• Title: Ricardo De La Riva- Ultimate Street Fighter
• Number of Tapes: 10
• Cost: $130
• Level: Basic to Intermediate
• Rating: 5 Stars
• Ordering Information: Call World Marial Arts at 1-800-682-9842 or go to GroundFighter.com.

The format of these tapes, which average 30-35 min each, is exactly the same as the Sperry tapes; they are filmed in the same room with exactly the same production quality. Sperry usually performs a move, and then it is repeated several times from different angles. De La Riva does the move two and sometimes three times and then moves on. This is both good and bad. Good in the sense that the tapes are nonstop technique; however, this could make learning from these tapes harder than Sperry's if you are a beginner. Another note, De La Riva speaks no English on this tape; his uke, Carlson Gracie BB Marcelo Grosso, does the explaining. The explanations are not as good as Sperry's and missing some of the finer details, but adequate. Again, a beginner might not be able to grasp some of the techniques with the explanations given. Another thing to consider is that these tapes, like Sperry's, lack escapes.

Someone said that these tapes are almost as good as Sperry and 100% cheaper. I couldn't agree more. In fact, it is a tradeoff between number of moves and explanation with small details. After watching these tapes, my advice would be to get Sperry Vale Tudo 1. FIRST, BEFORE this series. That way, you have a grasp of many of the techniques or basic principles presented; I would advise getting Sperry Vale Tudo 1, then De La Riva or Sperry Vale Tudo 2. In fact, I feel that this series is an EXCELLENT follow up to Sperry's first and second series. On their own, these tapes might suffer from a lack of explanation. I can say that at $130, these tapes are a STEAL. GET THEM!

Now De La Riva goes BACK to his single and shows it in more detail. De La Riva shows what to do if this move fails; this ends in a figure 4 toe hold. Now, these are good takedowns, BUT they leave you too open to be sprawled upon; De La Riva shows these literally bent over at the waist with legs nearly straight. These DO have their time and place, but use them accordingly. In all fairness, if you can pull this technique off, you are in a good position for a standing achilles. I feel this would be better if he were to penetrate further and lowered his legs to remain more upright, but what do I know? It is interesting, he does not use the single he shows in his "sparring" session. He then shows how to get the back from the single position; several takedowns are shown from here, one ending in a knee compression and one ending with you taking your opponent's back.

De La Riva now shows how to enter behind your own punches. Once tied up, he shows a takedown similar to the one Ken Shamrock used on Pat Smith in UFC 1. A really nice combo was when your opponent scoots his hips out to avoid this takedown; you simply move your hands up behind his head and knee him. When he jerks back from the knees, you do a double. De La Riva also shows a whizzer from this position to kneeing your opponents face to guillotine.

There were some really nice takedowns, with very little overlap with the takedown's Sperry shows. I feel that Sperry does a better job showing how to enter, and De La Riva does not address when your opponent is against a wall at all. That being said, every takedown De La Riva uses ends in a submission. As I said earlier, I really liked some of the takedowns/combos shown here. This is certainly a good if not great collection of relatively easy takedowns, though lacking in how to get in, IMHO.

De La Riva then shows several ways how to break your opponents guard with the hands behind his head method if your opponent is extremely strong. I felt this was some excellent material. He then goes on to show "Sperry's method" of opening the guard. The method he actually used to pass the guard is good, and can be found on any number of tapes, though not Sperry's.

The material on this tape goes from excellent ( the "Sperry" way to pass the guard or how to open someone's guard with the hands behind the head method) to mediocre (the knee on tailbone passes- I like the method that Pedro C. uses on his second series better, BUT he seems to get his legs awful tied up and looked like he could be swept). If you are going to pass a guard in a vale tudo situation, you are MUCH better off passing it standing while punching. De La Riva does not address any half guard passing. This is a good tape on its on, but comes in much more handy as a follow up to Sperry's excellent guard passing tape on his first series.

De La Riva takes Sperry's 4 top control positions as taught on tape 10 of his second series and breaks them down further, giving 7 positions. A clear distinction is seen between the two in the way of explanations. The explanations of foot and hand placement, movement, etc. is spartan compared to Sperry. This is fine IF you have Sperry because he thoroughly breaks down everything. If you do NOT have Sperry, many important details would be lost. As I said, the explanations aren't anything bad if you have Sperry; you already know where to put your feet and weight.

Okay, De La Riva moves between his 7 positions, finds some excellent ways to strike, and uses the strikes to get a mount or submission. One really nifty move was a one arm americana. If this fails, he shows how to get a juji gatame, a kimura, total hold down type position, or head scissor. Like I said, basically every move, except some knee on chest work, that Sperry shows can be found here along with much more material. De La Riva continued to impressed me with his use of his legs. He uses his hooks to mount or even get a rear mount. De La Riva shows some excellent ways to get the mount when your opponent defends; several good bait and switches are shown. The little knee on chest work shown is quite good, and De La Riva uses a different hand positioning than Sperry, interesting.

I really liked these tapes. If you have Sperry, you have many of the finer details already, but a beginner would miss some really important details that make or break a position.

Tape 6 - The Guard
After finishing this tape, I was most surprised that the two, perhaps, most basic submissions from the guard, the triangle and "standard" juji gatame, were not shown. This is certainly fine, but bad if you are a beginner, which leads me to say Sperry's set might be better for a beginner. De La Riva starts from his closed guard with Marcello on his knees with his hands on De La Riva's chest in a position to strike. He shows 2 ways to get his opponent down. One ends with the uke's head under De La Riva's arm in position for a guillotine, and the other ends in the basic guard hold down as taught on Sperry or Pedro. De La Riva also shows what to do if the opponent puts his hand on your neck to strike; the move ends in an arm triangle. An alternative move would have the opponent end in a straight armbar. I liked this setup, shown later in the tape, and had never seen it before, or even saw it coming. At the end of this tape is about a 45 second "outake" section with some humorous moments.

One thing that impressed me was De La Riva's leg work. Ricardo uses his legs to hook, pull, block punches, etc. better than anyone I've seen. This tape had no sweeps, which are covered on the open guard tape. There is relatively little overlap on this and the tape and the Sperry guard tapes. As I said, the lack of a standard straight armbar or triangle is not good for a beginner, but fine for everyone else. Several of the excellent combinations on Sperry's second guard tape are not found here; this makes it difficult to recommend which guard tape I like better. The bottom line is that is an excellent series, with a price that cannot be beat.

De La Riva begins by showing 2 different ways to get the elevator on your opponent. He then moves on to cover what happens when your opponent stands in your guard and how to sweep him. De La Riva then discusses the "butt scoot" for when your opponent moves away. He shows how to stand from here and 2 ways to kick. One of the kicks serves as a setup for another. Also, he shows how to fake a kick and sweep your opponent. I don't know about how the move was shown. It seems to necessitate your opponent standing still and blocking the kick. don't get me wrong; the move certainly will work. It just won't be as pretty as on the tape. De La Riva even shows what to do if your opponent tries to hit you as you are standing.

There isn't too much overlap between this tape and Sperry's, and I'd say De La Riva all the way for open guard, harder to say for closed guard. In response to my earlier statement about De La Riva not demonstrating the triangle, De La Riva shows it on this tape with a setup I had never seen before as well as shows how to sweep to end up in a mounted triangle.

De La Riva then goes on to show a nifty escape to the full nelson that I can't wait to try, and then he shows 2 versions of the guillotine. One is the figure four version associated with Catch Wrestling. (I know BJJ does this version, but a BJJ practioner has never put it on a tape until now to the best of my knowledge); if you REALLY want to learn this move, get Tony's series. He then shows another version of the guillotine where you reach under the arm, having the arm trapped in with the neck. This is quite common, but De La Riva uses a grip I have never seen which is similar to say an arm triangle or rear naked.

The tape moves on to discuss two attackers. De La Riva's advice is get against a wall, so one cannot get behind you, and quickly execute takedowns on each of your opponent. Good luck. He says if one grabs you from behind and the other is trying to punch you, kick the one punching you away and take the one grabbing you down. Ok. The advice I found most practical is getting behind one of the attackers, use him as a shield, and put him to sleep.

The out take section was really funny. Marcelo slaps the crap out of De La Riva, knocking the gum out of his mouth! What's even better is De La Riva bends down, picks it up, and starts chewing it again!! This was my least favorite tape, but, then again, I don't like this type of tape too much.