Let him go / Creating a "Plan B game"

Ok I am explaining most of this in the video, but I'll write some of it as well :)

I was watching the interview with Marcelo Garcia in Arte Suave, where he talks about how he always let's his training partner escape from positions and submissions, only to notice what then happens and how he can benefit from the situation. It changed my game over night, and the more I let people go instead of just finishing the submission (as I have done a thousands time before), the more new possibilities opened up for me.

In this example, I show how letting my opponent escape an armbar sets up a beautiful omo plata. If I let him roll out of it, I have another armbar waiting.

For competition, or any other fight where I want to finish it as fast as possible, I would ofcourse just finish the submission right away. But in training, I want to prepare for every possible situation, and am i fighting someone in a competition, it is most likely that he is at least on my own level and therefore capable of escaping most of my submissions. That means, I cannot beat him solely on pulling a submission that he doesn't know, but instead I have to be one step ahead of him and catch him there. Letting him escape so he thinks he is on his way out, then taking advantage of that for setting up another submission is one way to do it. I have a Plan B waiting for him beartrap-style and I am baiting him to step right into it.

I hope you enjoy this little video, it is only a few small techniques, but in training, try to play more and let your opponent escape in different ways. You will be surprised how much it will help your game.

Keylock position mount attack combination

Attack combination we came up with in class today using the inquiry method. We were working on the armbar from mount and ran into the classic problem when the opponent just locks his arms tight not allowing you to get up under his elbows to setup the armbar. This is what we came up with to counter that.


I start off in the mounted position and. My opponent locks his hands together and keeps his elbows tight to prevent me from getting the armbar.


I wriggle my left forearm in under his fists to lift them up. By lifting my elbow a little I can kind of use my arm as a crowbar and it is easy to lift his fists just enough without need of using power.


When I've created a little space, I insert my right arm and grab his shoulder.


Now I must immediately put my weight on his right arm so he can't just rotate it free. Also I lean to my left and has my left arm ready to post in case he would try to bridge me over here. My right foot is aware of not getting caught so I can post with it.


Ok next three pics is one quick motion. I have split it up so you can see the details.

First I straighten my right arm and put all my weight on it. Again, without using too much power, this will force his fists to move to his right side of the body.


I then put my left hand on his right forearm by his shoulder.


And finally control his arm with both my hands. Important here that my arms are stretched and I curve my back to put all my weight on them.


Now he probably rolls to his side because he thinks the keylock is coming and wanna get his elbow under himself. That is what I want him to do. When he is up on his side, I pull my left heel up in his armpit for the sidemount position which I keep as thight as possible to prevent him from rolling back towards me.

If he doesn't roll away from you, try go for the keylock or do something else :)


Now, initially I don't want him to roll any further, so I stop that by controlling his bottom elbow with my left hand.

This is the position I am working from. From here I have several options, I'll go through them one at a time.


First thing is obvious. If he grabs his right hand with his left to defend the keylock, I underhook his left arm with my left and grab my shoulder.


Then swing my leg over his head.


And finish the armbar.


Sometimes his left elbow is too close to his ribcage to hook that arm, so I can try something else.


I reach under his head with my right arm and grab his collar.


Then grab the pants by the knee.


Lean back and tighten the gi choke.

If he rolls away from you when you try to do this - no problem, just roll with him one round, it's really easy and you will end up in the exact same position.


Last thing I can do is taking the back. This can be done in two ways.


With my right hand I reach under his head and grab his left wrist.


I keep my grip on his right elbow, then hold him tight to me and roll back towards my left side.


My left foot will be "pointing out" and I aim to triangle that with my right leg right away.


When I got the back I will immediately go for on of two things.


Either the harness position.


Or sink my left arm in under his chin (the grip on his left wrist will make space for that for a second).


Then close in the rear naked choke.


So the other way to take his back is like this. I let go of his bottom elbow to bait him into rolling away from me.


As soon as he starts to roll, I put my right hand out on the floor to keep my weight on the mat and not him. That makes it easier for me to move "light".


With my left hand I grab his left wrist, then insert my right hook (the left one is already there) and I got the back.

Basic armbar from mount

Just a basic way to take the armbar from mount. There is a thousand ways to do this and this is the way I personally find most easy to do and teach.


I am starting of in the mounted position.


This is the grip I wanna get to set up the armbar. My left hand reach under my opponents left forearm and grab his tricep. I place my right hand on his face to turn his head to his right. Both things is to assure he doesn't turn into me and gets his elbow to the floor.


Now I pull him up on his side and turn my body so I am in a 90 degree angle to him. I sit up with my left heel tight into his armpit and my right knee placed just behind his head. It is very important that I keep this position tight by pulling my heel toward myself and sitting down on my opponent.


Here comes the part many beginners find difficult. To swing the leg over. In the beginning people feel their leg is too heavy to swing fluidly over the head. The key to do this right is to put all my weight on my opponents face with my right hand, that makes my leg light.


In one motion I swing my leg over and sit back. I want my right foot to land just next to my left first time it touches the mat again. It is important that my foot arrives before my butt hits the mat.


When I have swung my leg over, I let go of his head with my right hand (not before!). Then I thighten up my position by pulling by heels towards myself, squeezing my knees together and digging the toes into the mat.


I control his arm by the wrist, making sure that his thumb points away from my chest (towards the ceiling) then SLOWLY raise my hip for the armbar. Using all my hip, leg and back power against his elbow joint makes a perfect submission.

Attacks from backmount position using the gi

Different basic gi chokes plus an armbar setup from the backmount position.


Starting out by me having the back of my opponent.


First I try to get the regular rear naked choke. I slide one arm under my opponents chin to set it up


He knows what I'm up to, so he is defending by controlling my right arm so I can't lock it in.


So instead I reach behind my neck with my left hand and use my head and left arm to apply pressure for the choke. One arm RNC! :)


Next one. I am holding having my opponents back again.


I use my left hand to turn and grab my opponents near collar. Turning it makes it easier to grip.


I pull down the collar with my right hand and feed it to my left hand with which I grab high.


I now put my left hand behind his neck and there you have the submission.


Here is another common choke I can do when I have the collar grip as above. This time I throw my right leg over my opponents hips.


I grab his pants by the knee.


Turn to the side and apply this very effective choke.


If he won't tap, I can switch to an armbar. I let go of the pants and grab his arm instead.


Throw my left leg over his head.


And apply the armbar.