At Langes MMA Artarmon.
Guardwork
You have your R hand in his R collar. Stiff arm. You are up on your L elbow. Guard is not closed but you are “setting the stirrups”, holding onto and controlling him with your heels.
You “swim” clockwise, moving around to his R on your elbow, getting an angle on him. Your R knee goes onto his chest as for a basic sweep. Fall back onto onto your shoulder, use your R knee to lift him, either block or underhook his R hand depending on where it is, scissor your legs and sweep. Pull slightly on the collar as you sweep so he lands close to you and you can get mount more easily.
If he pushes into you , move your hips out to your L and pull him forward to your R with the hand in the collar so he face plants (You can go for the back), or ends up in your guard with you having a deep grip on his belt.
If he pulls away, come up onto your shin on push him over to your L using the stiff arm in the collar. You can block his knee or his R arm with your L hand.
The concept is to feel the direction his weight is moving and use the hand in the collar to drive him further that way than he wants to go.
He is in “combat base” on his L knee and R foot with his R knee up. You have your usual R hand in his collar, stiff-arming. Use your R foot on the inside of his L knee as a “facilitator” and you L foot on his R ankle. Up on your L hand. Move around clockwise to his R, toward the R leg and push on his L knee with your R foot so his base is compromised further. Grab around the top of his R shin with your L arm and come up over your R shin to your own half kneeling position. Lift his R knee with your L hand and push on the collar to flatten him out and pass his attempt to roll to guard to get side control.
Side control step over to mount
You have side control on his R side. You do not want to be at 9 o’clock. Instead, move toward 8 and lay heavy on his hip, light on his arms. You want him to try and escape. When he does, cup under his near R shoulder with your L arm. Now, move your bodyweight toward 10 o’clock, onto his shoulder and drive his head away by lifting your L elbow and pushing his head with it, turning onto your L hip at the same time. Move your L knee near to his hip and then step over to mount with your R leg.
Cowboy mount and collar choke
If you have one hand in his collar and are sitting back in mount so your weight is on your knees, it is easy for him to bridge and roll you. Instead, if you have your R hand in, sprawl on him in the skydiver position and post on your head on the R (your R side of his head, also posting on your L hand. He cannot bridge and roll now. Post early and wide so you do not have to block the bridge and roll by head butting the mat. Wide so any impact is glancing rather than direct.
Try to get your R foot braced on his L hip. He cannot roll you from here.
To choke, with the R hand in bring your L hand and your head around to the R and grab cloth on his L side of his neck. “Make yourself tall”, and slide your head back toward 12 o’clock, parallel with his body, also pulling on the R collar. This ratchets the choke tighter and tighter. He should be tapping well before you reach midnight.
Getting your hands in
If he is protecting his neck, use the “jackhammer” to get then past his blocks. Pu one or both hands in position and drive with the hips, moving side to side, forcing them through bit by bit. You may get both hands in at once, but one is enough.
If his blocks are really tight, grab his R wrist with your L hand and turn his forearm up, screwing it to the outside. His pulling power is much weaker like this and you should be able to pull his R hand away enough to get your L hand into his collar. you can post on your head on your L of his head and use the other hand to work the collar until you get a good grip.
Armbar from mount
You have mount with your R hand in his collar. Move back slightly and get your belly under his R elbow. Reach out with your L hand to 11 o’clock, drive with your hips and use you belly to push his elbow up and away from his chest. Reach out with your L hand grip the mat and pull, and push with your feet, so all of your body is working against his elbow. If he moves, drive your L knee up under his shoulder so his arm is now trapped. sink the stirrup with the R foot on the other side. Move out slightly and use the space to pull his R elbow across and trap it under your R armpit. Keep moving your knee up toward his head and start turning. control his head with your L forearm. You are now in a great position to go for the armbar. If the armbar is not there, choke him instead.
The “Tunnel” guard pass
The “tunnel” is a space near his hip on each side, between his arm and leg. While passing, head is down and hips up. Keep trying to get your head into the tunnel. Just move around from here and see what openings he gives to pass, probably to front control or mount.
The “Zombie” guard pass
The Zombie shifts from side to side, either stepping or moving his head. Inside closed guard, you are vulnerable to being pulled down if you are straight on. Move your head off to the side, it is very hard to pull you down. Step up on the opposite side to where your head is and block his hip with your knee. Stand up, keep stepping and moving from side to side. The zombie position will stop him from being able to armbar or triangle you if you employ it properly. Never stop in the centre, always keep moving.
If he has open guard and gets both your sleeves, pull your elbows in toward each other (maybe rotating the thumbs outward slightly to facilitate this). If he has a foot attached, get a grip on it with both hands while zombieing, move out and back to the centre and use your arms to dislodge the foot, then drive the leg over to the side so it is on top of the other leg.
If he keeps his guard closed as you stand up, grab around the knee and use zombie body movement against the closed ankles.
If he has you in a potential sweep situation (reaping sweep was the example used), you can incline or turn your body so the leg to be swept become light and can be moved out of danger. If you can’t move your feet, move your head. Keep switching zombie-style and a pass should appear.
Basically it’s all about changing your shape so as to nullify whatever he is attempting to do.
This was an unusually good and deep seminar, as it presented a number of concepts to be explored, and games or partial games built on (the guardwork, cowboy mount tunnel and zombie), as well as some specific techniques.