Are You Tired of Your Training Partners Making Fun of You for Always Pulling Guard?
It’s comfortable. It’s familiar. It’s where you feel safe. You’ve brushed off their remarks up to this point, but secretly you want to surprise them one day. You want to walk into that gym and throw them, like they never thought you could. In a flash, they’ll be on the ground, not quite knowing what hit them.
Much like any blockbuster movie arch, your hero story requires a mentor. The Yoda to your Luke. The Mr. Miyagi to your Daniel LaRusso. The Gandalf (or maybe the Aragorn) to your Frodo Baggins. You get the point.
Enter, Miha Perhavec.
Miha Will Teach You The Powers of Judo
Born in a small town in Slovenia, Miha grew up trying out a variety of sports. At about age 9, he tried judo, which Slovenia has a strong tradition of.
He describes his early history in martial arts as:
“I was fortunate to train with some future Olympic medalists and receive my black belt [in judo] when I was 18. I got frustrated with the rules changing all the time, making the sport a less complete grappling art, so I quit and started MMA training. Luckily for me the team in my hometown was under Alliance jiu jitsu and I eventually switched to just grappling.”
Although he ultimately transitioned away from competing in judo, that didn’t mean ceasing his judo training. In fact, it’s still a large part of Miha’s training regimen to this day, as well as something that continues to prove its worth in jiu jitsu competitions.
Miha’s course on Jiu Jitsu X, Major Outer Reaper, is exactly what you need if you’re intimidated by takedowns, intrigued by judo, or seeking self-defense techniques. The course focuses on one of Miha’s go-to judo techniques, the Osoto Gari. As a student of the course, you’ll explore how the Osoto Gari appies in both gi and no-gi jiu jitsu, judo, and self-defense scenarios.
Major Inner Reaper, his follow-up to Major Outer Reaper, explores the Ouchi Gari, another of Miha’s most versatile judo-for-jiu jitsu techniques. It even offers transitions to other judo options, such as:
Osoto Gari
Uchi Mata
Kouchi Gari
Harai Goshi
Beyond just judo, it touches on how the move works in combination with jiu jitsu options like the collar tie, body lock, and single leg.
Though his self-appointed specialties include “judo, leglocks, and being mean”, you’ll find that Miha is quite cognizant of teaching students how to approach these techniques safely. If you’re generally a bit apprehensive about performing throws, worry not! Under a thick layer of “Slovenian flavor” and sarcasm, this is a teacher who cares about “changing people's lives for the better by making them fall in love with jiu jitsu.”
But Why Learn Judo from Miha VS Any Other Instructor?
For starters, his Jiu Jitsu X courses receive rave reviews like this one:
“Have you ever played Street Fighter II and the computer would just walk up, effortlessly throwing you with perfect timing, and you’d sit there, chucking your controller to the floor while shouting “That’s Cheating!!!!” That’s what this course [will] make you feel like...cheating. But what if it told you it’s actually legal. After watching this course, you [will] walk amongst your daily life but with a Terminator like HUD. Identifying every opportunity to osoto the mortals amongst you. Kids, Grandma, Bears? No one is safe.”
Furthermore, as someone who has traveled and trained all over the world, he brings a huge range of knowledge to his instruction.
As he began to focus on grappling, he realized that Slovenia didn’t offer the high caliber competitors he would need to rapidly improve, so he began traveling all over to compete. During that time, he accumulated many accolades:
5 IBJJF No-gi European medals
Multiple IBJJF Open wins
Reaching the World Championships in Los Angeles and Abu Dhabi
Around 2017-2018, he and his wife Emma took off on a 2 year world tour, traveling to and training in locales such as: the United States, Costa Rica, New Zealand, Australia, Bali, Singapore, Dublin, Hawaii, and Japan. Miha was able to secure a few prestigious wins along the way, including in the 2018 New Zealand No-Gi Absolute Division.
A 2021 Grappling Insider article about his promotion to jiu jitsu black belt under Keenan Cornelius also points out that he “holds a 3-1 record in Polaris, losing only to 10th Planet stand-out Richie ‘Boogeyman’ Martinez.”
If you watch any of his matches, you’ll recognize that his success can often be attributed to his understanding of both judo and jiu jitsu, and how the two work together.
Miha Also Has a Deep Understanding of Online Instruction, and How to Make it Valuable for the Student
Miha’s several courses on Jiu Jitsu X are expertly structured to take you, the student, through the instruction in the most effective way possible. He actually has a lot of experience not just in teaching online courses, but in presenting online courses taught by others to students seeking their knowledge.
He is currently the co-owner and co-founder of both Legion AJJ and Jiu Jitsu X alongside Keenan, where he brings a depth of knowledge to the table. Prior to arriving in San Diego, he ran Yoga for BJJ, helped Keenan originally release Lapel Encyclopedia, and assisted Kit Dale with his Art of Learning Jiu Jitsu.
He also could be described as a lifetime student. He has a B.A. in International Relations, an M.A. in Global Security & Conflict Resolution, and would probably consider his snobbery about coffee akin to that of whatever mastery title would apply. Black coffee blackbelt?
You can check out his precise pour over technique in his FREE cooking course, also available on Jiu Jitsu X, Kitchen Tap (did we mention he appreciates a good pun?). The course also includes a ton of meal options for keeping your body prepared for intense physical performance. A pleased reviewer wrote: “Fantastic. 10 out of 10. Would cook again.”
You can keep up with Miha’s training and ice-bathing here on his Instagram page. We are also obligated to mention that you can follow him and Emma’s chihuahua, Zooka, here on her own page. Other than that, enjoy your path towards becoming, as Miha puts it, “antifragile”!
