Good question.
If was teaching someone to box. I would start them out with:
- Basic stance
- Basic advancing, retreating, and sidestepping footwork
- Basic, jab, cross, and hook
- Basic slipping, parrying, and blocking
In the space of a week I could give them enough material to keep them busy for the next six months.
Once they had a handle on the above, I'd show them a basic uppercut, overhand right, shoulder roll, bobbing and weaving, and start exploring some simple variations and combinations, feints and setups. That could keep them busy for a couple of years. After that, it's mostly a matter of delving deeper into the foundational material and exploring subtle variations rather than learning actual new techniques.
On the other hand, here's the material I would personally like to see a BJJ student have a handle on in order to be promoted to blue belt (the first belt above white - usually takes about 2 years to reach):
Note - I expect a student being promoted to blue belt to have encountered and be working on more items than are on the list below. This is just a list of what the student should know well enough to demonstrate cleanly.
Standup
Basic break falls
technical standup in base
distance management and clinching against untrained puncher
basic pummeling
basic arm drag
sprawl
duck under
basic defense against common untrained street attacks (haymaker, headlock, shove + punch, bear hug, etc)
at least two takedowns polished enough to be usable in sparring against experienced white belts
Guard bottom
Fundamentals of defending vs punches with closed and open guards
principles of distance management and controlling posture using guard (primarily closed guard and basic feet on hips open guard)
basics of disengaging and standing up from guard
basic arm bar, kimura, guillotine, cross-collar choke, and triangle performed with clean technique
familiarity with common fundamental sweeps (scissor sweep, hip bump, pendulum, butterfly, tripod, sickle, maybe more?) with at least two sweeps from closed guard and two from open guard being solid enough to regularly use during rolling
Guard top
Fundamentals of establishing and maintaining good posture and correct hand positioning
Understanding principles of breaking and passing guard
At least two guard passes solid enough to use regularly in rolling. Should be familiar with and working on polishing more
Straight foot lock
Mount bottom
Basic punch protection
safe hand positioning
solid trap and roll escape - basic variations
solid knee-elbow escape - basic variations
ability to use trap&roll and knee-elbow escapes in combination
Mount top
Principles of controlling mount and countering basic escapes, applied solidly
basic armlock, americana, cross-collar choke, and arm triangle with clean technique
Side mount bottom
Safe hand positioning
knee-elbow escape
escaping to all fours
Side mount top
Principles of controlling position from common side mount variations
basic transitions to other common top positions (mount, north-south, knee ride, kesa)
americana, kimura, arm lock, arm triangle, bread cutter choke
Back mount top
Principles of controlling position
transition to mount when opponent starts to escape
rear naked choke, at least one collar choke
Back mount bottom
basic principles of escape
Half-guard bottom
basic principles of defensive positioning
recovery to full guard
at least one solid sweep
Half-guard top
basic principles of control
at least one solid pass
In general
Solid movement for bridnging, shrimping, and turning over to all fours
Familiarity with fundamental concepts - posture control, distance control, frames, isolating limbs, using technique rather than strength, what different grips are useful for, etc
Good control - safe to work with - can be trusted to work with smaller beginners without hurting them
Has at least a basic gameplan for what to do in the common ground positions, both on top and bottom
Starting to use moves in combination rather than just individual techniques
Able to roll at a level generally expected of blue belts, i.e. able to dominate most white belts unless giving up a significant disadvantage in size or athleticism, able to start hanging in there with other blue belts, able to demonstrate clean technique rather than just athleticism
As you can see, BJJ has a lot more material that students need in order to have a solid foundation. (It doesn't stop there either. There are a
lot more moves to learn after what I've listed here. This is just stuff you need to learn as a beginner (and continue refining through the higher ranks at the same time as you learn new material).
