Key Takeaways

• A Gi Jiu-Jitsu DVD offering a very well thought-out and effective game plan centered around the De la Riva guard.
• Covers everything DLR-related, from guard pulls to finishing sweep, back exposure, and submission attacks.   
• Places a lot of focus on maintaining top position after sweeping and provides interesting lapel options.
• BJJ World Expert Rating: 9 out of 10. 

DE LA RIVA SWEEP FELIPE SIMPLICIO DVD GET HERE

The Felipe Simplicio De La Riva DVD is not just another DLR instructional that you’ll forget all about the moment you stop watching it. It is an easy-to-understand, effective blueprint you can start using today, regardless of your belt level.

Felipe’s DVD works so well because it provides easy-to-focus sweeps. He centers all his attacks around sweeps but takes them as far as passes and top-position submissions, offering a well-rounded game that starts from guard.

The Holy Trinity of BJJ Guard Attacks

How do you attack from the guard? It depends on the guard, I know, but at the end of the day, it’s going to be one of three things:

• Submissions
• Sweeps
• Back takes

That, however, is not the Holy Trinity I am thinking about. What I had in mind are the three reasons why everything you do when attacking from guard ends up working — or failing, for that matter. These foundational reasons you can attack are: timing, leverage, and transitions.

As it happens, all three appear as the main cornerstones of the highly effective and very simple guard game offered in the De La Riva Sweep Felipe Simplicio DVD. This instructional represents the shift toward more goal- and outcome-based BJJ rather than the old-school focus on millions of details — and I enjoyed it a lot!

Third Degree BJJ Black Belt Felipe Simplicio

Sometimes, learning from the students of some of the best grapplers in the world is even better than learning from those greats themselves. Such is the case with Felipe Simplicio, a renowned BJJ instructor and 3rd-degree black belt under Thiago Oliveira.

Felipe is a competitor himself, but hasn’t quite managed to replicate JT’s performances and results — with all respect to him, I doubt he, or anyone else, can. However, Simplicio is just as good, and I daresay even better than JT when it comes to teaching BJJ.

Grappling since he was 16, Felipe earned his belts in his native Brazil, arriving in the US as a brown belt under Thiago Oliveira. Once stateside, he had a hard time finding a teaching position, but eventually, after a few attempts, he connected with JT Torres and found his new home under the Essential Jiu-Jitsu umbrella.

A real wizard with the Gi and a very active IBJJF referee, Felipe is exactly the man to teach you what to do in competition, how to do it, and all the different ways in which you can achieve it. His De La Riva Sweep Felipe Simplicio DVD is one of the better instructionals I’ve seen this side of 2025.

De La Riva Sweep Felipe Simplicio DVD Review

This Felipe Simplicio De La Riva Sweep DVD contains five volumes, each of a different running time, all amounting to a total of three hours of top-quality video material.

Part 1 – Pulling an Attacking De la Riva Guard

The De La Riva guard is a great attacking option, particularly with specific Gi grips on. While effective, the guard has a flaw — it doesn’t offer immediate access to submission finishes.

However, what it lacks in the submissions department, it more than makes up for with sweeps, and that’s what this De La Riva Sweep Felipe Simplicio DVD is all about. Before going deep into how to develop a deadly bottom and top game based on DLR sweeps, Felipe first covers the basics of the guard.

In the opening volume, he talks about positioning, gripping, leg placement, and a few easy ways to get to the guard immediately off the first grip you establish. I liked the fact that he bases his attacks on off-balancing as the main first offensive goal from the guard and emphasizes connections, like replacing lost grips and building frames, over fancy moves.

Part 2 – Sweep-Based Attacks

The first actual sweeping motions begin in the very first chapter of the second part of the De La Riva Sweep Felipe Simplicio DVD with the Money Sweep. Felipe offers plenty of different ways to get it, using it as a gateway sweep to different DLR variations (seated and supine) and a lot more sweeps.

The majority of sweep attacks in this volume originate from a collar-and-pants grip combo. I particularly loved that Felipe doesn’t just get stuck with the sweep but takes it all the way — he gets on top, shows you how to pass, get points, and land a sub.

Toward the end of the volume, he presents the idea of guard layers, tying the De La Riva to X-Guards and opening up more attacking avenues, such as leg locks.

Part 3 – Exposing the Back

A very fine example of the vast grappling experience that Felipe has is his methodology on getting to the back from the DLR. Instead of fidget-spinning around the mats, he sticks to the easiest routes available by sticking to the De La X guard combo.

This part of the Felipe Simplicio DVD contains some very interesting ideas about pairing up sweeps and back takes as dilemma attacks. The fact that he hybridizes the DLR with the X guard means he has a lot more options at his disposal than classic De La Riva systems.

Part 4 – Stabilizing Post-Sweep

Another great demonstration of Felipe’s forward-thinking approach to Jiu-Jitsu. This volume of the De La Riva Sweep Felipe Simplicio DVD covers how to make sure you don’t lose the sweep by stabilizing your position and launching passes the first chance you get.

The focus here is on understanding where you land before you even go for the sweep and introducing passing threats before the bottom person tries to establish their own guard game. The leg drag, always accessible after an outside guard such as the DLR, gets plenty of attention here, along with the submission follow-ups it presents.

Part 5 – Adding the Lapels

Finally, the Felipe Simplicio De La Riva Sweep DVD addresses the lapels and their place in the DLR game developed by Simplicio. Unlike most folks in BJJ who tend to overcomplicate lapels, Felipe isn’t looking for a new guard, but rather an added handle.

Felipe’s take is that when you can’t sweep, you should wrestle up and use the lapels to create these opportunities. He also shares a few attractive submission setups that tie in with DLR guard pulling, such as the Helicopter armbar, bringing the contents full circle.

Versatility From Open Guard

The more things you can do from a position in BJJ, without having to exert too much energy in the process, the better that position is. When you’re playing guards, the part about exerting energy is not always under your control, but that doesn’t mean we should start avoiding guards.

What you need to focus on instead is finding the best guard position that allows you to do many things that align with your grappling goals from the same spot. The De La Riva guard checks all the boxes associated with this approach.

You can play the guard in Gi and No-Gi just as effectively, which is one of the major advantages it brings to the table. You can also attack lower and upper body submissions, albeit not directly, but effectively nonetheless.

The DLR guard offers a plethora of sweeps, available from different grip configurations and from both seated and supine positions. Last but not least, back attacks are just one short step away if you know exactly what you’re doing.

Obviously, the guard is something you want in your game, but it is also apparent that it is not an easy one to figure out. This second part can be made simpler, though, with the De La Riva Sweep Felipe Simplicio DVD.

DOWNLOAD HERE: DE LA RIVA SWEEP FELIPE SIMPLICIO DVD

De la Riva Sweep The World! 

All it takes is one good sweep, and you can completely destroy your opponent, easily following up with passes, pins, pressure, and submissions. Developing a high-level DLR game is not hard; you just need the right resource in a sea of useless information — in other words, you need the De La Riva Sweep Felipe Simplicio DVD. Now that you know it works, all that’s left is getting your hands on it!

Key Takeaways

• A No-Gi BJJ instructional that explains how to attack while constantly switching targets between the upper and lower body.
• Offers examples of upper-lower combo flows from standing, bottom and top positions.   
• Covers defensive applications as well, offering effortless counterattacks from bad spots. 
• BJJ World Expert Rating: 9 out of 10. 

UPPER LOWER CHAINS LINKS JOSH SAUNDERS – GET IT HERE

Some concepts in BJJ are so logical and so effective, I am amazed they’re not the focus of most classes in every BJJ gym in the world. Instead of going over a 17-move sequence of lapel armbars from De la Riva, you can achieve a lot more in two or three steps that target goals rather than moves.

If you want to teach at a Gracie Barra gym, then ignore what I just said and look for a different instructional. For those who want to become fluid and dangerous quickly, the Upper Lower Chains Links Josh Saunders DVD has the “secret” sauce.

Fluid Movement on the Mats

Have you ever wondered how some of the super high-level grapplers like Craig Jones or Garry Tonon move with such grace and fluidity, even when they’re defending? It has to do more with strategy and goals than it does with specific movement training.

The reason people have trouble “flowing” in Jiu-Jitsu is that they get too attached to ideas of moves, and when those moves need to work. With a resisting opponent, such ideas are usually not realistic, which is another thing people refuse to accept—resulting in them getting stuck.

A good way to test this out is to forget about succeeding with one move and try to get whatever is available instead. Even then, you need to be able to pinpoint when to move to something else more readily available.

If you have no idea how to try this without getting stuck again, try alternating between upper and lower attacks from any position you are in, until whatever it is that you’re after ends up working. No stopping, no resting, no stalling—just constant action, like the Upper Lower Chains Links Josh Saunders DVD delivers.

Josh Saunders – White to Black Belt in Four Years

If you watch YouTube as a grappler (show me one who doesn’t), then you already know who Josh Saunders is. He is one of the best Aussie grapplers to ever come from Down Under, only trailing behind the craziness that is Craig Jones.

That doesn’t make him any less talented, though, which is corroborated by the fact that it took Josh just under four years from walking into a BJJ gym to earning his black belt. The journey included lots of competing, ADCC trials, and open tournament wins too.

Originally inspired to try BJJ by fellow Aussie Kit Dale, Saunders took up training with Seev Se Arino, training and competing in No-Gi like a madman—even through COVID—until he got his black belt. Along the way, he developed HPU coaching for fast progress in BJJ. You can see what he is all about in the Josh Saunders Upper Lower Chains Links DVD.

Upper Lower Chains Links Josh Saunders DVD  Review

This Josh Saunders DVD covers an aspect of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu that is very difficult to convey to students. Saunders succeeds in breaking it up, using four different volumes to organize the material and deliver it in just under two hours:

Part 1 – Standing Attacks

As the Upper Lower Chains Links Josh Saunders DVD kicks off, there are no long-winded introductions and time-wasting. Josh goes straight into attacking from standing, with snap downs up first, tied together with fake shots in a great upper-lower combo example.

This pretty much sets the tone for the entire instructional. In the standing portion, Saunders talks about single leg–underhook combos, body lock–high crotch pairing, and climbing to a body lock from failed doubles. There are more moves here, but you get the gist.

Part 2 – Ground Attacks from Top

After successfully getting the fight to the ground, attacking from top comes next in the Upper Lower Chains Links Josh Saunders DVD. He starts by showcasing a well-known connection, featuring the Kimura and the Inside Senkaku position.

I was very positively surprised by the octopus guard counter and the turtle attack that pairs leg rides with guillotines. Quarter and half guard scenarios that provide pinning solutions by switching between upper and lower also feature here.

Part 3 – Ground Attacks from Bottom

The concept of alternating lower and upper body attacks works from everywhere, so Josh follows up on top position attacks with guard tactics that utilize this same idea—and they work wonderfully!

Instead of isolating and attacking either top or bottom, the Josh Saunders Upper Lower Chains Links DVD has attacks that target both end ranges at the same time. He starts off with wrestle-ups that involve Judo, forcing sprawls with Kouchi to get access to the neck and shoulders.

A lot of the moves in this volume happen in the half butterfly position, which allows you to perfectly blend armlocks and chokes with leg locks. Some closed guard and K-guard combos also appear toward the end, followed by more wrestle-up action.

Part 4 – Linking Escapes

Part four, which happens to be the last volume in the Upper Lower Chains Links Josh Saunders DVD, targets escapes and counters that revolve around the same upper-lower linking principle.

Half guard and side control are the positions Josh decided to use as examples, with escapes demonstrating how to connect leg levers with under- and overhooks, and vice versa. He also shares some key body movement concepts that will help you achieve your escape goals without succumbing to top position pressure.

Links that Solve Problems Faster

The best thing you get out of the Upper Lower Chains Links Josh Saunders DVD is effectiveness. Any issue that you have in BJJ which is making you stuck is bound to be resolved once you decide to broaden your attacks.

Even Danaher had the same approach in his DVDs—he called it combining targeted and diffused attacks to break down even the most stubborn defenses. For example, getting a tap from the back when you threaten with triangles and leg attacks from the Truck in addition to rear naked chokes secures higher chances of success.

At the end of the day, switching between upper and lower body attacks and linking them together is the only system you need. It works both for attacking and defending and is a great tactic for any position you find yourself in.

Plus, it reduces the clutter of multi-step techniques while you’re under the pressure of live rolling. As I said, effective.

Upper Lower Chains Links Josh Saunders DVD Cover

DOWNLOAD HERE: UPPER LOWER CHAINS LINKS JOSH SAUNDERS DVD

Attack Everything! 

Why stay stuck in place and try the same thing over and over again (Einstein had a definition for this type of action) when you can flow and get your tap quicker? The Upper Lower Chains Links Josh Saunders DVD offers a great concept to turn you into a much more complete grappler without binding you to specific moves or techniques.

Key Takeaways

• A No-Gi, leg lock-themed BJJ DVD covering defensive tactics used by the New Wave Jiu-Jitsu team.
• Covers early and late stage defence from the Cross Ashi and 50/50 positions.   
• Offers a system to stay safe deep in the positions, and knee and heel slip your way out using optimal grips. 
• BJJ World Expert Rating: 7.5 out of 10. 

DEFENDING LEG LOCKS DAN MANASOIU DVD – GET IT HERE

Big Dan has a lot to say, and I’m not really interested in hearing his Instagram and TikTok rants. However, when he talks Jiu-Jitsu, I tend to listen — the big guy definitely knows what he is talking about, and he’s getting better by the day.

His latest instructional, the Defending Leg Locks Dan Manasoiu DVD, is a very good source of information on dealing with a couple of the most dangerous Ashi positions in Jiu-Jitsu. The fact that he’s tested it all against the very best leg lockers in the world gives the DVD even more weight.

The Second Best Way to Learn Defense in BJJ

The best way to learn defense takes time. First, you need to figure out how to attack with whatever it is you ultimately want to be able to beat. It can be a submission, a position, or an entire system.

Then, after you know how to attack, and hence, what the other person using it is going to be attempting to get from you, the suffering can start. Simply place yourself in the worst position imaginable, related to whatever it is you’re learning to defend, and try to survive using your attacking knowledge.

While this is a foolproof method of developing crazy good defense skills, it is not something most people are willing to dedicate themselves to. The next best thing is outsourcing — find someone who is an expert at attacking from a position, and see what they have to say about defense. The Defending Leg Locks Dan Manasoiu DVD is the perfect example for leg locks.

Dan Manasoiu — The ‘Gordon Ryan’ from Costco

He is bigger than Gordon Ryan, but in size only. New Wave Jiu-Jitsu’s resident giant is Big Dan Manasoiu, a purple belt under John Danaher.

He is bigger than Gordon and just as loud in trash-talking, but will he be able to live up to that hype, or is he just a solid replacement for Nicky Rod?

Regardless of his off-the-mat antics, Big Dan has displayed some very scary Jiu-Jitsu on them. He clawed his way to a bronze medal in the stacked heavyweight division at the 2024 edition of ADCC — as a purple belt.

On top of that, Big Dan’s instructionals have actually been better than those of his teammate and black belt, Gordon Ryan. Perhaps there is more to the “Jiu-Jitsu giant” than meets the Instagram eye. Take a look at his latest Defending Leg Locks Dan Manasoiu DVD and decide for yourself.

Defending Leg Locks Dan Manasoiu DVD Review

The Dan Manasoiu Defending Leg Locks DVD is a No-Gi instructional with just under two hours of information on beating two of the most common leg locking positions in Jiu-Jitsu: the Cross Ashi and the 50/50.

Part 1 – Cross Ashi Knee Slips 

As the Defending Leg Locks Dan Manasoiu DVD kicks off, Dan talks positioning first, explaining how tilting makes a world of difference in the Cross Ashi. He focuses on winning the knee line battle first by explaining the concept of knee slips, along with all related directions of movement.

He also covers key grip placement to deny finishes and slip out early, mostly using the tight waist or preventing outside-to-inside switching (and vice versa). An interesting take on misdirection as a defensive tactic also features in this volume.

Part 2 – Late Stage Cross Ashi Defenses

Still running with the subject of Cross Ashi defense, Big Dan uses the second part of the Defending Leg Locks Dan Manasoiu DVD to offer 30 minutes of late-stage leg lock solutions to the position.

First up are inversions using the newly popular Ashi bolo to counter with leg locks of your own or get out completely. He also shows several different ways of beating fully locked-in heel hooks, both from the inside and outside positions.

One of the most valuable portions of this DVD is the section covering how to nullify most of the super dangerous leg locks from the Cross Ashi. I liked the tactics for killing Aoki locks, but the Z-lock and leg lace info are also very good.

Part 3 – Beating 50/50 Leglocks

The second leg entanglement position covered in the Dan Manasoiu Defending Leg Locks DVD is the 50/50. Since this position doubles as a guard, it is more difficult to just flee, so there’s a lot of emphasis on how to stay safe while trapped in it.

Dan goes over heel hook and toe hold defenses, leading us to knee slips yet again, with the occasional leg lock counter sprinkled in for good measure. He also covers the difficult skill of standing up in the 50/50 without getting immediately taken back down, and ways to beat the dreaded inversions.

Part 4 – Inversions and Bolo-ing Around

The final part of the Defending Leg Locks Dan Manasoiu DVD, which is also the shortest, only features a handful of chapters. The one I’d single out as the most valuable is the chapter on hand fighting for the heel slip during late-stage heel hook defense.

Big Dan definitely milks the systems developed by John Danaher. He delivers shortcuts to most of the stuff we’ve seen the DDS and later, the New Wave teams do.

By sharing defensive concepts and strategies in his Leg Locks Dan Manasoiu DVD, he definitely offers lots of value to those outside the team.

Everything shared in the instructional is solid enough to influence your leg lock game, even if you’re already great at it. However, it also raises the question about what’s next to come from the New Wave — or should I say Kingsway Jiu-Jitsu — team?

While I don’t believe there are any secrets in BJJ, sharing direct ways on how to beat some of their best moves must surely mean the team has uncovered yet another untapped area that’ll help them dominate everyone. Regardless of the answer, we get to milk the system a bit longer, until whatever it is they’re cooking lands on the mats.

DOWNLOAD HERE: DEFENDING LEG LOCKS DAN MANASOIU DVD

Cross Ashi & 50/50 Immunity

Two super effective leg locking positions that are actually very close to each other, and two problems that everyone rolling after 2016 has encountered. Both are difficult to figure out without guidance, plenty of which is available in the Defending Leg Locks Dan Manasoiu DVD. Unless you’re willing to take the long route and suffer to get your knowledge.