Adaptability in your grappling

[Andrew Green]

So how adaptable would you consider your personal approach to grappling?

If there was suddenly a stick involved would your strategy need a complete overhaul? How about just striking? Go / No-gi? A different surface?

Maybe there is a chance of more people getting involved?

Are you a jump to half guard and control by the gi kinda fighter that uses a very sport-specific strategy, or is your approach able to quickly adapt to different situations?

 

[Fight with attitude]

A combo of both. Two of the teachers are bouncers so they know how most people fight in bars. They do teach some street valuable things but the main focus is on sport which is good for me because thats what I mostly use my grappling for.

 

[Eternal Beginner]

Adaptability is key in any "fighting" situation. You will always come up an unorthodox person or someone who wants to fight dirty (using weapons or illegal techniques).

Personally that is why I like training gi and no gi...you are prepared for quite a few scenarios rather than if you only do one or the other. It is also routine in our classes (just because our instructor and many of my classmates fight MMA) to throw faux punches and strikes in to make you aware of certain openings that you are leaving.

I don't know how prepared I would be if sticks were involved, I have only done limited grappling with that scenario in mind...but then again I don't really train for "self-defence" as much as enjoyment and challenge so I don't delve into too much worst-case scenario training.

 

[RoninPimp]

My personal grappling game is pretty basic and doesn't change too much between BJJ, Judo, submission wrestling, and MMA. The reason I use BJJ as my base is because its basics carry over to all the others pretty well.

 

[Tony Dismukes]

Even when I'm grappling under sports rules, I usually try to imagine the possibility of other techniques, just so I don't develop bad habits for a real fight. For example, when I'm closing for a grip I try to keep my hands high as if we were boxing and I needed to protect my head. I'll also try to mentally note the openings where I could strike my opponent or he could strike me when we're rolling. (Although, come to think of it, I haven't been focusing much on that awareness for the last few months. Thanks for the reminder!)

I also try to avoid spending much time on tactics which would be hazardous on the street (jumping to guard, flying armbars, etc).

I haven't been working much lately on grappling tactics for dealing with weapons or multiple attackers, but those are valuable (and challenging) exercises.