Three-time NCAA Division I champion Jason Nolf made his BJJ debut at the Paradigm Open 3 on June 9th, 2024 and he was coming up against a really tough opponent in talented B-Team Jiu-Jitsu competitor Andrew Simmons. Not only does Simmons have far more experience in BJJ, but he’s also got an extensive wrestling background as well. It was clear right from the start that both men were happy to fight for the takedown and neither one of them was willing to accept bottom position, as they spent almost the entire first minute handfighting and battling for an advantage on the feet.
Jason Nolf saw an opening and went for it though, hitting a beautiful duck-under and scoring the takedown as predicted in his BJJ debut. Simmons showed his experience though when kept his back to the mat and worked to attack Nolf’s legs, forcing Nolf to stay standing to free himself from single-leg X. Nolf cleared the hooks and was quick with the backstep to pass Simmons’ guard, but Simmons was able to recover half-guard without conceding points for the pass. Nolf secured top position and earned his 2 points for the takedown though, spending the next minute fighting against Simmons’ underhook on his far leg.
Simmons switched to half-butterfly and managed to elevate Nolf briefly, but Nolf stabilised and hit a quick pass that almost saw him make it to side control. Simmons kept his shin in as a frame and worked his way back to half-guard again, but this time Nolf did a better job of flattening him out. Nolf worked his underhook into a head and arm control, stapling Simmons’ leg with his shin before sliding his leg free and landing into mount. After scoring another 3 points for the pass and moving to 5-0, Nolf stepped off into side control in an attempt to finish the choke.
He squeezed hard and it looked as though Simmons’ hand was hovering to tap, but he couldn’t quite get the angle he needed. Nolf stepped back to mount and readjusted his grip, before switching his hips and really pressuring down on the choke. After a few seconds of pressure, Simmons was forced to tap and Nolf won the match by submission with an arm-triangle choke. It was a pretty flawless BJJ debut by Jason Nolf and it was clear that his training paid off, as he was able to make the transition to the different ruleset with relative ease.
Not many wrestlers have managed to make the transition to no gi BJJ and compete at the highest level, but Nolf has an incredibly high level of wrestling behind him and would be the favorite to get the takedown over anyone in the sport. If he’s able to continue developing the submission skills that he was able to display in his debut then it wouldn’t be all that surprising to see him taking on some of the best around. Considering that ADCC is currently announcing invites for ADCC 2024, Nolf might actually be a fantastic invite for the under 77kg division.
