The Conflict of Gi vs No Gi

[Kung Fu Wang]

I mostly pinch the gi. If they really want it back they can have it

You are talking about in the middle of the grip fight. When you obtain your grips, you move in, and apply your throw.

 

[Kung Fu Wang]

Unfortunately it's hard to give up a grip when you've fought for it,

Agree! It's very difficult to create a chance that you have 1 grip on your opponent while your opponent has no grip on you. Since your grip can pull your opponent around, you don't want to give up your grip that easy.

 

[Gerry Seymour]

This is why short finger nails is a must. Many people had their finger nails been torn apart in jacket wrestling.

We always kept them trimmed just to keep from cutting each other with them.

 

[dunc]

Damage to the fingers is definitely an issue with grappling in a gi
I’ve found releasing early when someone is stripping my grips to have made a big difference
You do still get some wear and tear damage from fighting to finish chokes, holding onto grips etc, but the big change for me was the one above

Whilst I've very much developed a "game" that minimises injury and wear and tear as much as possible there are a few chokes that use that can still mess with your fingers
Collar chokes from the back, but given you've got all the way there it's kinda worth the water and tear on the fingers
Ezekiel can mess your fingers up if your hand is misaligned, so if I've not quite set it up correctly then nowadays I just threaten it and surf the reaction to something else
Loop chokes, but generally if they're not on you can switch into a reversal/sweep anyways