teach closed guard in stages.
Potential Drawbacks:
- Part 2 may feel a bit broad if you expected wall-to-wall Ezekiel content from start to finish.
- Grapplers who rarely play closed guard may need time before the system feels natural.
It’s Ezekiel Time!
The Ezekiel to Glory Dinu Bucalet DVD looks like a well-thought-out closed guard instructional with a narrow title but a broader, more useful structure underneath. It promises a pressure-based Ezekiel system, and the chapter list suggests Bucalet understands that such a system only works when it is supported by posture control, arm trapping, defensive awareness, and clear reactions.
