Basic Mount Escape for MMA

[MJS]

I forgot to get back to you on this. It works out really well with most partners, if I take advantage of timing and that window.

The only thing, however, when I tried doing that with a certain partner, he would intentionally move forward (his pelvis almost to my shoulders) to lie down quickly upon my face. I guess I will have to trap quickly at the elbow and push downward hard while grabbing my head to prevent him from doing that. Would this be a timing problem?

- Ceicei

BTW: I loved your putting subtitles with your clip to emphasize your points. It makes it easier for me since I am deaf.

Once your partners weight starts to get more up on your chest, it'll be very hard to do much of anything. If you start to notice this, get your arms on the floor to prevent him from moving up. You can also try to bump him, and execute a 'shrimping' movement as I call it, to slightly move back. You can also try pushing his knees.

Mike

 

[grappling_mandala]

"... move forward (his pelvis almost to my shoulders) to lie down quickly upon my face. "

This is high mount. The guard equivilent is high guard. Some call it "the pitsop". When a top player gets high mount he has moved his hips into positions which fill space under the elbows of the bottom players. The bottom player will feel VERY restricted in his movement suddenly.

Every position has it's advantages. Cross Sides advantage is the "outrigger" effect. (ref: Judo Handbook ;G. Labelle) But mount is different, now you have a position in which the center of your body acts as a disconnect of power between your opponents upper and lower halves. High Mount can be done vertically with the top player sitting up striking or horizontally with the hands as stabolizers. I will note that although horizontal seems stable it seems easier for the bottom guy to explode out because your weight is distributed into the ground thru your hands. When vertical posture is used they feel ALL my 164lbs focused on their shoulders and neck.

Now I may spin here or trap this and armbar that, but at the very core of whatever technique that is there, is that vertical posture that I have to start with. A kind of "strength" that the bottom player feels as gravity and structure, which on my part is just a matter of allignment and filling the gaps with levers.

"I guess I will have to trap quickly at the elbow and push downward hard while grabbing my head to prevent him from doing that."

This is a very good idea. Also you should become as proficient at shrimping as you possibly can be. This should be something you practice at home. Your hips should not be touching the ground when you shrimp. Remember you want your whole torso turning 90 degrees as your hips FOLD away from the weight you have just bridged, or upa up. You are not pushing the weight off you with your arms, your brace at the highest point as your hips drop away like a 90 degree trapdoor. The shrimp is the single most important movement in jiu jitsu. It constitutes "finding an edge" instead of being flat.

The trap and roll and the knee elbow escape are a good combo because you can use your shrimp in one direction w/ the knee elbow, and use your trap and roll the other direction. All martial movement is bidirection.

On the trap and roll: if you trap a foot but they put their hand high on that side and you cant over hook it, remember you can underhook it. Even a hand pushing the elbow from behind is technically an underhook. Push the bracing arms elbow up above your head while you bridge and roll.

Openings, Windows, Gaps:

Even if they don't go over and they catch themselves remember to switch to shrimping away the opposite direction. Always look for ways to commit a move that when defended creates the space for effective hip movement.

Warmups should have lots of upa/bridging, shrimping and pendulums.

"Would this be a timing problem?"

Which ends us up here, with timing and combinations. Always practice your movements in combinations. Combinations are not just submission flows. Sure everyone likes that but those don't help if you don't know how to move your hips. What I'm saying is combinations have more to do with hip direction then knowing a bunch of lock flows.

Every person has a different tempo that fits style and body type. Generally the guy who can bring the other into his tempo is at an advantage because he can then 'break' tempo.

"The Pulse"

One of the crazy terms used for a defensive timing technique from mount bottom or cross sides bottom is "The Pulse". This is a basically a series of shorter successive upa movements. The length of the pulse is dependant on how much space is available, but what we doing here is creating smaller spaces to work with, that doesn't mean the space isn't there, it's just small, so through this kind of vibration you can continue to get an edge.

Shrinking Movement

"Once your partners weight starts to get more up on your chest, it'll be very hard to do much of anything. If you start to notice this, get your arms on the floor to prevent him from moving up. "

One movement I do from this position which has saved me is a tiny shoulder walking movement while getting my elbows tight to my sides or to the floor. It looks like an alternating shoulder shrug to either of these places. Again using the pulsing idea quickly switch sides, you can not use your hips to directly effect them now you must use smaller movements even more effectively to catch back up.

If the hips or legs get all the way under my armpits, it's to late, if we have equal skill they tap me. If I catch my elbow halfway gone I can do this shoulder walk mini-shrimp and get out. Hands in like T-rex. One you get your elbows back you can re initiate your bump and shrimping, trap and rolling, and zig zag combinations.

Dave Copeland

 

[Lisa]

Excellent suggestions Dave. Thanks for sharing. I often have trouble getting out of a high mount and find myself struggling. The best defense for this, I have found, is not to end up there and keep shrimping and walking on my shoulders to avoid being there in the first place. Timing is crucial.

 

[JKD_Silat]

Thanks! I train in no gi Jiu-Jitsu, and I did this when I was sparring. When I did it quick, it worked like a charm!

 

[TigerWoman]

This is great! Thanks for sharing. I want to try it if I can ever get my instructor to do more grappling in class. The only concern I have is whether I have enough weight/torque to push a heavier guy over. TW