At this seminar John presented Rick Spain with his purple belt. Yay! ☺
A better way to get the collar choke or armbar from mount
You have mount; open his R collar with your L hand and slide your R hand in deep as if going for the basic collar choke. Lift you R knee slightly and come up on the ball of your R foot, ready to block any attempt at him bridging and rolling you to your R, which normally your R hand in his collar would facilitate. If he grabs your R arm as if to bridge and roll, let him move slightly, come up on your R foot and turn to your R, posting with your L hand to about 2 o’clock and back with your L foot in the opposite direction, and trapping his R elbow with your chest, then pushing forward to controlling the elbow with your belly, then belt. Move your L foot in a wide circle around and over his head, then sit back to armbar his R arm.
Alternatively, same as before, up on R leg, R hand in collar, but this time grind your R elbow into his chest, pressing out the air and making his head lift slightly. This will create space for you to take your L arm over his head and put your L thumb in his L collar. Twist your L wrist anticlockwise to the cross collar choke – push your chest into the hole between your arms to apply it.
Now, grind your right elbow into his chest again, your R forearm about parallel to his spine. By driving your R elbow in, and down toward your L thigh, you cause him to roll slightly to his right, thus further exposing his L collar for the collar choke as in 2 above. If you push the R elbow across to the right, that causes his R shoulder to lift, making the armbar attack in 1 even easier. Keeping your R elbow low on his chest means that his R arm will always be on top of rather than underneath your R arm, so it can be trapped for the armbar. You can grind your elbow left to right and back and repeat, until an opening for one or other technique (collar choke or armbar) becomes available.
Some Sweeps
From closed guard, a variation on leg grab rollover sweep. Grab his R sleeve with your L hand. And his R pants leg with your R hand below the knee. Pull him forward with your legs and take his R hand as far as possible overhead with your L hand. Spin under him so your head moves to your right, and drive him over his R shoulder with your R leg (glute and hamstring, not adductor, same as other leg grab rollover sweeps), pulling his R leg and L hand apart. You should finish in mount with his R arm in a great position for you to apply the paintbrush figure 4.
Same again, but this time spin so your head moves right and grabs his R pants leg on the inside of his shin with your R hand. Sweep similarly to before. Cross leg grab rollover sweep.
Closed guard, this time his head is under your R armpit and you are holding his jacket or belt with both hands at his lower back. He pushes his arms straight as if to lift himself up; when he does, you underhook his L arm with your R , so your tricep is on the back of his head, like a neck crank. Join your hands – the ideal grip is a C grip (like a handshake, but no thumb) with your R hand facing away; the movement with the upper body will be with like an elbow strike with the R, and the palm facing away is the best position to facilitate that. Now wriggle back and hip out slightly to your L until you can insert your R hook. Then move your hips back to the right until you are in a position to sweep him to your L with your R hook. If he comes up on his feet to a tripod to relieve the pressure on his neck, this makes getting the hook in and the sweep even easier. Sweep to mount, let the neck crank go to avoid hurting him (holding it on makes it more difficult to get a good mount anyway).
Per the Rigan Machado seminar – from closed guard, grab his right sleeve with your R hand, his left sleeve over the top with your L hand (cross grip). Turn on your R side, with you R foot on his L hip. Open his arms, so you can take your L leg over his R arm and place your L hook under his L armpit. From here:
- for the drill, put your R foot on the floor, square up to face him and use your L hook to take him over onto his back. Use your L leg to control his R arm as you move up to side control.
- for the sweep, insert your R hook and square up. Now unbalance him with your L hook, then sweep him with your R hook.
- Can go to armbar by pulling hard with your R arm, and putting your L leg over his head to armbar his R arm.
- Use your R hook to bring his L leg close enough to grab, and legbar his L leg.
The OODA Loop
OODA loop – Observe, Orient, Decide, Act – Google is your friend. Just remember for the “decide” portion, you do not want to have to select from a menu, but rather have a prioritised list – plan A/plan B.
In guard when lifting him with both hooks, he may attempt to stand. Either hook sweep him from here, or use the hook to bring the heel to your hand for an open guard hook or reap sweep.
Core Game
John discussed this concept, which is really more for purple belt level. The core game involves the guard, either trying to sweep or submit him from your guard or trying to pass his. The crucial element here for either orientation is HAND POSITION.
Three basic types of guard:
- closed (both legs outside of his)
- hooks-in (both legs inside)
- half guard (one in, one out)
Hand positions to seek are:
Closed guard top: both hands grabbing Gi on the centreline.
Closed guard bottom: overhook one arm, pull his head down with the other.
Hooks-in top: your hands near his legs/feet, setting up a pass
Hooks-in bottom: double underhooks high up on the body, rendering his arms useless
Half guard top: you have the underhook
Half guard bottom: you have the underhook
If he gets the advantageous hand position with you in a particular guard, the best tactic may be to CHANGE GUARDS to one where the hand position you have chnges from being a liability to an advantage.
For example, if he gets the underhook in half guard, using Eddie Bravo’s Stomp, Super Stomp or New Stomp to move to a butterfly guard will put you in a position where his underhook on you becomes an asset for you and a liability for him.