Customer Reviews

No Holds Barred Fighting: The Ultimate Guide to Submission Wrestling (No Holds Barred Fighting series)

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Mark Hatmaker has left a good impression on me with his (I think)first book. Though not realy NHB, as strikes aren't covered, this book had info on takedowns, possitions, reversals, escapes, submissions, drills... Although the book didn't have 'every single move in the world', what was presented would help anyone improve their game. It is as complete as a book of it's size can be on the subject it covers. It is well-written, logically presented, and has me eagerly anticipating the second book. If you are interrested in submission grappling at all, get this book; you will not be disappointed.

This book should drop the, "No Holds Barred Fighting" from its title as it deals ONLY with submission wrestling - that being said, it's a pretty good little submission wrestling book. The text is very logically presented and all the basics of submission wrestling are covered (grips, stances, gear, takedowns, escapes, drills, etc.). The photos are clear and the descriptions of techniques are top-notch. I counted 27 submissions demonstrated in this book, which isn't a lot; however, there are many books on the market, which deal with just submissions if that's what you're looking for. This book is a good value for the money and contains a load of useful info for persons interested in the sport, as well as for self-defence.

Grappling in MMA is about efficiency and simplicity. Hatmaker is one of those very few 'intellectual' instructors. He isn't as physically gifted as some others and has really studied to get to where he is. This is obvious in his videos, and in this book.

Hatmaker shows basic, high percentage techniques that work. More importantly he shows how string together to create sequences. As I said, MMA is about simplicity. These high percentage techniques work in the fast paced, sweaty environment of MMA. Some of the techniques might be considered a little eager by some standards (eg. Neck Cranks) but are legal in MMA and fair game in the street, as well.

Additionally, Hatmaker's methods are a useful changeup from the usual BJJ based grappling instructionals. Hatmaker weaves the efficiency of Jiu Jitsu with the more physical wrestling base that is so effective in MMA. And, he does it well.

This book is a simple and effective introduction to grappling for MMA and the street. Especially for those who already know how to strike. Hatmaker's materials have certainly helped me in MMA, Brasilian Jiu Jitsu and Submission Wrestling.

I agree with some of the other reviewers that the techniques in this book are not the best. For example, 1)the attacker crossing his feet during armbar and, 2) the attackee rolling in the oppisite direction of an armbar trusting that his clasped hands will be more powerful than the attacker's legs and arms. The first can result in a painful footlock, and the second will most likely result in a fracture of the elbow when the hand clasp is broken. If you buy this book make sure that you also buy a book by the Gracies and/or the Machados.

Mark Hatmaker writes No Holds Barred Fighting (NHBF) Ultimate Guide primarily as a NHBF and a submission wrestling handbook. I bought and use it as a self-defense guide to ground fighting. Supposedly 75% of all fights end up on the ground. He does an excellent job of covering takedowns, takedown defense, ground controls or hold downs, submissions, and escapes. He is able to pack a wealth of techniques in 250 pages without being overly detailed or verbose because the 695 pictures are so excellent - a good picture is worth a thousand words! He does offer explanations when and where needed. If I had a ten best list of self-defense or the martial arts, this book would be on that list.

This is an interesting book. It's title is misleading, it has nothing to do with NHB, it is geared entirely to no gi submission grappling with no thoughts given to striking offense or defense. The author has no grappling competition experience, and it shows in the glaring holes and errors in his technique.

Basically, this would be a good book if you had no access to a real instructor, good Brazilian jiu jitsu books or tapes. There are a lot of technical flaws with the techniques he shows that would get them defeated by anyone with any grappling experience.

EX: His sidemount control section shows a wrestling style sidemount, with his hips high and away from his partner. Leaving his partner more than enough room to get a knee through to put him in guard. He does show how to prevent a person from getting guard, but his opponent is attempting to do this from flat on his back instead of a shrimp position. Basically, his defense worked on someone with no clue how to do it. A brazilian jiu jitsu student with more than a months experience wouldn't be stopped by this.

His guard section shows him laying flat on his back, which is one of the first things you are taught to NOT do in both Judo and brazilian jiu jitsu. His in guard position is the sprawl, which leaves you unable to move to defend any submission or sweep attempts, and leaves you open to being choked, armlocked and having your back taken. Oddly enough, he doesn't use this position at all in his guard passing section. He uses a standard in guard postition, but doesn't go into details on it.

His takedown section shows a double leg takedown. He bends at the waist when he hits his partner at waist height. This would get you sprawled one by anyone with more than a months experience. It also makes lifting your opponent harder by making your back do most of the work in a good morning type motion, instead of getting underneath your opponent in a proper penetration step and lifting with your legs.
His high single leg attempt again has him bending forward and reaching for the leg, instead of penetrating into your opponent and taking the leg. His method is simple to defeat by simply stepping back, or pushing on him.
His throws make no mention of the kuzushi (off balancing) needed to make them work properly, and he has a LOT of space between himself and his opponent for his opponent to counter or escape.

His submission section has a lot of errors in it as well. Most of them are sloppy, with a lot of space in them for counters and escapes.

Basically, the book looks like he taught himself to grapple from books or poor videos so that he didn't pick up on the details that make things work well and never had the opportunity to try them out against skilled grapplers so that he could fix his mistakes.

Overall, this book has so many technical errors and problems with it that I highly recommend AGAINST it. Anyone buying this book without the benefit of proper grappling instruction will have many errors in their game that they won't know how to fix. Anybody with proper grappling instruction will catch the errors in the book and not learn anything new.

There are many books on the market today written by world class grapplers and trainers showing the techniques that they use against world class competition. I would recommend getting one written by an accomplished grappler, and not this one.

Mark Hatmaker, with Doug Werner, have simply written and masterfully produced a nice book on submission wrestling. One can get this book, practice the techniques, and have a pretty good idea on the submission wrestling sport. Of course, there are many disadvantages from not taking formal lessons, but this book tries and narrows those gaps.

The strengths of this text are the easy to understand instructions and prior advice on safety and equipment. He brings up the losing of ones "ego" and his advice is right on. Many injuries are due to someone who cannot mature and learn. Listen to his advice and learn, grow, and be a better wrestler!

The photos are nicely done and, like the written material, easy to mimic and therefore, learn from. Some of the movements are better suited for sport and some are better used for self-defense, and not explaining these differences are probably the book's only weakness; however, this great text still deserves 5 stars. It has great advice, easy to understand, and "bargined" priced (it is a steal).

Buy now!!!

This book has lots of information for the self-taught. This is the sort of book the beginner would find useful. It has those basic techniques everybody has seen in MMA fights, as well as drills and advices to correctly apply them. I immediately bought the other books of the series and found them very good too.

And being tiny helps taking them to the training if needed.

I wish there were more books about submission wrestling like this one and I had not wasted my money in books about "BJJ mind sets" or Sprague's grappling for real life situations...

GREAT BOOK! Worth the money. Very few books on the subject of Submission Wrestling have this degree of detailed analysis of the technigues. Supplementing my training with this book has helped me to gain higer levels of preformance. This guide stands strong by it's self, but can be used with Alan Ground's; The Gate and The Gracie's two Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu books for those who seek to cover all areas of groundfighting.

Mark Hatmaker is an intelligent, articulate teacher of western fighting disciplines. I got so much from this book that I ordered the others in the series as well. Although it is a good overview and introduction to various techniques for beginners, Mark covers enough of the details and nuances to make the information useful to experienced grapplers as well. He conveys the information effectively in written format, and his videos are good, too.