The BJJ Research Labs answer your questions: hair grabs on the ground

Tony Dismukes

MT Moderator
Staff member
This was actually a question that was asked over on reddit/r/bjj, but I thought the answers might be interesting for folks here as well.

The original question was:
Let's say you are inside someone's closed guard and they are holding your head down with a hair grab.

What do you do?

I thought this was worthy of investigation. I have some workable techniques for defending against a standing hair grab, but I hadn't done any serious work on hair grabs on the ground for a while. Being inside someone's guard negates most of the standard standing techniques. I promised to do some experimentation and report back.

As promised, I did the first round of testing yesterday with a purple belt friend of mine who likes working on street scenarios. We started out with the original question (freeing yourself from the hair grab inside someone's closed guard) and then rolling in various positions with hair grabs allowed. Since this is obviously a street context, we added in strikes and (simulated) eye gouges , just for fun.

My friend has relatively short hair. I could grab it, but couldn't get a super secure grip. I'm about a month overdue for a haircut, so he was able to get really solid (and painful) grips on me.

Results:

With regards to suggestions made by others in the original Reddit thread:

Framing on the face is just a battle of wills to see who can take more pain. Not very effective, unless your hair is short enough that your opponent can't get a solid grip

Punching can work if your opponent doesn't know good punch defense from guard. If he does, then his regular punch defense is just that much more effective with the extra control on your head. There's no fun in figuring out how to beat an incompetent opponent, so let's pass that one by.

Peeling fingers doesn't really work because they aren't in an exposed position.

Stuff that did work:

Tripoding up and getting a good grind with my head into his face. It changes his priorities from holding me down with my hair. If he still held on, then a can opener* or an up-down choke forced him to relinquish my hair in order to defend.

When my partner tried to just statically hold me down by my hair, I was actually able to get a wristlock if he was holding at the top of my head rather than on the side. I'm not going to advocate this though because it takes a fair amount of sensitivity and understanding of wristlock mechanics to make it work. My purple belt friend was not able to make it work. Also (as I'll discuss in a minute), the static hold is not the best way to use the hair grab.

As we progressed, my friend figured out that the most effective use of the hair grab is to be active with it - pushing and pulling to create or close distance, adjust angles, or set up strikes, switching grips, twisting the head, etc. This forced me to be really on my game with my positional pressure.

Hair control from open guard is way more annoying that hair control from closed guard. You can really break someone's posture if you have your feet on their hips and a good fistful of their hair. Hair control + far sleeve control is probably ideal, but I need to do more investigation.

The scalp on the side of the head and on the back of the skull is more sensitive than on the top of the head, making hair control there more effective if the opponent's hair is long enough.

From bottom of side control a double handed grip on the hair(one hand on each side) allows you to press his head away and make space for recovering guard. (If you are on top and someone does this to you, be ready to transition to knee mount.)

If you have mount, hair control allows you to repeatedly bash their head on the ground. Doesn't work so well from side control.

Hair control can be used to make guard passing more difficult. As noted above, the key is to keep it active. If it's being used against you, pressure passing is your friend. Posturing up is difficult at this point. (On the other hand, if you maintain posture from the start it will be difficult for your opponent to get hair control without getting punched in the face.)

Hope this helps. If anyone else does this experiment I'd be interested to see what they discover.

* (Contrary to popular belief, there is actual technique to using the can opener and it can be used against larger opponents.** )

** (Within reason, I don't know that I would try a can opener on someone who was 60 pounds heavier unless they were really clueless.)
 
In BJJ ground game, how do you prevent your opponent from biting off one of your fingers?

One of my students lose one of his fingers when he tried to fix his motorcycle. He did got his finger reconnected back onto his hand. But his hand does not function the same any more.
 
In BJJ ground game, how do you prevent your opponent from biting off one of your fingers?

One of my students lose one of his fingers when he tried to fix his motorcycle. He did got his finger reconnected back onto his hand. But his hand does not function the same any more.
Best thing is to not let your opponent get his teeth too near your fingers. You want to control your opponent's head, but don't do it by putting your hand on his face in such a way that he can get a bite on you.
 
Just an hypothesis (that I never tried on the ground):
- Hold the opponent wrist with both hands, so we can relieve the pain and think a little.
- In an instant, strike below the armpit. Then the opponent should be more concerned in protecting the body than grabbing hair...

Stand up one would have more options... Wristlock, I agree, is quite complex to rely on in a dynamic situation.
 
Best thing is to not let your opponent get his teeth too near your fingers. You want to control your opponent's head, but don't do it by putting your hand on his face in such a way that he can get a bite on you.
IMO, the caution should start from the "stand up". When you throw your opponent, you have to make sure that his arm is not wrapping around your waist so he can drag you down with him. You also have to make sure that his mouth is not near your fingers as well. In order to do so, each and every throw will need to be examined here. As far as I know, not many people have spent enough time in this area yet.

Since the "sport" rule, people may not pay attention on this. But for fighting, this issue will need to be addressed. In one fight, my teacher did bite one of his opponent's finger off. It works in reality and it can be an issue outside of "sport".
 
In BJJ ground game, how do you prevent your opponent from biting off one of your fingers?

One of my students lose one of his fingers when he tried to fix his motorcycle. He did got his finger reconnected back onto his hand. But his hand does not function the same any more.

You saw their face off with your forearm pretty much.
 
Just an hypothesis (that I never tried on the ground):
- Hold the opponent wrist with both hands, so we can relieve the pain and think a little.
- In an instant, strike below the armpit. Then the opponent should be more concerned in protecting the body than grabbing hair...

Stand up one would have more options... Wristlock, I agree, is quite complex to rely on in a dynamic situation.
I would expect to get hit in that moment when I'm using both hands on his wrist, unless I set his weight so he has his other hand on the ground.
 
Best thing is to not let your opponent get his teeth too near your fingers. You want to control your opponent's head, but don't do it by putting your hand on his face in such a way that he can get a bite on you.
In standing work, we may occasionally get closer to the mouth, but it's easier to escape with more available movement. On the ground, best not to get your hands near his mouth. If he sets your weight in that moment, your hand may stay (or get closer, even) there for him to bite.
 
In standing work, we may occasionally get closer to the mouth, but it's easier to escape with more available movement. On the ground, best not to get your hands near his mouth. If he sets your weight in that moment, your hand may stay (or get closer, even) there for him to bite.

in theory you are allways turning the guys head away. which makes it hard for them to bite you.

 
Hair grab. Don't have long hair. I remember Guy Mezger fighting Royce in an early UFC. Guy had a ponytail and Royce grabbed it and used it to control him. Next fight Guy had a almost shaved head. Long hair is potentially a liability in any grappling scenario!
 
I would expect to get hit in that moment when I'm using both hands on his wrist, unless I set his weight so he has his other hand on the ground.
That is only one hypothesis (to be tested, if). At that stage, one can still defend the head with the elbows. Only body is an easy target (that even world champions forget!). And only one hand free to strike. I am not seeing anything very unpredictable or dangerous (other than being without many easy options...).
 
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Just an hypothesis (that I never tried on the ground):
- Hold the opponent wrist with both hands, so we can relieve the pain and think a little.
- In an instant, strike below the armpit. Then the opponent should be more concerned in protecting the body than grabbing hair...
If the person on bottom knows proper striking defense from the guard, then their armpit should not be open to attack. If they don't know proper striking defense, then you have a lot of potential targets and hitting the face will probably be easier and more effective for getting them to let go..
 
I would expect to get hit in that moment when I'm using both hands on his wrist, unless I set his weight so he has his other hand on the ground.
I think you might be misreading the scenario. The person on the bottom has the hair grab, so you aren't going to be able to force them to put their hand on the ground. On the other hand, if the top person keeps their head low on the chest while using the 2-on-1 grip, the bottom person's strikes won't be super dangerous. (They can be annoying and somewhat effective, but there's no danger of a quick knockout.)
 
I think you might be misreading the scenario. The person on the bottom has the hair grab, so you aren't going to be able to force them to put their hand on the ground. On the other hand, if the top person keeps their head low on the chest while using the 2-on-1 grip, the bottom person's strikes won't be super dangerous. (They can be annoying and somewhat effective, but there's no danger of a quick knockout.)
You're right, I forgot the direction of the scenario. Thanks, Tony!
 
You're right, I forgot the direction of the scenario. Thanks, Tony!
Yeah, grabbing the hair is not nearly as good an option for the top person in guard. I can see moments where it might be useful, but it's riskier and less useful overall.
 
Yeah, grabbing the hair is not nearly as good an option for the top person in guard. I can see moments where it might be useful, but it's riskier and less useful overall.
I could see an untrained (in groundwork) person doing it if sufficient hair is involved. It looks like a good idea.
 
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