One of the most important areas of competitive judo is that of grip fighting.  Grip fighting is also known as kumikata.  However, kumikata is the are gripping. The science and understanding of where to put your hands, how to orientate your hands and the order in which you need to put your hands is what we call the art and science of grip fighting.

Video link of Dr. Rhadi Ferguson practicing grip fighting at Tampa Florida Judo.
Rufus Ferguson and Dr. Rhadi Ferguson practicing grip fighting at Tampa Florida Judo.

I started Judo at the age of 6 in Miami, Florida and back then I didn’t know anything about grip fighting. I was not introduced to grip fighting until 1997. It was then where I took a job with Texas Instruments in Attleboro, MA and started training with 4-Time Olympian Jimmy Pedro. Jimmy introduced me to grip fighting the “hard way.”

Jimmy was training when I met him and he wasn’t in the business of teaching. He was there to get his training in. After grip fighting with Jimmy I was able to win some big tournaments like the New York Open, where I beat the number ranked judo player in the country in my weight class as a brown belt and I place 3rd at the US Open. And I was able to do all of this because my grip fighting had just improved. After this, I was invited to train the Olympic Training Center where I really got my deep dive in grip fighting education from Eddie Liddie. It was here, at the Olympic Training Center, where I began to understand the strategic framework of action as it pertained to grip fighting. Eddie taught me how to grip fight and how to use a to fulfill the obligations of the grip fighting stratagem.

Video link of Dr. Rhadi Ferguson practicing grip fighting at Tampa Florida Judo.
Rufus Ferguson and Dr. Rhadi Ferguson practicing grip fighting at Tampa Florida Judo.

After learning grip fighting from Jimmy Pedro and Eddie Liddie, I began to develop a systematic approach for grip fighting from what I learned as a mechanical engineer.  I linked the grip fighting to the systems based approach of systems engineering. And when I did that my whole world changed. Grip fighting became easier to study, grip fighting became easier to do and grip fighting became easier to understand.

What I learned, what I know and what has allowed me to train, consult and teach some of the best coaches and competitors in the world as it pertains to grip fighting inside of my educational site The Grip Fighting Academy. If you’d like to visit The Grip Fighting Academyz and get your hands on 100 free grip fighting videos and watch a semi private seminar that I held in Atlanta a few years ago for $2997.00 then just go here –> www.GripFighting.com