Crossface alternative when opponent gets on his side

Here is something I use all the time, when I am either passing the guard or in sidecontrol, and my opponent manages to get on to his side to escape. It is a little thing, but as always, little things often makes big differences in scrambles :)

In my head I always think of it as a three-step move to get him from his side to flat on his back. Roll him over -> build structure with leg -> underhook and get crossface.

Hope you can use it :)

Triple attack series by Christian Montes

I think most people who train in sports like BJJ find certain training partners along the way, who they "click" really well with both in training and socially. One of mine is Christian Montes, whom I met in his New York gym, Ronin Athletics, back in 2004 when it was very small with less than five guys on the mat. It was immediately obvious, that we had a very similar approach to BJJ training, and whenever I train with him, I always get a ton of little details to take home and implement in my own game. Although I only go visit for few days every year, I consider Christian one of my very best friends and I feel that our almost parallel careers and development of technical level within BJJ, provides us with some unique sparring that is really worth a lot to me, both on the mat and business wise.


Since my first visit to New York, I have been coming back every year to train and hang out with my friends in the small gym, that has now grown to a full size, full time place in the center of Manhattan. I know there are many world class instructors just around the corner, and I always plan on going there for training as well, but every time I end up just hanging out with all the guys at Ronin. Training there reminds me so much of training at home in my own gym. The vibe and people are very similar and I really enjoy it, which is always the number one reason for me to train. NEXT time though, I will go visit Renzo and the other gyms... maybe ;-)


What that said, here is a short clip I had Christian Montes do for this blog. His offensive game from cross sides top is pretty similar to mine, but I think he has quite a few cool details that are worth checking out. Enjoy the video and stop by Ronin if you are in NYC! :)

Shogun's Sidecontrol Series

Ok so here is a short video on my primary offensive game from the sidecontrol position. It is very simple, and there is not really anything revolutionizing in it. Just thought it would be good to outline it in a video and flowchart, mostly for my own sake, but if anyone out there can get anything out of it, then that would be cool too :)


Hope you enjoy it! As always, comments, ideas, questions, suggestions etc. are more than welcome :)

A simple way of thinking topgame...

I have played this topgame for quite a while now, but it is not untill recently that I actually started to think about what I have been doing. I am trying to think a little outside the box positionwise, so the game has no fixed positions, nor does it follow the fundamental five for topgame. For many years I have been fixed in the 3 basic topgame positions, but this new way of putting my game in system has completely thrown that away for me. Positions is now kind of made up along the way. May sound silly, but works really well for me.

It is really simple. All I think about when playing topgame is controlling at least one of five parts of my opponents body, in this text called "control points". Each control point has an objective which is fulfilled, if I grab one or more "handles" for that bodypart. If I control one or more I am ok, if I control none, I have to turn it up and get one quickly. And apart from being aware of the guard, that is all I do to prevent my opponent from escaping. I don't block the guard with hand/foot/hip always, as some of the "handles" for the control points makes it impossible for my opponent to pull guard anyway. Neither do I worry too much about my opponent getting the underhook, as many of the handles combined with correct weight distribution will nullify that completely.

What these handles do is ofcourse "just" to keep my opponent either flat or turned away from me, which prevents him from escaping in other ways than turning away from me. If he choose to do that, I attack the back.

Below, I have listed the control points, the objectives and some examples of "handles" that I grab to control as many of the five as possible. There are probably more, but these are what I use. In the bottom, I have posted a little videoclip, where I play this topgame in isolation.

Hope this is usefull for someone out there :)

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Here are the five control points:

1. The head
2. The near side elbow
3. The near side knee
4. The far side knee
5. The far side shoulder

Ze Master Gameplan:
- Prevent opponent from turning into you by controlling at least one of the five control points. Preferably two or more.
- Be aware of the guard
- If opponent gets on his side, move 180 degrees around his head and control handles on opposite side right away.
- If opponent turns away from you, go to harness.

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Control point one - The head
Objective: Keep head turned up or away from you.

Crossface / Shoulder of Justice.

Use forearm to turn head.

Skullride.

Prybar.

Grab shoulder for one-armed prybar.

Grab gi behind neck for one-armed prybar.

Control point 2 - The near side arm
Objective: Keep elbow from touching the mat.

Lift arm above elbow.


Hold elbow up using thigh.


Kill arm using hip.


Sprawl on arm.

Control point 3 - The near side knee
Objective: Keep knee from touching the mat.

Scissorgrip with hand.


Scissorgrip with foot.


Grab leg and lift.


Lift knee with thigh.

Control point 4 - The far side knee
Objective: Keep knee from crossing opponents centerline.


Underhook leg - diapercheck.


Scissorgrip with hand.


Scissorgrip with foot.

Control Point 5 - The far side shoulder
Objective: Keep shoulder touching the mat

Underhook and put weight on shoulder.

Overhook and put weight on shoulder.

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Now all you have to do to play topgame is control at least one of these at all times :)

Here is a little videoclip of me playing around with this in some isolation:

I don't move very well in this clip because I have a f*cked up back injury, I am going to make a new clip when my back gets better. But you probably get the idea. I control at least one point always using the handles. If my opponent turns into me, I go 180. If he turns away, I take the back.

Now go play ze zhoozhits!

(Thanks to Ken Allen for the help on the pics and video)

Cross sides underhook escape counters

Three counters to the basic underhook for escaping cross sides position.


1) Killing the arm

We'll start out in the cross sides position where my opponent has not gotten the underhook yet.


I know he want to dig for the underhook if he gets the chance, so I will make a little space under my shoulder to bait him.


As soon as he has his hand in, I will pull myself really tight to him to trap it and there by kill that arm.


1) Diaper check

If he gets the underhook, I wanna make sure that he cannot get to his side to start escaping.


To prevent him from this, I grab between his leg for the "diaper check" and use this grip to flatten him on his back.


From here I can move my hand to his hip to kill his underhooking arm and start working for something.


3) Switching position

Now, if he gets the underhook and starts turning towards me, I can do this.


I overhook with my right arm and dig it in as deep as possible so I can place my right hand behind his neck. My palm is pointed away from him.


Now I grab his pants with my left arm.


And start to walk around.


I end up in cross sides on the opposite side, where - as a bonis - I have now killed his left arm.


4) Brabo choke

Last one was recently discussed a little on the forum, which inspired me to implement it in my game. He has the underhook again and starts to turn towards me.


I dig as deep as possible under his arm and under his head with my right arm. I wanna try and get my elbow to be under his neck. I turn my body a little towards his head to be able to reach more and with my left hand, I push his head in position.


I grab my left bicep and with my left hand I grab over his back. Then I walk a little around so I ensure he cannot cath me in his guard and squeeze for the submission.


It can put some extra pressure on his neck if I sprawl in this position.