Jonathan Satava is a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu athlete from East Patchogue, New York. He began training BJJ aged 18 years old and adds “I did martial arts when I was a kid and was looking to continue training on campus in college. I went to what I thought was the MMA Club in the sports complex. It ended up being a BJJ club and I was hooked.” Since then, he went on to achieve his black belt aged 25 from Marcelo Garcia, whose academy he trains at, alongside Peak Jiu Jitsu. Satava lists Marcelo Garcia as his biggest influence which can also be seen through his style; a combination of X-Guard and Butterfly guard.
Talking of which, we asked Satava about his favorite BJJ positions which where the aforementioned guards. From the X-Guard he likes the hook sweep and the takedown sweep. Whilst on top, he also prefers pressure passing with an emphasis on using underhooks. A further nod to his roots, Satava lists the North South choke as his favorite submission. An avid competitor, he typically competes around 175lbs and lists winning the ADCC trials as one of his biggest achievements.
Like many competitors, the BJJ lifestyle comes with ups and downs including injuries. We asked about his biggest injuries and interestingly none of these came from grappling. This was his response, “Funnily enough my worst injuries haven’t been from BJJ, thank god! I broke my tibia and fibula straight through, bone popping out when I was playing baseball as a kid. It was at the age where kids start going through puberty. Well, I was the second smallest kid in the grade playing catcher and I got trucked by the biggest kid in the grade sliding into home plate. At least I held onto the ball though haha.”
Q&A
Firstly, what was it like training under Marcelo Garcia over the years? Obviously, he’s known as a great competitor but what about his teaching methods? He’s taught the likes of Matheus Diniz and Dillon Danis amongst other top competitors so what was the environment like at the gym?
“Of course everyone knows Marcelo as a great competitor, but it took some time for him to be known as a great coach. And I’m just so happy to be a part of that. For me, I can’t think of a better coach. Body type wise and style wise we are so similar. The style similarity is no accident. To me, he is the greatest ever, so why not try to emulate that and the example he sets? I’ve been with him the longest out of all the competitors and so I just always took advantage to learn and try to apply exactly what he showed in class. And whenever I had a question, he would always spend A LOT of time with me after class going over that- be it technique, mindset, strategy, preparation, etc.
Yeah, MGA had a huge talent pool. What can I say about it that wasn’t obvious? It was intense and the best training you could have. I mean that you could make your training the way you wanted it. If you wanted to have a day of rolls that simulated the intensity of a world championship, you could. It was also nice to have different styles of jiu-jitsu that you could try stuff on to see what worked and what didn’t. It’s great to have people to push you and be around people going through a similar journey.”
Secondly, your submission record has no head and arm chokes, darces or Kimuras. A lot of people refer to you as a clone of Marcelo. I’ve heard those techniques aren’t banned, but are discouraged in his gym. Do you train in a way to avoid those moves or is it just a coincidence?
“That’s funny because I hadn’t given that much thought but yeah, I think you are right. At black belt, I think I have one Ezekiel choke finish and that’s the only arm in choke and that’s right – no Kimuras. I have short arms so they don’t really lend to my body type especially against bigger guys. Even that Ezekiel was in my division and coming up I always fought the absolute. I have a few absolute titles at black belt as well and it’s so hard to connect my hands around someone that’s big so I just spent my time going for and improving something easier for me to get. Also, Marcelo didn’t focus on those moves so that’s probably not a coincidence. I wouldn’t go as far to say it’s a strength thing just different styles and body types lend themselves to different moves.”
I want to ask about leglocks from the Butterfly guard. On your DVD’s, most of the attacks focus on the upper body. I noticed you trained with Eddie Cummings earlier on in your career who used the Butterfly position to enter into heel hooks. It’s also known that Gordon Ryan injured himself with a similar position. Is this entry something you know well or is it something you’d avoid due to the possible injuries from there?
“I’m only starting to play with that stuff now and I don’t feel comfortable putting moves I haven’t really had success with in my instructionals. It probably will never be my go-to game but there’s definitely a connection between leg locks and the Butterfly guard because a lot of leg lock entries start with X-Guard or Single Leg X which are also closely connected to Butterfly.
As for injuries, I haven’t met a leg locker who hasn’t experienced some sort of injury from it – it’s just the nature and learning curve of the game I’d imagine. For example, I don’t know many high percentage submissions someone can do when you are on their back but leg locks leave a bigger opportunity for re-counters. The inside triangle entry is the one I think you are mentioning specifically and I can definitely see that being an issue if you try to move a bigger guy with that.”
Lastly, do you have any future plans or goals in mind?
“Hopefully, when New York eases up the travel restrictions I can start competing again. It’s hard to do and run a school with the quarantine protocol that’s in place. If not, I might just do it anyways. It’s been hard and I just really miss it. It will be a good challenge to see how it will go just training with my students at Peak Jiu-Jitsu. Just looking forward to that day. If you are ever in Long Island, New York, come check out my academy, Peak Jiu-Jitsu“
You can also find more about his Butterfly guard here.
