BJJ / MMA Words in Spanish — A Working Vocabulary

If you plan on travelling to Spain or Latin America and want to keep training in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (BJJ) or general MMA, then you’re going to need to learn a few BJJ / MMA words in Spanish, as well as general striking / kickboxing / wrestling words in Spanish.

I’ve been training at an MMA club in Buenos Aires (doing mostly boxing and Jiu Jitsu, with some Muay Thai / Kickboxing), and also looking at videos on YouTube to build vocabulary.

So below is my BJJ / MMA / Muay Thai / Boxing terminology list in Spanish. I’ll add to it over the coming months but it’s good enough now to publish in case it’s useful to people.

MMA / BJJ in Spanish — Borrowed vs Translated Vocabulary

As MMA and BJJ are both international sports, the exact language used in different gyms and countries varies to a degree. Obviously, this is just my experience from a couple of gyms and a number of online videos, but both the MMA world and Spanish-speaking world are huge.

So there are different instances where a gym or coach might use

• A borrowed English word, like “tapear” for “to tap”
• A Japanese term, particularly in Judo moves / holds, like “kesa gatame” for “scarf hold”
• A Portuguese word, like “faixa azul” for “blue belt”. Many BJJ gyms in Argentina use Portuguese words
• Or a Spanish word.

It really depends on the coach, the culture of the club, and the country.

I won’t go into Portuguese terms as I don’t speak Portuguese… yet! But when I do, I’ll create a separate list of Portuguese BJJ terminology.

You might also like

• Our list of the 100 most useful beginner Spanish words
• BJJ words in French

General BJJ / MMA Words in Spanish

These are words of general use that I can’t fit into anywhere else!

BJJ / Grappling Control positions

These are control positions in Spanish. They’re largely jiu jitsu. Not all of them are used in MMA, but you’ll see them in no-gi grappling and in jiu jitsu.

Because “position” translates to posición, which is feminine, you’ll often hear these referred to in the feminine, like la norte sur which implies la posición norte sur.

Jiu Jitsu Attacks

Below are common attack words in Spanish. The ones not mentioned, usually more obscure attacks like “gogoplata”, are the same.

Oh, but the jury’s out on how to say “omoplata”. The reason for this is that “a omoplata” is how you say “the shoulder blade” in Portuguese. That’s where the name for the attack comes from.

In Spanish, sometimes the omoplata called “omoplata”, borrowing the Portuguese word, and sometimes its’ called “un omoplato”, using the Spanish word for shoulder blade. (The shoulder blade is masculine in Spanish and feminine in Portuguese. Ah, languages! I love you but can’t stand you sometimes…)

Body parts

Yes, you can learn body parts anywhere — they’re also part of our recommended basic Spanish vocabulary. But these are all the body parts that you might want to use, to attack, or that you might hurt doing MMA / BJJ!

Muay Thai / Boxing / Striking words

If you’re also doing a striking art, like boxing, Muay Thai, or general MMA striking, you’ll need to know these words.

A lot of words are often just English borrowed words in a Spanish accent, e.g. un jab, un cross, un hook, etc. But they can also use the Spanish words sometimes — depends on the coach / gym.

Also, I think a few of these words get mixed up, so you may have to adapt to the vocabulary of your coach.

Injuries

Finally, injuries happen (or should be avoided). I’m writing this list because all these things have happened to me! Well apart from the cramp, that happened to a training partner.

Wrap up

Remember, wrap up! But also, as I come across new words, I add them to this list. Feel free to send me any differences in your gym or any ones that you think are important for newbies.