Daniel Strauss Butterfly Guard Seminar At Praetorian MMA

On 14 March 2024, Praetorian MMA hosted a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu seminar with Daniel Strauss, focused on one of the most important positions in grappling: butterfly guard.

The seminar was open to the wider BJJ community, with an invitation extended beyond Praetorian MMA to students and coaches from other clubs. For a club that had only recently reformed, hosting a recognised instructor like Daniel Strauss so early in the journey was an important moment.

It showed what Praetorian MMA was trying to build from the very beginning: a serious combat sports environment where students, coaches and visitors could come together, share the mats and keep learning.

A Club Finding Its Feet

March 2024 was a very different time for Praetorian MMA. The club had only recently reformed and many of the systems, classes and structures that members see today were still being built.

There was excitement about what the club could become, but there was also a lot of hard work happening behind the scenes. Classes were developing, the coaching team was growing and the culture of the club was beginning to take shape.

Hosting a seminar with Daniel Strauss so early in that journey was a significant step forward. It showed that Praetorian MMA wanted to be more than a place where people simply attended weekly classes.

We wanted to create an environment where students could learn from our own coaching team while also being exposed to respected figures from the wider Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and grappling community.

Who Is Daniel Strauss?

Daniel Strauss is one of the most recognisable figures in UK Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and submission grappling. Known for his coaching, competition experience and technical understanding, he has spent years teaching, competing and contributing to the wider grappling community.

Bringing Daniel to Praetorian MMA gave students the opportunity to learn from a high-level instructor with a different perspective, different details and a depth of experience that helped everyone in the room expand their understanding of the sport.

The Butterfly Guard Seminar

The focus of the seminar was butterfly guard, a key position in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, NoGi grappling and mixed martial arts. Butterfly guard is not simply a position for sweeping an opponent. It teaches balance, connection, timing, posture control and the ability to create movement from underneath.

For students training in BJJ, NoGi BJJ or MMA, those lessons are valuable across many areas of grappling.

Seminars like this give students the chance to slow things down, focus on details and see how high-level grapplers think about positions rather than simply collecting techniques.

Coaches On The Mats

The seminar was attended by members of the Praetorian MMA coaching team and senior training group, including Martyn Styler, Rob Goodson and Kieran Pugh.

It was also attended by Ben Hudson Wilde and Josh Woodbourne, who at the time had both been training for less than a year.

That detail matters because looking back at the photographs from the seminar now, Ben and Josh almost look like different people.

At that stage, neither were coaches. Neither had fully grown into the roles they would later take on within the club. They were simply young students on the mats, learning, listening and absorbing information alongside everyone else.

Then And Now

The photographs from the Daniel Strauss seminar have become more meaningful with time.

In March 2024, Josh Woodbourne was still near the beginning of his journey. He would later develop into one of the most successful competitors in the club's history, become a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu coach and grow into a role model for younger students.

Ben Hudson Wilde was also still early in his development. He would later transition more heavily towards MMA, become part of the coaching team and establish himself as one of the hardest working young athletes at Praetorian MMA.

Looking at those photos now is a reminder that people do not change overnight. Growth happens session by session, week by week and month by month.

The young people standing on the mats that evening could not have known where their journeys would lead. The club itself was still discovering the same thing.

Open To The Wider BJJ Community

This was not a closed Praetorian MMA event.

The seminar was opened to other clubs and members of the wider Brazilian Jiu Jitsu community. That was important because the sport grows when people are willing to share knowledge, train together and learn from one another.

At Praetorian MMA, we believe clubs are stronger when they build positive relationships with the wider combat sports community. This is also reflected in our connection with Odyssey Combat Club and our approach to seminars, competitions and shared training opportunities.

The Daniel Strauss seminar was an early example of that attitude.

Better When We Are Together

One lesson that continues to appear throughout the history of Praetorian MMA is that we are always better when we work together.

That applies to coaches. It applies to students. It applies to visiting instructors, affiliations and relationships with other clubs.

The Daniel Strauss seminar brought together people from different teams, different backgrounds and different levels of experience, all with the same goal: to learn.

Looking back now, the seminar represents more than a night of training. It represents the beginning of the culture we continue building today.

A culture based on learning, sharing knowledge and helping each other improve.

Part Of The Praetorian MMA Story

Since that night, Praetorian MMA has continued to grow. The coaching team has developed, the class timetable has expanded and students who were once beginners have started becoming competitors, coaches and leaders within the club.

The Daniel Strauss seminar remains part of that history. It was one of the early markers of what the club wanted to become and the standards it wanted to build towards.

It also sits alongside other important moments in the club's development, including seminars, competitions, gradings, success stories and the continued growth of the team.

For anyone who attended, it was a valuable evening of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. For Praetorian MMA, it was also a glimpse of the future.