Sunday 25th November – Fundamentals
Tonight we looked at some fundamental escapes from common positions : side control, mount and knee-ride
Escape from side control
One person takes side control
- left arm controlling their opponent’s far shoulder
- right arm blocking the opponent’s hip on the near side
- legs out straight, balancing on the balls of the feet
- weight centred chest to chest
To escape, the person underneath
- bridges the hips
- reaches under the opponent’s right armpit with their left arm (underhook)*
- plants their feet and shifts their hips out away from their opponent
- keeps hipping away until they’re practically in line with their opponent
- scissors their legs to turn onto their front
- bring the knees in and drive straight into your opponents belly
*as you reach for the ‘underhook’ turn towards your opponent far enough that they can’t just push you back by driving into your shoulder
Rather than achieve this in one hernia-inducing move, you’re more likely to have success by making smaller repeated movements. For example, you might have to make several smaller bridging movements to create enough space to reach your arm through for the underhook.
Elbow escape from mount
- Block the inside of your opponent’s left thigh with your right elbow
- Plant your feet flat on the floor and drive your hips into their right leg (this is just a plain old hip escape)
- This creates the space to bring your right knee through
- Turn onto your other side and repeat the same steps on the other side
E.g.
- Block the inside of your opponent’s right thigh with your left elbow
- etc etc
Extra points to consider:
If you realise you’re opponent is going to get mount, you can make this escape easier by getting into a slightly more favourable position as they transition. Let’s say they had side control on your left side and were about to step their left leg over for mount.
You would:
- turn slightly onto your right side keeping your elbows in
- bend your right leg and bring it up to meet your right elbow
- turn your little toe into the mat with your heel off the mat – this should have the effect of keeping your knee flat on the mat
- keeping the outside of the knee flat to the mat prevents them from sliding their leg under to gain a stable mount position
This gives you a head start on your escape because:
- your opponent’s left leg lands on an unstable surface – your knee
- your right elbow is already in position to block their left leg
Knee ride escape to knees
Your opponent has taken the knee-ride position. Their right knee is in your belly and their left leg is posted out for balance.
- grab their gi pants at the right knee with your right arm
- use your left arm to grab their belt, keeping your arm locked straight – if they don’t have a belt, push into their hips with your fist
- bring your knees close to your butt, raise your hips then move them away to your left (basic hip escape movement) creating a space for your opponent’s knee to drop to the mat
- let go of their their pants with your right arm
- bring your right elbow behind you so you can rest your weight on your forearm
- back away to your knees so you’re facing your opponent – keep your left arm straight throughout!
Further points to consider:
Make sure you grab their pants leg before your grab their belt. If you grab the belt without securing their leg, they can step that free leg around your head to arm bar you.
It’s vital that you keep the arm controlling the belt locked straight. A bent arm is not going to be a match for your opponent driving their weight forward through their hips.
