A while ago I interviewed Erik Paulson, one of the best MMA coaches in the business (click here to listen to that very informative conversation).
Now if you’ve ever trained with Erik, you’ll know he’s an encyclopedia of submissions. He can show you an incredible number of rapid-fire leglocks, chokes, armlocks, wristlocks, neckcranks and kneebars.
So I was surprised when he started talking about how he’s started limiting his game and reducing the number of submissions that he uses on a day-to-day basis.
His point was that in his sparring he’s sticking to the submissions that are high percentage for him. It’s important to understand that this is for his personal go-to moves: he’ll still teach all the moves he knows, because what’s low percentage for him might be the perfect move for someone else!
So I pushed him for examples and he spoke about two particular series of attacks – the first starting from the front headlock position, and the second from side control.
When trained with Erik in Seattle at the beginning of this month I ended up filming both sequences! If you’re curious as to the high-percentage submissions from the front headlock, then watch the video below
In the above video Erik shows the ‘Grovit’ facelock/neckcrank, but the angle of the camera isn’t very good. So here is Catch Wrestling legend Billy Robinson breaking down the Grovit for you in some additional detail.
I hope to get to the side mount series out to you next week!
