Tito Ortiz NHB DVD Series Review

Site Admin Joined: Apr 11, 2005 Posts: 1086

from: MMA.tv
from: New2MMA

I felt compelled to write a review of this DVD series for several reasons. Foremost, I believe in giving credit where credit is due. This is a very good video series for someone who is new to MMA (like me!) or, I believe, as a reference for those who have experience and want to �tune up' their technique from time to time. I believe that Ortiz put a great deal of work and planning into the series and it should be noted as such.

Also, I realize that people like myself may become a bit overwhelmed by the amount of video resources out there and may want to know what they are buying before they buy. I felt strongly about writing this review for these reasons, as well as the quality of Island's product and the very fair pricing on the product as well.

I am new to MMA training, but have experience in boxing and a blue belt in BJJ. This series helped me quite a bit because the emphasis is on wrestling and its application in NHB. That's not to say that striking on the ground and submissions are not discussed, they certainly are, but this video will be excellent for both wrestlers making the transition, and �newbies' who need to learn the much-needed basic skills to survive at all in the sport.

That being said, the flavor of the video series is certainly an emphasis on wrestling, which is not only a fantastic base but also a crucial element in MMA, and I believe that the series will serve anyone well to lay down the required wrestling foundation for success in NHB or fighting overall.

Lastly, for anyone who is looking for a supplement to another martial art for self-defense, I believe you will find much of value in this series as well, and would highly recommend it if effective SD is your aspiration. Here is my review:

1. Volume 1: Basic Freefighting.

Catalog Description: This tape is designed to introduce you to Tito's world of NHB freestyle fighting. Here you will learn the basics needed to become a great competitor and world champion. This tape includes positioning, level changes, hand positioning, basic strikes and set-ups, circling, pummeling drill, single and double leg attacks, high crotch and sprawls.

Review of volume 1: The first few minutes of this DVD are simply a bit of glossing over some clinch techniques. I got the feeling that in the beginning of the video Tito had a bit of a �brain dump' because he blew through a few techniques and tips without getting into the technical aspects of them. I believe that he assumed that the series would be purchased as a whole and this DVD was intended to serve not only as a technical intro but also an intro to his philosophy of fighting, therefore the DVD is meant to be a �bookend' to be reviewed after watching the whole series.

That being said, the introduction is again a broad overview of some clinch work, collar ties, tying up the opponent, underhook techniques, shucks, off-balancing the opponent, etc. A few of the terms mentioned in the very beginning may be a bit problematic for someone who does not have a wrestling background, such as his references in the beginning to �shucks', �knee taps', etc.

He mentions them but does not go into detail into what they are until later in the DVD or series, so no worries. Tito slows down after a few minutes to show some important clinch techniques, step-by-step, such as shucking to immobilizing an opponent's arm, pulling opponent's hand from a collar tie, etc. In short, the first few minutes are an overview of the clinch for NHB.

Tito then introduces takedowns from a traditional wrestling stance; where he goes into an explanation of fakes, level changes, etc. He then goes into a very good amount of detail on proper stance, balance in stance, position of head and shoulders, pushing off of back leg, trajectory of the shot, orthodox vs. southpaw, position of elbows, turtling neck to prevent snapdowns, etc.

He then introduces the modified stance for MMA (allowing for striking, etc-a modification of the wrestling stance which is an easy transition.) He introduces and briefly discusses: shooting from an MMA stance, hand position, level changes and faking, circling the opponent, picking ranges for striking/shots/clinch, setting up shooting takedowns with punches, jabbing/hooking (again this is just being discussed not shown in any depth-very basic.) He then covers jabbing to a shot (double leg), revisiting level change and trajectory, takedowns off of his jab, double leg off his 1-2, revisiting stance to footwork, etc. Basically, he discusses the transition of the simpler takedown theory into basic NHB theory. Good stuff but I found myself wanting more detail on how to deal with a striking opponent and how to set up my takedowns with strikes.

Tito then goes on to discuss some drills that can be used to solidify footwork. I especially liked the footwork/level change drills. He shows several drills, two solo and three partner drills, which also include the basic pummeling drill, swimming to off balance, level change fake drills with partner, etc.

Next come takedowns. Tito focuses on three basic takedowns in the DVD: single-leg takedowns, double-leg takedowns, and high crotch takedowns. He begins with single-leg takedowns, and discusses key points of the stance (he revisits the tips that he mentioned earlier.

One of the things that I like a lot about this video is that throughout the video he is constantly reminding you of the key points of positioning, proper technique, �do-not's', etc, because it prevents bad habits from being formed early on.) He talks about shooting the high single leg on the front and rear leg, and then discusses finishing techniques for successful takedowns. He then goes on to show the �drop-step' double-leg takedown, level changes to shooting to finish. (He then demonstrates the takedowns at full speed, which was awesome to watch. One of the things I have always heard about MMA is that a lot of guys are �jacks of all trades' but I really felt like I was watching a master in action when seeing his takedowns, they really are beautiful.)

He then goes on to the high crotch single leg TD, complete with level changes, shooting, finishing, key points, do-not's, etc. He completes this section with overall tips for TD success. The final section of the DVD covers the sprawl in detail. He discusses different methods, advantages of his preferred method of sprawling, positioning of body in sprawl (solo and with partner), maintaining sprawl when partner �drives' or attempts to finish, and he completes the section with sprawl drills, all very good stuff.

2. Volume 2: Underhooks.

Catalog Description: Here Tito shows you an underhook to head lock, throw bys, high crotch to single leg takedown, a snap down, body lock with greco grip, a shot off the underhook, underhook to rear choke, strikes from the underhook and working against the fence.

Review of volume 2: The catalog description almost makes it sound like there's nothing to it compared to the amount of material that is covered. I thought this video would be boring-�why dedicate an entire DVD to one static position in the clinch?' I thought. In fact, this DVD is extremely comprehensive and may be my favorite DVD on this series.

He, of course, covers the technical aspects of obtaining the underhook position correctly: grips, head placement, etc. He then goes on to cover a good number of takedowns, throws, and other body manipulation from the underhook.

He covers from the underhook, in excellent technical detail; hip throw to neck crank, throw-by to knee tap (he talks about finishing with striking, side control, reviews head placement, etc), counter to his defense of your circling him: snag single, head snap-down from the underhook (talks about �swim-stroke' on back of neck, hooking chin, finishing with neck crank), underhook to body lock takedown (nice!) with countering his defense against that, shooting a single leg off the underhook, double-leg from the underhook with discussion of avoiding his guard (I will reemphasize at this point how beautiful his takedowns are) double underhook to body lock to dump when he defends, body lock to trip when he squares up and sags his hips (many of these are counters to counters-neat!), and underhook and collar-tie to snap by to choke or takedown to choke (nasty body manipulation here). Tito then goes on to cover striking in the clinch when you have an underhook (New2MMA wrings hands evilly and smiles!). You could call the first technique a modified muay Thai �plumb' with an underhook to knee strikes, he then goes on to elbowing, headbutting (he goes into some depth on this technique), knee strikes to the body, underhook defense to elbows, pummeling to elbow and a drill on that (neat!).

He winds down the DVD with tips on peeling the opponent from the wall and taking the opponent down against the wall, kneeing against the wall, variations of the hip throw, and he closes the DVD with discussion and demonstration of flowing from technique to technique depending on your opponent's counters and resistance, etc.

A great DVD to have as an instructional and as a reference for anyone interested in wrestling, MMA or SD.

Site Admin Joined: Apr 11, 2005 Posts: 1086

3. Volume 3: Takedowns.

Catalog Description: For the first time ever, Tito reveals his techniques used to bring down some of the biggest and meanest NHB fighters in the world. Here you will learn single leg finishes from a standing position, single to double, single to change off, single low level finish, Iranian, low level change off, limp arm, low single to back-step high finish, low single to front step finish, high double finishes, high crotch dump, high crotch finishes, high crotch turn the corner and so much more. Approx. 52 min.

Review of Volume 3: (foreword-I have reconsidered some topics of martial arts and self defense applications over the recent years, and one of the things that I have come to believe is that takedowns are a crucial part of fighting, obviously in MMA but also in having to survive an altercation that may turn bad for you (I hate the term self-defense so I use it as infrequently as possible).

Solid takedown skills permit you to manipulate the situation to whatever degree you feel necessary. If facing a superior striker in an unarmed situation, you have few other options than to take the person down. Also, solid takedown skills permit you to injure the person to the degree that is necessary, as you can take someone down gently to control the situation or, if you are in serious danger of losing your life, you could choose to do much worse. A final thought; takedown defense is just as necessary but I believe it is crucial to have proper takedown technique to be able to effectively defend against them as well. This video is an outstanding guide to learning takedowns, in my humble opinion.)

This DVD expands on the takedown material introduced in the first DVD (basic freefighting). He begins with high single leg takedown finishes from standing, circling, level changes, and other technical aspects in depth. He shows the change-off from high single to double-leg in this section as well.

He follows up with other finishing techniques for the high single leg takedown when your opponent sprawls or counters including the calf wrap when he sprawls, �Iranian' finish when he sprawls off high single, and �limp-arm' counter to his whizzer and sprawl (grips, head placement, etc, are all covered in depth on all of these techniques, btw.)

Tito then goes on to cover the low single-leg takedown, and finishes off the low single-leg takedown. His coverage of the low single are, as usual, in-depth and detailed. He covers the low single leg to �limp-arm' counter to opponent's sprawl and whizzer attempt, low single to high finish with ankle trip, and low single to high finish with knee trip.

The next section revisits the double leg takedown in greater depth. He covers the double leg with a high outside finish, �snag' finish to double leg (basic but nice!), and �turning the corner' finish to double leg. All great stuff off of a fundamental takedown. The DVD finishes with coverage of the high crotch takedown. The first things Tito discussed, which I liked, were some �do-not's' for NHB. He then goes on to cover some finishing techniques and recounters, such as the double leg change-up from a high crotch attempt, the dump from the high crotch (advises against its use in NHB, which again I like him making that distinction), �turning the corner' and change-up to single leg from high crotch, taking the opponent off his feet to a double leg from his counter to your high crotch attempt, high crotch to fireman's carry, and �limp arm' finish from his counter to your high crotch attempt. Another excellent volume in this series.

4. Volume 4-Takedown Defense.

Catalog Description: (could not find catalog description on Island's site, it was the catalog description for the wrong video)

Review of Volume 4: This video, as its name suggests, is an overview of how to defend the most common takedown attempts someone would throw at you. Tito arranged the defenses to mirror the offensive techniques on the �takedowns' video, so the focus is on defending against attempts at single legs, double legs, and high crotches.

Tito starts off with defending against high single leg attempts. He covers variations of what I would call �leg escapes' (one of the weaknesses with this series, and I will address more weaknesses later, is that he sometimes does not give the names of techniques �or- will mention a technique without demonstrating/explaining it and you are not sure if you have seen it yet). His �leg escape' techniques include; whizzer and push his head away, variation of the above using your head, variation of the above kicking leg out to side (all three with key points on positioning, etc etc, he is thorough in this explanation). Next are more defenses from high single leg attempts: reversal throws, sprawling and taking his back or reversing him to his back (with manipulation tips on ground), sprawling to semi-front head lock to taking his back, sprawling and whizzer to � stack reversal.

His next series of techniques are off of double leg takedown attempts. He shows several double underhook defenses from the double leg attempt, including turning the opponent to off-balance him, head snap down, and whizzer to peeling his arms and pushing him off.

Tito then goes into defenses from high crotch attempts: cross facing and popping your hips back, �elevator' reversal and rolling him over (and finishing with a choke), reversal to cradle variation to knee strikes to the head, and sit-out to leg ride to �power half' or taking his back. All good stuff.

He ends with some miscellaneous defensive techniques; a �butt drag' off of a sloppy shot attempt, general tips for defending the sprawl and finishes (goes into some extra depth on the butt drag and defending, finishing, etc) and a judo throw off of a high crotch attempt.

This is, once again, a very good volume in a very good series so far.

5. Volume 5-Attacks from the Guard.

Catalog Description: This tape is loaded with brutal techniques and a personal favorite of ours. Included here are arm bars, sweeps, fake to chicken wing, triangle choke, triangle choke to armbar, flyer, guillotine from the guard, knee bar, push-by taking the back, elbow strikes from the closed guard, strikes and set-ups to standing, guillotine flyer and push-by choke. Approx. 49 min.

Review of Volume 5: This DVD is probably the weakest of the technical volumes in the series (volumes 1-6). That being said, it is still a good video for anyone who is interested in MMA or submission wrestling, as it lays down a good number of high-percentage submissions from the guard.

I think there are two reasons for my saying this is a weaker volume: the first, and admittedly this is probably rather subjective, is that I am a blue belt in BJJ and probably know the techniques in more detail than he illustrates on the DVD. That being said, I think the amount of detail he goes into is adequate without going into �analysis paralysis' but someone who is a complete beginner will definitely have to get key technical points from a coach on a good number of these techniques.

Secondly, and more importantly, the guard is a very complex position and the circumstance of having someone in your guard striking you further complicates the guard game more. I would have liked to have heard more of his theory, if even a glossing over, of how you would deal with someone striking at you in the guard.

This is not to say that the techniques he shows wouldn't work in an MMA situation, just that I think there is some theory on setting up, following through, and keeping your face intact that is missing. I will go into this further when I wrap up the review of the series at the end.

Tito first shows a variety of high-percentage submission techniques from the guard that are crucial for any submission wrestler/MMA fighter. He also shows some combinations of techniques that are interesting (and pretty slick).

Here is a breakdown of the techniques shown: armbar, hip-bump sweep (finishing tips, faking tips, etc), chicken wing (a.k.a. Kimura), hip-bump to Kimura combination, variation of Kimura where you bait him (risky!), triangle choke (lots of key points, etc), triangle choke to armbar, cool variation of the elevator sweep, guillotine choke, guillotine to � elevator sweep, nice kneebar from the guard (at this point my wife walked in the room, looked at the TV, and exclaimed �Oh cool! They're playing twister!' I can't quite explain how it feels to know that I married Kelly Bundy), kneebar to ankle lock, kneebar to ankle lock to heelhook, and taking his back to rear naked choke.

Tito then goes on to detail some striking techniques from the guard position (striking from the bottom with him in your guard): elbow strikes and punches from �scissor guard', elbows from closed guard, from being smothered-pushing his face away to elbows, striking to the body to escaping the guard. He then finishes this section with a basic shoulder choke, another crucial element in a sub grappler's/MMA fighter's arsenal.

All in all, without sounding redundant, this volume contains the crucial elements for success in the guard in a sub-wrestling repertoire, and with coaching will be an excellent reference for someone in MMA.

Site Admin Joined: Apr 11, 2005 Posts: 1086

6. Volume 6-Submissions and Strikes from the Guard.

Catalog Description: You will learn basic positions in the guard, neck crank, passing the guard, ankle lock from the pass, toe hold from the pass, pass to a knee bar, sidemount armbar, sidemount to american lock, sidemount to head and armlock, leylocks, keylocks to armbar, reverse knee bar, bodylock to fence with strikes, elbow strikes against the fence, strikes from sidemount and strikes from the mount. Approx. 52 min.

Review of Volume 6: This volume is very good, and contains elements of what you would call �top game' in MMA. Where I felt the last volume was lacking a bit, I think this volume will give you all the keys of making life very bad for the person that you are on top of.

Tito starts off with basic positioning in the guard to prevent opponent from striking you. He then goes on to show, from the guard, a neck crank, neck crank to double-underhook guard pass (with elements of preventing him from recovering his guard), breaking the guard to passing over the leg, guard break to ankle lock, guard break to toe-hold, and guard break to kneebar.

He then moves on to show submissions from various positions: a slick armbar from cross-sides, Americana from cross-sides, head and shoulder lock from head and arm position (neat!), and a variation of this with just the neck crank/choke, head and arm to N-S to Kimura, head and arm to N-S to Kimura to armbar, and a kneebar from his open guard.

Tito closes the DVD with the strongest section of the whole series, which is his section on ground n' pound. This section of the series is what I expected an MMA instructional to show me, which is how to systematically take apart an opponent on the ground with superior positioning and strikes. He covers, in excellent detail, striking the opponent when you are in his guard: moving opponent against the fence or wall and striking him.

He then moves on to striking from cross-side: elbow strikes, punches, hammerfists, knees, and knees when he turtles up or you sprawl on top of him. He then goes on to striking from the mount: obtaining the mount and using strikes. He goes into a great deal of detail in this section of the video. This is an outstanding closure to the final technical volume of the series.

Site Admin Joined: Apr 11, 2005 Posts: 1086

7. Volume 7-Pre-Fight Workout Routine.

Catalog Description: This workout tape is designed to give you the stamina and endurance to last in any fight situation, be it in the octagon or in the street. Watch as tito takes you through his 3-day workout routine. Includes straight curls, hammer curls, preacher curls, cable curls, upper back workout, cable rows, cable pulldowns, tricep workout, bar dips, dumbells, bench press, incline bench and a lot more. Approx. 51 min

Review of Volume 7: In this video Tito gives an example of a basic workout. I will go through the workout first then share my thoughts on the workout.

Site Admin Joined: Apr 11, 2005 Posts: 1086

The workout is broken down into 3 days: the first day he does biceps, triceps, and back, the second day he does chest, lower back, and shoulders, and the third day he does legs.

Site Admin Joined: Apr 11, 2005 Posts: 1086

On day two, he starts with dumbbell bench presses (he calls them flyes but it looks to be a b.p. to me), incline dumbbell bench press, barbell bench press, incline barbell bench press, dumbbell military press (which I wondered if he was doing correctly), side shoulder raises, front shoulder raises, roman chair back extensions, and barbell �good mornings' (he calls them something else.)

Day three consists of squats, leg press, leg curl, dumbbell lunges with bench, leg extensions, a sit-up variation, and medicine ball sit-ups. That is the entire workout for all three days.

Now, I do not agree with the assessment of the video in the catalog description that �This workout tape is designed to give you the stamina and endurance to last in any fight situation, be it in the octagon or in the street', however I do feel that this video has its place. Before I lay down any criticisms about the video I want to make my position clear.

I believe that this video contains all of the exercises that would be necessary for a person who is looking for what I would call �basic strength'. Basic strength would be the kind of strength that every man or woman should possess to be physically fit. The workout is a full body workout, save perhaps the calves and neck, and it does effectively hit all the targeted areas.

My criticism lies in this: with all of the advances in sport-specific conditioning today, and all of the knowledge of overall fitness in general, not just in the martial arts game, this video should have contained, or even mentioned, much more information on cardiovascular conditioning, flexibility, and sport-specific exercises, not to mention a crucial aspect of a fighter's workout plan which is periodization (you can't peak on everything at once!)

The video is somewhat useful for someone just getting started, but once you get past the first few months of your training you should be way beyond it. A few other things; if you are going to follow the workout (and I would heartily recommend it for someone just getting started) I think you should consider the order of the exercises.

Think of it this way: you want to do the exercises that will hit the most muscle groups first, with exercises isolating smaller muscle groups after. Therefore, on day 1 you should be doing pull-ups, then pull-downs, then rows, then go to dips, then do exercises that isolate the biceps and triceps, such as curls and tricep pull-downs and kickbacks.

Also, and this is not a criticism but more some friendly advice to anyone getting started with these exercises: get someone to watch you do these lifts to make sure you are doing them correctly especially the squats and good mornings! Squats, good mornings and other multi-joint exercises are easy to do wrong and incorrect technique equals injury!

Once you have done this routine for a few months I would progress to a workout that is more sport-specific, and supplement the workout on this video with some running, interval training and stretching. Learn about periodization and how it applies to combat conditioning. Conditioning was one of the more overlooked areas not so long ago but now there is so much out there on conditioning, learn about it or be left behind.

Now I understand that the emphasis on the entire series was an introduction to MMA basics and that there was only so much time allotted for the video to be made, so there is only so much that he could have included. My bottom line is to supplement this video with any knowledge that you can pick up about conditioning.

Site Admin Joined: Apr 11, 2005 Posts: 1086

Final thoughts on the series:

Strengths: the series is an excellent introduction to a wrestling-based approach to NHB. Tito shows techniques, explains things thoroughly with very few exceptions, and demonstrates almost all of the techniques at full speed where applicable, which I liked. If you master the material on these videos you will be an extremely scary fighter.

The strongest points of the series were the takedowns, takedown defense, underhook techniques and the section on ground and pound. All of these sections of the series are outstanding.

Weaknesses: before I get into the weaknesses, I would like to acknowledge one thing: learning from a video series without a coach is very hard. I recognize that.

That being said, I also realize that this series was meant to lay a foundation and not to teach someone to step into the octagon tomorrow, independent of a coach, so my criticisms come in the form of someone who is looking for a reference set for a complete system, in other words when I cannot have my coach there I can refer back to the set for almost any aspect of my system.

There were a few weaknesses in the series but I do not want to detract at all from the fact that the series itself is outstanding. I feel the biggest weakness in the series is the lack of addressing striking or fighting the striker. There has been a common thread in MMA that started with fighters like Mo Smith and has continued to this day with fighters the likes of Cro Cop. Strikers are dangerous, and they will ruin your day if you are not prepared for them.

I feel more time could have been spent overviewing how to strike (even if it was just some basic boxing) and how to use the takedowns shown to take down a striker that is trying to remove your head.

An overview of basic boxing, and how to take down a striking opponent would have made the series so much more complete.

Also, there is no coverage of proper positioning or positional escapes when someone is striking you on the ground. As strong as the ground and pound coverage was, I would feel that I have a huge weakness in not knowing how to escape from these situations.

If Island had added one more DVD to this set on striking, taking down a striker, positioning and escaping from the bottom against a striking opponent, the set would have been an essentially complete reference set for a fighter.

My final thought is that I would have liked to hear a little more about Tito's fight theory and some overall concepts of MMA, sparring, etc, but again this is something that a coach will give you. I have already commented on the workout video, so I will leave it be.

Some miscellaneous final thoughts: the camera work was decent, the angles were good, the sound quality was decent, none of these will be a factor in your learning from the videos.

There were times when I did not catch what Tito said but it was more a factor of him speaking a bit fast at times, when I rewound it I caught what he said.

Also, Tito's demeanor is serious and professional. He sounds like he sincerely wants to help and wants to share all he can with you. I want to throw in at this point that I respect Tito Ortiz on many levels for many reasons, not only was he the UFC middleweight champ but he has done a great deal for kids and I have read a lot about him and I think very highly of him. I realize that niceness does not sell videos, but I would also be apprehensive about purchasing videos from someone who I saw as a jerk.

Tito seems to have put a lot of effort into making the series; it seems to be a labor of love.

I'll say it again, it's a great NHB instructional for someone just getting into the sport, a great reference series for someone who is a mixed martial arts practitioner or competitor, and great for someone who is looking for effective self defense.

The price is exceptional for all that you get: tons of instruction from a former UFC champ right in your living room.

Personally, I love the set and am getting ready to rewatch it, and would sincerely recommend it for anyone. Get it before your next opponent does!

Site Admin Joined: Apr 11, 2005 Posts: 1086

You can get the video series here: