NO-GI.

No-Gi is BJJ without the kimono. No collar grips, no lapel controls, no sleeve hooks. You are working with underhooks, overhooks, body locks, and wrist control. The absence of the Gi changes the pace, the grip game, and the submission entries significantly. Matches move faster. Wrestling becomes more central. The margin for sloppy technique gets thinner.

The format has exploded in popularity over the last decade largely due to ADCC and EBI-style submission-only competition, and increasingly shows up as the dominant grappling format in MMA preparation. If you compete in Gi, No-Gi rounds out your game. If you train MMA, No-Gi is the more directly applicable format.

At Lions, the No-Gi program is run by Guilherme Falcao, Gabrielle Stan, and Merck Milne. The instruction is technically grounded, not just scramble-heavy wrestling with submission attempts thrown in, but a coherent system of position, control, and finishing. Students build structured attacks from the guard, half guard, back, and leg entanglements.