O-Goshi with Ilias Iliadis: A BJJ Hip-Throw Masterclass
When this short clip of Ilias Iliadis demonstrating O-Goshi first ran on the site back in 2015, the takedown in BJJ was politely described as a work in progress. Most rooms started a roll on their…
Words: Jiu Jitsu Style
When this short clip of Ilias Iliadis demonstrating O-Goshi first ran on the site back in 2015, the takedown in BJJ was politely described as a work in progress. Most rooms started a roll on their backs out of habit, and the only hip throw a fair number of black belts could finish on a resisting partner was the one they'd accidentally hit in a scramble. Iliadis — Olympic champion at seventeen in Athens 2004, multiple-time World Champion at -90kg, and one of the most decorated judoka of his generation — sat down anyway to walk through the most fundamental hip throw in the Gokyo. Eleven years on, the reasons that clip mattered for Jiu Jitsu are clearer than ever.
For anyone meeting him for the first time, Iliadis is the kind of athlete who reorganises a weight class around him for a decade. Born in Georgia, raised and competing for Greece, Olympic gold in Athens, three World titles, a haul of European Championships, and a reputation on the mat for finishing matches with throws that look textbook in slow motion and brutal at full speed. O-Goshi — the major hip throw — was one of the first techniques he learned as a kid and one he never stopped trusting. There's a lesson in that on its own.
Why O-Goshi for BJJ players
O-Goshi is the throw every judo white belt meets in their first month and the throw every black belt still drills, because the shape of it teaches the rest of the standing game. Step in deep, hip lower than the opponent's hip, belt-line under their centre of mass, arm wrapped behind the back, and rotate. In the clip Iliadis is showing the orthodox grip — sleeve and back — and the kuzushi that sets it up: a short pull onto the opponent's lead foot to break the posture forward before the hip turns in. For a Jiu Jitsu player this is the gold-standard primer. The grip lives on the lapel and the back, both of which are already part of the gi player's toolkit. The finishing position lands you square in side control on a partner who hits the mat flat. There's no scramble to recover from and no leg entanglement to navigate on the way down.
What's changed since 2015, and what hasn't
Re-watching the clip in 2026, the standup landscape around it has shifted considerably. ADCC's evolving ruleset has put a real cost on a lazy guard pull. The IBJJF's standup penalties have done the same on the gi side. The result is a generation that takes the first phase of a match seriously — Nicholas Meregali setting up uchi-mata-style entries off the cross-grip, Felipe Pena and Roberto Jimenez carrying a real takedown game into the open weight bracket, Ffion Davies bringing a serious judo background into the women's lightweight division, the Ruotolo brothers happy to start matches on their feet. Travis Stevens, the Olympic silver medallist, now spends his life teaching judo to Jiu Jitsu rooms full-time. The case Iliadis was quietly making in that 2015 clip — that the hip throw is a Jiu Jitsu position, not a borrowed one — is the default in the rooms that matter.
What hasn't moved is the technique. The kuzushi is the same, the hip placement is the same, the finishing shape is the same, and the mistakes are the same. Trying to throw the partner with your back instead of your hips. Standing too tall on the entry, so the belt-line is above the opponent's centre of mass and they ride the turn-in like a piggy-back. Releasing the back-grip on the rotation, which puts the partner on their feet instead of their shoulder blades. Iliadis's body in the clip is the corrective for every one of those errors. Watch his knees on the entry; watch his hip get under theirs; watch the back-arm stay attached all the way through the landing.
The takeaway hasn't changed
For the rest of us, the lesson stands. You don't need to become a judoka to use judo. You need one or two throws that fit your body, a grip game that doesn't crumble the first time someone fights for the lapel, and the patience to drill the entry until it costs you nothing to commit to it. O-Goshi is a fine place to start. Drill the kuzushi until the partner is genuinely off-balance before the hip turns in. Drill the entry until your back foot stops being a question mark. Watch the clip with a notebook and steal the bits that fit your game — instructional apps and YouTube have made that easier than it's ever been, and a good judo room one night a week will accelerate the rest. The first phase of every BJJ match is either something that happens to you or something you do. Eleven years on, Iliadis is still the man to show you what "something you do" looks like.
See you on the mats.
Originally published in Jiu Jitsu Style, 9 February 2015. Refreshed for 2026.