No Holds Barred Fighting: Takedowns: Throws, Trips, Drops and Slams for NHB Competition and Street Defense (No Holds Barred Fighting series)

Very good book.In it are covered some basic and advanced wrestling and submission takedown techniques. A lot of photos which make all techniques easy to understand, there is not a lot of text but photos do the job, that reader will undersatand what is going on.Like all Hatmakers books this is not be missed. It makes great collection on MMA books.Why not all 5 stars: because I wanted to see more takedowns in it, specialy from Greco Roman side of wrestling. But that's just my wish and author make his call what he will cover n there.

This is purely a wrestling book. All of the situations either involve an arm drag or someone else trying to wrestle with you. THERE ARE NO THROWS IN THIS BOOK*. There is 1 trip maneuver in the entire book (actually 2, but the other trip is dumb and obvious). Impractical situations that you would never be in because it's not a wrestling match and there are knees, fists, etc. This might be an okay book for some general no-gi stuff.I'm giving this book 1 star based on the completely misleading title and description. The cover says "Throws, Trips, Drops and Slams." Drops and Slams? WTF? What the heck is a drop? Like an elbow from the top rope? I naively looked past the WWE jargon and bought the book anyway. And that's who this book is marketed to. The naive.*There's a "standing double wrist lock" maneuver which I just considered a kimura throw, which is a pretty cool move and flips them over. Someone did it to me on the mats once...it's not the safest move that's for sure. But very sweet.

Get any book Mark Hatmaker writes. I don't think you'll find a collection of throws and takedowns like this anywhere. Also, Mark Hatmaker writes with such an entertaining style.

Husband loved all of the books.. He was so happy to see them come in so quickly.. Very pleased.. Softback books great shape.. New. I'm sure we will be buying more in this line..

I like Hatmaker and enjoy his easy writing style and ability to simplify fighting concepts. This book is a nice catalog of takedowns for someone who is used to stand up fights and wants to learn how to take his opponent to the mat. Boxer, kick boxers and karate grounded guys can see a wide range of techniques. Wrestlers and soft martial arts guys, judo and jujitsu, may pick up a technique here and there, but most of the book really misses this group. The philosophy for a lot of the set ups for the takedown techniques seemed based on a sparring or jabbing model. The opponent's balance is disturbed by a sudden jab like push, pull or grab of some kind which is then abandoned so you can follow up with usually a double leg takedown -- though many other takedowns are considered later in the book. The problem I have with this model is that it won't work with "sticky" opponents. Unlike boxers who spar, soft martial arts guys often welcome an opponent's push, pull or grab as an opportunity. They hold on to attacking hand/limb while they they yield to momentum of the attacker and then redirect his attack to their advantage. It feels like your hand hit glue on a swinging door. These set ups calling for a jabbing attack can end up being used to off balance the attacker. Of course, if you limit yourself to inexperienced opponents or boxer type opponents, this shouldn't be a problem. This book would benefit from something like a strategy section. While the subject is briefly addressed in choosing a stance, vertical versus bent over and wide base versus normal base, it is not discussed in how to deal with varied opponents. The author states such a book is in the planning, and I look forward to reading it. But with this book, clearly one shoe does not fit all feet. Most soft martial arts guys are going to be more vertical than lean in boxers and wrestlers. In the same vein, different takedowns will work for wide based stances than normal shoulder width apart stances -- square versus staggered foot stances. Tailoring the takedowns to different opponents seems just as important as selecting your own stance. Two specific weaknesses: Nothing was said about learning how to fall safely. A few pages would have gone a long way to insure guys without any background in landing on their backs from a standing position not get hurt. Most guys do something stupid like reaching back while falling and risk injuring the joints of their arms or cracking their necks (chin to chest when going down.) Second, some of the less used takedowns shown in the book are clearly not neck friendly and inexperienced guys should be very careful with them if they are going directly from the book to their backyad with a hapless buddy. Good book for non grapplers who want to see what takedowns look like. But expect that quite a bit of fine tuning will be necessary for the techniques to actually work.

Excellent technical submissions explained in details. Have been able to pull these moves off in sparring due to drilling loads of time. Great book if you're into grappling and MMA

An aspiring Wrestler, BJJ or MMA practitioner should definitely buy this book!

There are some people that may no track with Mark Hatmaker, but I for one am a fan. Some people don't like him because he's self-taught, others because they've seen his videos, and just don't line up with the guy. For those people with such issues, I do hope that you do pick up one of his No Holds Barred books. I do admit, this book is one of my least favorites, but that certainly doesn't tarnish the quality of the content.The biggest problem with books today, is that they assume you have some level of mastery. This is where Mark's self-taught nature comes to its greatest light. He starts at the very bottom, and then works his way up. Touching on the historical value of each technique - breaking in and out of how things were done, and how the trends place them now - and then explaining each in great detail. All too often, instructors just take you to the latest and greatest, which leaves you with a large training gap. Keep in mind: These books are too be used in conjunction with REAL TRAINING. Don't let that fail you.What I enjoy most about this book - and his others - is that once you have the foundation, this book becomes a catalogue; a quick reference to help you build up an understanding. He's also included a number of drills to help you along.For anyone that wants a primer on how the 'shoot' works, and a more traditional sense of wrestling takedowns, I highly suggest this book. But it is exactly that. It is wrestling based. There are no judo takedowns, no BJJ, no silat, or anything of the sort. It just keeps the classic material and runs with it.There is nothing complex about this book, and that's the point. If you understand the true nature of the text, then you'll get a good read.

A parte che è scritto tutto in inglese, è un testo buono per chi ha un primo approccio all'MMA.

Another Hatmaker book that is spot onIm a newby in terms of takedowns and he explains every move very well.Like his other books, its easy to understand, clear pictures and the value for the price is awesome