Bradley Hill is a professional Brazilian Jiu Jitsu athlete from Birmingham, UK. He started training BJJ aged 12 but had previous experience in other martial arts, adding “I began training Jeet Kune Do and fell in love with Jiu Jitsu after learning from Victor Estima. He was the coolest guy I had met and someone I drew a lot of inspiration from.” Since then, Hill has gone on to get his black belt at 21 years old. He currently trains between 222 Jiu Jitsu & Fearless MMA which specializes in wrestling, as he mentions “I don’t have a Jiu Jitsu teacher, but my wrestling coach is Kamby!”. However, in terms of BJJ he lists Otavio Sousa and Rafa Mendes as his biggest influences.
When playing guard, Hill opts for a modern style whilst in the Gi and uses a combination of galaxy guard, shallow lasso and the Matrix position. Interestingly, he doesn’t look for sweeps as much as normal competitors and says “I rarely sweep, I typically attack the back with Matrix variations or enter into the omoplata.” The omoplata is also his favorite submission as he is very well known for this. From the top, he goes for ninja rolls and leg drags. As you may have assumed by now, he enjoys hunting for the back.
Having said this, Hill is not just a Gi player and also focuses heavily on his wrestling and standup game to improve his Nogi style. He also talks about the difference between his Gi and Nogi game, which differ significantly in terms of his use of the guard and passing. He says “To most Jiu Jitsu practitioners, wrestling feels like hard work. It is a hard sport to be successful in, but with most things, if you dedicate years of your life to an art you will be successful. If you look at elite level wrestlers they also look super smooth and demonstrate effortless technique. That is my goal for my wrestling ability too! I’ve been competitive in elite level competitions in Jiu Jitsu for years that’s why it looks smooth. Hopefully, my wrestling will look that way in a couple of years!”.
Hill goes on to add “However, my Nogi game is the complete opposite to my Gi. I like to play Guard and find submissions from long range whereas my Nogi game is all about controlling the distance and squashing my opponent. The two Jiu Jitsu styles are getting further and further apart so we almost need to look at it as two separate arts!”
Elsewhere, his focus on the Gi is lapel based which is far apart from the wrestling part of his BJJ game. He claims his Galaxy guard is still evolving and is based around distance management adding “I’m learning new things every day, the Galaxy Guard is simply an update to guards we’re already playing. Galaxy molds itself around the concept of spider guard, maintaining distance and allowing me to close the range in order to entangle the legs. The Worm guard takes on more of a Lasso approach with access to submissions and back takes! The connection between both lapel guards are slowly merging and each adaptation is almost a lightbulb moment. I can then copy and paste this to all sorts of different positions.” With this said, Hill is still evolving his guard by the day and is constantly looking to innovate.
One of Hill’s nicknames is The Omoplataman – something he gained due to using the submission effectively when competing. We asked how he came to specialize in the position due to omoplatas being notoriously difficult to finish when compared to other submissions, he answered by saying “I think the common consensus in Jiu Jitsu is that it is an effective sweep so many people don’t insist on the submission. Like anything, if you spend time perfecting the position then it can become your finishing move. I’ve been using the omoplata since I was a kid! (It was illegal back then)
I think if you look at the basic hold that is the omoplata then yes, it is hard to finish. But if you look at all the submissions that are inside the position, arm locks, strangles, bicep slicers, leg hook finishes. That’s where the omoplata becomes dangerous, but you have to spend time understanding the position to uncover all of these alternative finishes! The omoplata is certainly a marathon as appose to a sprint, but with the right understanding it can be just as dangerous as any other joint lock.”
An avid competitor, he has featured regularly on superfight events such as Polaris and claims being an IBJJF World medalist as his biggest accomplishment. Typically when competing his weight is around 82KG, at middleweight level. Like many competitors have mentioned, his hardest opponent is himself in terms of the mental aspect of training, stating “Honestly the most difficult opponent is my mind, battling consistency & the psychology of competitors”.
In Hill’s mind, he regards Polaris highly and believes the UK is only getting better in terms of grapplers coming out of the island, as he mentions “I think Polaris is the most prestigious Jiu Jitsu Show in the world. Of course, there will be many competitions that are organized, it is whether they can gather the same level as prestige to be noticed worldwide. Grapple Fest is doing an excellent job too! I think there needs to be international match ups to gather the interest & with international matches comes international purses. I think the funding is what allows a show to reach the heights of great Grappling Invitationals. But, the UK is closing the gap between the American’s & Brazilian’s, especially in professional grappling.”
Some of Hill’s best techniques can be found at https://thegrappleclub.com/pages/bradleyhill where his specialist omoplata and front headlock series are available now.
