Have you ever heard the story about the old bull and the young bull, standing at the top of a hill, watching some cows? The young bull turns to the older bull and says, "Hey, let's run down there and each make sweet, sweet love to one of those cows!" The older bull retorts, "Why don't we just walk down there, nice and slow, and make sweet, sweet love to ALL the cows?" The original … [Read more...]
Standing vs Kneeling Guard Passes
When you're trying to pass your opponent's guard you can use either standing or kneeling guard passes. (Of course if you're dealing with the closed guard you have an additional decision to make, namely whether you first stand or kneel to break the closed guard open in the first place.) Anyhow, there's a tendency for modern BJJ players to use more standing, mobility based passes, especially … [Read more...]
The 3 Steps to a Takedown
Many grapplers lack even a basic knowledge of takedowns, and this is a HUGE mistake. As far as I'm concerned if you're a submission grappler or a jiu-jitsu player who pulls guard in every competition then you need to have at least a few ways to get the fight to the ground from the feet. In having takedowns is just part of being a well rounded grappler, but it's also for self defense: you'll … [Read more...]
An Easy Armdrag Defense
OK, this is a quick post because it's only a short video that I filmed right before training today... If someone tries to armdrag you they're usually gripping your triceps area with their cross hand and pulling you hard, trying to either get behind you or elicit a pulling reaction. And it's a legit threat, because a good armdrag can set you up for a number of things, including... The rear … [Read more...]
The Strong and Weak Sides of the Guillotine Choke (And How to Use Them for Offense and Defense)
OK, today we're going to talk about something that's both very simple and incredibly important. I've explained this to SO many grapplers over the years it's not even funny, and most of the time the reaction is a "Doh! I should have known that!!!" Here's what I'm talking about... The guillotine choke has a strong side and a weak side. Attacking with a strong sided guillotine is MUCH … [Read more...]
Some High Percentage Pin Escapes from the North South Position
One of the most common questions I get asked is "how do I escape from north south?" It's a totally understandable question, because the north south position is a TERRIBLE place to be stuck in! On the bottom your arms are dangling out ripe for armlocking, your neck is just waiting to be choked, and the whole time your opponent is smashing you with heavy pressure from the top. Some of … [Read more...]
How to Defend and Escape the Kimura from Side Control
7 Defending and escaping the Kimura when you're on the bottom of side control is always difficult. There are several different reason for this... First of all, the figure four grip used in the Kimura is very powerful control. It creates a natural handle that your opponent can use to manipulate your entire body, both in gi or no gi. And once your opponent has secured this grip it's a real … [Read more...]
How to Defend and Escape the Armbar from Guard
If you've been grappling for any length of time then you know that anytime you're in the closed guard you've got to watch out for the armbar from guard. It's one of the most common and highest percentage submissions in all of BJJ, submission grappling and MMA. So if we're going to be running into a technique like the armbar from guard this frequently then we HAVE to have some good answers for … [Read more...]
How to Defend and Escape the Rear Naked Choke
There's a reason that the Rear Naked Choke (or RNC) has finished so many matches in MMA, BJJ and submission grappling: it's a very powerful and super-difficult to escape submission! This effectiveness is the main reason that we've devoted so much time to this choke on Grapplearts - (click here to see the RNC archives). But even if your opponent is getting close to sinking this submission don't … [Read more...]
How to Make It MUCH Harder to Pass Your Single Leg X Guard!
I love the Single Leg X Guard position! It's relatively easy to get to, offers you many powerful sweeps, gives you the option to upgrade into other forms of X guard, and - if you want to go that way - it dovetails very nicely with the leglock game (seeing as it's basically the same as the 'ashi garami' leglock position). But a lot of people get a key element of the Single Leg X Guard … [Read more...]
The Standing Sakuraba-Style Kimura Armlock
The first time someone showed me the standing Kimura attack I was pretty skeptical... I was like, "yeah, that would never work, not in a million years!" Whoops, was I ever wrong. You see, shortly after I was introduced to that supposedly 'useless' technique, a Japanese fighter named Kazushi Sakuraba started used the standing Kimura to tear a bloody swath through MMA world, besting a … [Read more...]
The 6 Ranges of Half Guard
The half guard is one of the three fundamental classifications of guard (closed, open, half). It can be used as both an offensive and a defensive position. There are many different variations of half guard, and one way to categorise those variations is by how far away you are from your opponent's hips. If there's a big space between your hips and his then you're at long range. If your hips … [Read more...]
5 Counters to Your Opponent Standing in Your Triangle Choke
If you've got someone in the triangle choke then you want them on their knees. You really don't want them standing up while they're in your choke. Here are the main reasons why you don't want them to stand... There are more counters and escapes to the triangle choke when someone is on their feet... If it's an MMA or self defense situation they can punch you much harder... If they're … [Read more...]
A Throw and Leglock Combination
In the video above my friend and training partner Ritchie Yip shows a really cool throw that goes directly into a match-ending submission. Specifically it's a combination of a throw called Yoko Sumi Gaeshi and the kneebar submission. Yoko Sumi Gaeshi is one of my very favourite throws, and I learned the details of it from UFC champion and Sambo practitioner Oleg Taktarov. This throw … [Read more...]
The Butterfly Sweep from Half Guard
The half butterfly guard is a variation of half guard where you entangle one of your opponent's legs with your inside leg and then insert a single butterfly hook under his thigh with your outside leg. As such this position combines aspects of both the traditional half guard AND the butterfly guard. Two of the most popular attacks in the half butterfly position are Sweeping your opponent … [Read more...]
The Ultimate Guide to the Guillotine Choke in BJJ
The guillotine choke is a powerful submission in BJJ, no gi grappling, and mixed martial arts. At first glance it seems like a simple submission - you just wrap your opponent's neck with your arms, pull up and squeeze, right? Not so fast... There are a LOT of subtleties that you need to master before this submission starts being reliable for you, especially if you don't spend 4 hours a … [Read more...]
Robot Legs Drill (video)
Today I want to show you a fun and effective way to improve your guard passes that I call the 'robot legs' drill. Using this drill you make a super-powerful guard passing movement totally instinctive. And once you get comfortable with this drill you can also get a good cardio workout by going faster - start with 3 sets of one minute at full speed and tell me how you feel afterwards! But … [Read more...]
How to Do the Estima Lock
The Estima Lock is a footlock attack you can use against the open guard, especially modern forms of guard like the reverse de la riva, inverted guard, and others. You can basically use it any time your opponent uses a side kick style foot position against your chest or belly. And - BOOM - it comes on super quickly so he better tap fast! It was developed by two brothers, Victor and Braulio … [Read more...]
Setting Up and Finishing the Single Leg Takedown in BJJ with the Gi
The single leg takedown is one of the main moves in freestyle wrestling, but it becomes considerably harder to pull off when you put the gi on. That's because with the gi your opponent usually just grabs your lapel and sleeve, stiff-arms away, and makes it hard to get at his legs. This can be very frustrating for people looking for single and double leg wrestling takedowns in BJJ. Now judo … [Read more...]
Standing Guillotine Choke Escapes
Standing guillotine chokes are really tough to escape, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't try to get out! I recently met up with my friend Ando Mierzwa, and we shot something on the topic of guillotine prevention and escape for his martial arts oriented Youtube channel. It's a video in 3 parts... The first part of the video is about guillotine prevention. It's always easier to … [Read more...]