Page Last Updated May 2025
What Is Open Note Grappling?
Open Note Grappling is the best way to learn jiujitsu and how it works in fighting.
I’ve been doing combat sports for my entire adult life. Mainly jiujitsu and grappling.
Now I’m writing about what I’ve learned and what I’m studying so you can benefit from combat sports culture. That doesn’t stop at fighting. That means how to learn and teach; how to take care of your mind and body; and a lot more.
I don’t know if you’ve noticed this but fighting is at the forefront of western culture. Whether you want to admit or not.
The President of the United States regularly attends UFC fights which are commentated by the biggest media personality in the western world and all of it is financed by the wealthiest people you’ve never heard of. Fighting is a spectacle no one can look away from. And many of those same onlookers from all sections of the socioeconomic ladder want to associate with combat sports culture to improve their standing in the world.
This shouldn’t be surprising. It’s certainly not new. And I want to explore why this constant craving for more combat sports culture exists while helping you, and many more like you, learn how to defend yourself.
I know martial arts are uniquely valuable and I want more people to benefit from them like I have.
Who Are You?
My name is William. I teach jiujitsu in Austin, Texas. Before that I was helping small businesses raise money. And before that I was scaling the fastest growing retail wellness company in the US.
I started training mixed martial arts at the end of high school. Shortly after I started training my family lost their home. Without my gym and the community it created I would have been as good as dead.
At every stage of my life I’ve been fortunate enough to do things I was way under-qualified for, like speak at SXSW, fight in the back of gyms owned by Hell’s Angels while I was still in high school, and a lot more. It’s been weird and not for the worse.
Right now my priority is running the best jiujitsu gym in the world, teaching, and writing about everything I learn along the way. I made this website to share what has helped me, on and off the mats.
Can We Work Together?
If you’re looking for a writer, scout, or analyst - yes. Let me tell you a quick story.
About a year ago someone from Weili Zhang’s team reached out to me on Twitter. Yes, that Zhang. The UFC Straweight Champion.
They asked if they could share my ideas with Zhang and ask questions on her behalf to help her prepare for her next fight. I said, “No worries”.
As the months went on Zhang’s team continued to ask me grappling specific questions. They wanted some ideas for their upcoming opponent, Yan Xiaonan. Those questions culminated in Zhang dominating Xiaonan at UFC 300 and this awesome picture with my logo as a personal thank you.
You can read more about the post fight scouting report here.
If you’re a coach, manager, or fighter that’s reading this and want help game planning, scouting, and studying grappling, please reach out. You can email me at [email protected].
What Are You Working On Next?
Learning jiujitsu is hard. The sport is technical and the way it is taught can make it much more complicated than it needs to be.
That’s bad.
So, currently, I’m working on two projects to smooth that out:
1 - I’m writing a book on how to actually get good at jiujitsu and why so many people want to.
2 - I’m turning my notes and articles into an easy to access database of athletes, techniques, and fights so you can study how grappling actually works.
If you want to stay up to date on these projects subscribe to my newsletter.
Every Tuesday morning I send out a breakdown of the best combat sports action. In less than 10 minutes you'll learn how the top fighters win and anything else fighters, martial artists, and fight fans need to know.
Leave your email below to join the brightest minds in fighting for free.
How Can I Support These Projects?
The best way to support these projects is simply by subscribing to the newsletter and sharing my work. And if you enjoy those articles and want extra analysis every week I have something special for you. The Premium Notebook.
The Premium Notebook is where we do deep dives on interesting up and coming athletes and technical details. What does that look like?
We wrote out a whole systematic approach on how to beat someone up from half guard in BJJ and MMA. Or, you can check out the coverage of ADCC’s rookies to learn about the next generation of grappling talent. Now I do premium sections in every newsletter article that I write.
So, if you want to learn jiujitsu and how it works in fighting while supporting independent combat sports media, subscribe to the Premium Notebook. It’s only $5 per month and you can even try a week for free.
What Our Readers Are Saying
"This is content we dreamed of having when I first got into the sport."
"You are legitimately HELPING me as this is stuff I do not know and NEED to learn for my own content!"
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