The Flog!

Being grapevined may seem that you’re doomed to being choked, but we were shown a great little escape and defense against this technique. This defense/escape against the rear naked choke while being grapevined works.

First, grab your opponent’s arm with both hands. Since he’s in a superior position right now, you probably won’t be able to move him, but you can move yourself: Using your legs to post a bit, pulling on his arm, move yourself higher up on him. You’ll only move a little, but that’s all you need to get your chin under his arm and protect yourself from the choke.

Now that he doesn’t have the choke, you can attempt the escape. The arm which he has around your throat is the crucial arm. Whichever side that is on, that’s the side you need to fall to. (If, by chance, you happen to fall to the wrong side, straighten up in the grapevine and fall to the other side. You can take a little time because the choke is no longer on.) Once his arm is on the floor, put as much of your weight on it as you can. Now he can’t choke you at all. The rear naked choke requires a certain amount of torque to apply. Since you are holding his arm down, he can’t torque the arm.

Next, manoeuvre your body to escape the grapevine: grab his upper foot by the toes, pulling up toward you and out of the way, to remove it. If he has his feet crossed, of course, you can loop your leg over them and do some torquing of your own. When his leg is gone, you can complete your turnover and get a ground hold of your own.

We practised this escape last night and found it relatively easy once we thought about the physics of the rear naked choke and grapevine.  

Click here to go to the video for the escape from rear naked choke while in grapevine

ayjay

May 2, 2009

Last Friday, we split up our class: Mike and I were working with two white belts on their yellow belt throws, while Dave took Francisco aside to work on judo throws specifically for his tournament. In Part 1 of this series, I mentioned that Francisco will be entering the NAGA world championships in early April. He needed to work on judo throws to take his opponent down and be in his control when the judo throw was complete. This series covers judo throws for the non-judo practitioner – throws which can be learned relatively quickly and are specific to certain body positions which the opponents have when they begin.  Since I didn’t work with Francisco during this class, Dave will write about their working on tani otoshi - valley drop, both a defensive version and an aggressive version. 

Dave Here:

We chose Tani Otoshi for a number of reasons.  It’s a great throw if set up correctly (I guess all of them are! ), can be used either as a counter or as an attack, and it ends with either tate shiho gatame (full mount) or kesa gatame (scarf hold).

The key to Tani Otoshi, particularly when used as a counter to a forward throw such as koshi guruma (or most any other forward throw), is a very strong and pre-emptive hip thrust coupled with a forward step with the left leg (assuming countering a right-handed throw), breaking uke’s balance to the rear quarter. 

Once you’ve done that, the left hand reaches up and grasps the back of the collar, the left leg stretches across and behind uke’s legs, blocking both of them, and you drop your weight to the ground, dragging uke with you and throwing him to the rear.  While in mid-fall, either turn, straddle, and come up to tate shiho gatame, or sit through into kesa gatame.

An attacking form of Tani Otoshi is similar except you’ll be initiating the movement.  Duck under uke’s right arm or attack at his right wrist to force his arm across his body, step strongly to his side while breaking his balance with a hip thrust and rearward pull of your right arm, grasp the back of his collar with your left hand and drop and throw to the rear.

Te Guruma could also be used in either of the above cases, but we felt that Tani Otoshi would be easier to pick up for a person new to throwing and be successful within a short time frame.

Back to Angi:

Other throws which are relatively straightforward and easily learned are Ko Uchi Gari – minor inner reaping, and Ko Soto Gari – minor outer reaping. In both cases, though, the opponent cannot be leaning forward dramatically as they tend to do at the beginning of the BJJ matches. These throws are better suited to situations in which the opponent is standing upright.

In the first case, you would be pushing him to his right back corner, hand high on the collar or lapel. If he is difficult to move backward, jolt him forward for a fraction of a second. As he straightens up to avoid a forward throw, pull him backward at the same time as you move between his legs with your right foot. Bring your left foot up behind your right to balance yourself. Take your right foot and reap his right ankle, while pulling him back. As he falls to the ground, follow him. You will be in an ideal position for a partial mount.

In the second case, ko soto gari, you will be positioning yourself to the outside of your opponent’s body, to his right side. Once again, jolt him forward slightly. As he compensates for this by straightening up, move to his outside, first with your left foot and then with your right to balance. Use your left foot to reap out his right ankle while, at the same time, pull his right sleeve back with your left hand and push with your right hand as you grip the lapel. He will fall to his right back corner. Follow him to the ground. Retain your grip on his right arm, and quickly move your right arm around his shoulders while you sit out into kesa gatame.

This completes our preliminary series on judo throws for the non-judo practitioner. I hope you found it useful. For detailed videos of judo throws, go to the Traditional Judo section of this website; videos of no-gi throws are in the Judo for MMA section of this site. 

Click here to go to Judo Throws for the Non-Judo Practitioner – Pt 1

ayjay

March 18, 2009

At class last night, we had two new men attend, one who has been with the jiu jitsu club for several months and to our class a few times, and the other who had been with the jiu jitsu club only two weeks.  The second young man had had no previous martial arts experience other than those two weeks, during which he learned o goshi (major hip).

Since Jackie had worked on o goshi, Dave demonstrated three judo hip techniques: o goshi, tsurikomi goshi and koshi guruma. In all three cases, the hips jut out past uke’s hips, but the arms are in different positions.

O goshi seems straightforward until you have to get your hip well past uke’s. This is not a natural position, but if done well, a much smaller tori can easily lift uke and hold uke on his or her back without throwing. (I managed to do this with a man who outweighed me by about 100 lbs. to prove to my son’s girlfriend that you didn’t have to be big in order to throw a much bigger person.)  Mike and I were working with Jackie. Stepping in to o goshi and then not doing the throw is difficult, since your arm is around uke’s back and your body gets twisted, but once the movement continues and the throw happens, providing your hip is past uke’s sufficiently, it’s a very powerful throw. We spent most of the time trying to get the hips out far enough. The rest of the time we worked on the finer points of kuzushi, holding uke during the throw, turning one’s own head, and thereby the torso, to the left, and controlling uke during the breakfall.

In order to make tsurikomi goshi easier to do, instead of the straight arm, we did a version in which we hold the lapel with the right hand and move the right forearm under uke’s left armpit. The kuzushi (breaking the balance) and foot placement, etc., are all the same as in o goshi. When grasping the lapel and then moving the forearm under the armpit, we emphasized keeping a strong wrist, such that the wrist is not bent in any way. The wrist and forearm are all on one plane, acting as a lever, and become much stronger than if the wrist were bent. You are also less inclined to get the types of injuries we see in judo, such as hyper-extending joints. (We found this technique is crucial in tai otoshi – tori uses the entire forearm in the throw versus merely the hand.)

For koshi guruma, we did a kneeling version, with the hip out even farther than the other two throws. It looks like a wrestler’s hip throw, with tori’s hips ending up almost 90 degrees to the side of uke’s. Tori wraps his right arm around uke’s shoulders, and when stepping in, steps with his right foot normally, and with the left, very deeply between uke’s feet. Tori then twists his hips well past uke’s, drops down on the right knee, while turning his head to the left. Uke goes flying over the hips and back of tori.

When I did this, I naturally ended in a kesa gatame (scarf hold) position afterward. Others stayed on their right knees and brought the other knees down, while maintaining control with the hands. Since this throw is low to the ground and you have uke wrapped up so tightly from the beginning, this throw lends itself very well to MMA. There are so many positions you can be in afterward. Once you have your arm wrapped around your opponent’s shoulders and are controlling his left arm, even if he stuffs the hip throw, you are in control of his upper body. You can change to a number of other throws in which you can get him to the ground.

We worked on three similar, yet different, judo hip throws. The arms were in different positions, as were our bodies: during o goshi we had our arms around our opponents’ waists; tsurikomi goshi involved  having our right elbows under uke’s left armpit; koshi guruma had us on our right knees with our right arms tightly wrapped around uke’s shoulders. All of the hip throws were very powerful and effective.

ayjay

February 7, 2009

Episode 7 of The Ultimate Fighter Season 11 TUF11 covered lots of ground. Right off, we had the Wild Card fight between Kyacey Uscola and Kris McCray, both fighters having lost in their previous matches.

Since both men were from Ortiz’s team, Ortiz said he would sit on the sidelines and “let the better man win”. McCray felt he was the underdog and Uscola talked about taking his opponent’s head off.

Round 1 had the men trading kicks and strikes. One of Uscola’s kicks was to McCray’s knee and looked painful. McCray took Uscola down twice  and Uscola achieved one take down. Very little time was spent on the ground although near the end of the round McCray controlled Uscola’s back and applied some elbows.

Round 2 began with McCray taking Uscola down and while in side control he applied a Kimura (ude garami) for tap out.

Ortiz looked a bit surprised at the outcome.

The quarterfinal fight announcements were made by Dana White. In addition, Nick Ring told White that he could not continue due to his torn ACL, which required surgery. White told the men in the house that he would be picking a replacement. Hammortree immediately went to White and told him that he wanted to fight. Joe Henle, unfortunately, was too slow to say anything and missed out.

The next fight, a quarterfinal, was between Hammortree and Court McGee. Hammortree said that McGee was one of the most well-rounded and tough guys in the house. He also said that he would let his hands go a bit more than the previous fight.

Round one began with McGee catching Hammortree’s leg and, while on his back, took Hammortree down. Hammortree eventually rushed McGee, but got taken down again. While standing, they traded strikes and kicks. McGee attempted a variety of techniques, including a rear kick. He took Hammortree to the floor and was in side control at the buzzer.

Round two began and ended quickly by Hammortree’s rushing McGee and exposing his neck. McGee put him in a standing front naked choke (guillotine) for tap out.

White said that McGee looks better every time he goes out there. He certainly controlled Hammortree and deserved the win.

The Ultimate Fighter Season 11 TUF11 is on Spike on Wednesdays at 10:00 p.m. EST.

ayjay

May 20, 2010

Ippon Seoi Nage is the one arm shoulder throw, which when performed well, looks spectacular, and will give tori the ippon, meaning the full point to win a match.

There are ways in which to prevent the throw, though, and we practiced several exercises to stop the throw.

The first manoeuvre involves blocking tori’s (the giver of the throw) body as he turns in to do the throw. Extend your hand to block his torso. To ensure that your own arm doesn’t get jammed, move to the side as you block.

Second manoeuver: As tori presents his back to do the throw, literally jump out of the throw, moving over his back toward the side he has grasped your arm. He needs to be directly in front of you to accomplish the throw with his back to you, so you are moving out of the way, even though he has your arm.

The third manoeuvre:  As tori presents his back, move out of the way of the throw in the opposite direction, to the side he is not holding your arm. He will still have your other arm, but cannot throw you with ippon seoi nage as, again, he needs to be directly in front of you, with his back to you.

The fourth manoeuvre: As tori begins turning in to you, step strongly forward with your left leg, drop your weight a few inches and simultaneously thrust your left hip out to impact tori’s hip and stop his rotation.  This effectively blocks him from completing his rotation and will put him off balance to his rear, creating an excellent opportunity for follow-up counter throws.

These simple exercises may not always work to stuff the throw, but may give you an out to try something of your own.

ayjay,

May 3, 2010

Our classes are unusual: we begin by grappling for about an hour. A match could be five minutes or forty-five, if the pair want to keep at it. After we are finished grappling, Dave asks if anything came up during the fights which was interesting, difficult to get out of, or just fun which we can all practice.

This approach works well for us: we had structured classes for many years and found them stifling. The senior members of the club spent virtually all their time teaching the same techniques over and over and spent far too little time working on their own skills.

We assume that you know a certain amount when you come to our class. If we know that you are a novice, someone will monitor you during your workouts, but we will not cater exclusively to beginners. You can work with any of the senior people, all of whom have their own idiosyncrasies and styles, all worth working out with.

Mike looks like the average southern European guy until you’re doing groundwork with him. He’s wiry, agile, smiles throughout most of his matches and has his eyes closed most of the time. He’s not intimidated by fighting a much larger person, mostly because lots of the others are bigger. He takes his time to get to the stage where he can win. He’s a great person to grapple with.

Chris is much heavier and stronger than Mike and, on the ground or standing, doesn’t like to lose. If you get a submission on the ground from him or a point when standing, you’ve really earned it.

Dave is bigger than Mike and smaller than Chris. He’s extremely difficult to choke (his favourite phrase is, “It’s only pain.”) and can weasel his way out of almost everything. I heard that the jiu jitsu people have begun calling him “The Cyborg”, which he is anything but. When he’s grappling with people, and he realizes they are trying a particular technique, he’ll let them go for it as long as necessary. They have to have the opportunity to try techniques. If they don’t quite work, he’ll stop the matches, show them the correct hand, arm, leg placements, etc., and then proceed. He’s a very good teacher.

Now for the Simple Takedown from the Ground: Dave and Chris were demonstrating this last Friday. You and your partner are on your knees facing each other. You want the upper position, controlling your partner’s body. Grip his lapel (if wearing judogi) or arm, if no gi, with one hand. With the other hand/arm grasping his arm, pull yourself into him at an angle of close to 90 degrees: you want to finish shoulder to shoulder with him. Using the second hand, pull down on uke, placing your shoulder on top of his. You now have the superior position.

Points to note: The lapel grip usually isn’t easy to get. Grab it anywhere with one hand and work your way up with both hands until you have a good grip.

You really have to pull yourself in to him, not him to you. This is done at the same time as your moving 90 degrees to him.

Once you have the superior position, your shoulder on top of his and both hands gripping him tightly,  you can take uke down at will.

ayjay

May 3, 2010

A Kimura is a variation of ude garami in which uke’s shoulders are not being held to the ground. In fact, uke may be sitting up or have one shoulder off the floor while laying on his side.

In order to achieve the joint lock, uke’s upper arm should be moved away from his body, making a 90 degree angle to his body, and the forearm positioned to make a 90 degree angle to the upper arm.  Using a figure-four grip on the wrist, uke’s arm is then torqued, pushing the wrist rearwards until submission is achieved.

kimura2 GSP vs Dan Hardy Kimura Submission Attempt UFC111

Photo number 2 above has Hardy having turned almost completely onto his stomach as GSP is close to having Hardy’s arm at right angles to his body. This is the closest that GSP came to having the Kimura, but it only lasted a fraction of a second as GSP yanked on the arm.  It wasn’t a stable position and Hardy worked to move his arm to a more favourable position seen in the photo below.   

kimura3 GSP vs Hardy Kimura Submission Attempt UFC111

In photo number three above, GSP has lost the 90 degree angle and separation from Hardy’s body, which is crucial to achieving this joint lock. Hardy is fighting the right angles by pushing his arm to the ground behind him, causing his arm to be too straight to apply the Kimura. GSP needed to pull the arm upwards, closer to his own body, to separate the arm a bit from, and to put the arm at right angles to, Hardy’s body. In order to do this, he needed to sit up taller. Because GSP has moved further down Hardy’s torso, his own arm is impinging on the Kimura: GSP can’t let the range of motion required to lift Hardy’s arm to get the correct angle because he himself is in the way.  

To get the correct angle, Hardy’s arm needs to be away from his body, not behind it, but rather to the side, and then retain the 90 degree angle at the elbow. There are actually two 90 degree angles: one involves having the arm at 90 degrees from the body; the other involves bending the elbow to achieve a 90 degree angle for the forearm in relation to the arm. (There is a third version of ude garami in which the arm is straight and the joint lock is placed at the elbow with the entire arm at 90 degrees from the body. See our videos for the examples.) 

Classic ude garami has uke on the ground with tori’s weight holding uke’s torso and shoulders down. Once the shoulders are controlled and the  arm is manipulated to 90 degrees from the side of the body and then again at the elbow with the hand either pointing up to the head or down to the feet, the joint lock comes on relatively easily and quite strongly. The Kimura positioning can be difficult because uke’s body is not controlled well. In addition, in this particular case, uke (Hardy)  has been able to move so much, that tori (GSP) has moved himself too far over uke causing him to stretch out the arm instead of retaining the 90 degree angle.  

ayjay  

April 6, 2010

The juji gatame, ude hishigi juji gatame formally, is an armbar in which you as tori use your legs to control uke while you hyper-extend his elbow into an armbar. The juji can be accomplished from a variety of positions, from the ground, from standing, etc. In the case of this fight, the positions were classic with Hardy on his back on the floor and GSP at about 90 degrees from Hardy and on his back as well. The object is to apply pressure to the elbow, extending it to the point that you achieve a tap out. In order to get the arm bar, the pressure must be applied to the elbow and the arm must be straightened out completely. When we teach this technique, we talk about pointing the thumb to the sky. That position works for the most part, but there are some versions of juji in which that statement doesn’t apply. Tori must be aware of where uke’s elbow is and turn the arm such that the elbow is the joint that is having the torque placed to it. The elbow has to be against your body, the thumb away from your body. In GSP’s attempt at the juji gatame, Hardy managed to move his arm so that he could bend it.  GSP did not control Hardy’s upper body or his arm, so that eventually Hardy turned over and got free. 

Initially GSP had his left leg over Hardy’s face and the right leg over Hardy’s upper torso. GSP had Hardy’s right arm extended to the right maintaining grips on Hardy’s wrist and hand. This is the first screen shot of the position: 

juji1 - GSP attempts Juji Gatame on Dan Hardy - UFC 111

In the photo above, GSP has Hardy’s arm in the correct position, but the leg on Hardy’s face should be extended and be pushing down, squashing his face. But even more importantly, GSP should be squeezing his legs together around Hardy’s arm while pushing down with both legs.  Closing the gap between the knees immobilizes the arm so that uke cannot move his arm from the juji position. Pushing down on the face and torso enables tori’s control over uke’s shoulder and upper body. Squeezing the legs together is the most crucial element, though.

If you look closely at the video (you can see it better than with just the few photos we’ve included), you can see Hardy’s arm twist and turn between GSP’s legs, allowing him the range of motion to resist the arm bar attempt and ultimately escape.

juji2 - GSP attempts Juji Gatame on Dan Hardy - UFC 111

By the 18 second mark above, Hardy has begun to turn onto his side and his arm has moved, his elbow slightly bent such that GSP cannot apply the arm bar – the elbow is pointing sideways here, so Hardy can actually bend his arm to relieve the pressure.
At the 17 second mark below, Hardy is fully on his side and GSP is straining to achieve the submission, to no avail. 

juji3 GSP attempting a Juji Gatame on Dan Hardy - UFC111

At the 16 second mark below, the grimace on GSP’s face shows his effort, applying all his strength. It was in vain, though, because Hardy managed to move onto his side, having lifted GSP’s hips right off the floor. If GSP were in control of the arm bar, Hardy would still be on his back, and GSP would lift his OWN hips to further hyper-extend the elbow. Hardy’s elbow is away from GSP and his thumb is now pointed toward the floor instead of the ceiling, enabling him to use the larger bicep to bend his arm. 

juji4 GSP attempting a Juji Gatame on Dan Hardy - UFC111

juji5 GSP attempting a Juji Gatame on Dan Hardy - UFC111

One second later, at the 15 second mark above, GSP’s left foot is completely under Hardy; Hardy is turned onto his side and is moving his arm away from GSP. Georges spent all his effort on Hardy’s arm, but had not managed to stabilize the arm. 

juji6 GSP attempting a Juji Gatame on Dan Hardy - UFC111

By the 14 second mark above, Hardy was on his knees and about to escape from GSP’s grasp completely.  Had he squeezed his knees together at the beginning of the arm bar attempt, we believe Hardy’s arm would have been immobilized and the submission would have been successful.

Click here to link to our videos on juji gatame - traditional version, and our modified judo4MMA version of juji gatame.

ayjay,

April 4, 2010

Ude Garami – Entangled Arm Lock is called several other names depending on which martial art you are familiar with. Judo uses the same term for the three basic positions. Here is a video of Traditional Ude Garami. In each arm position, the aim is to place torque on the shoulder or elbow joint and achieve a tap out from the submission.

In Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, ude garami is called a Kimura (named after a famous judoka who used this version to great success) if the arm is placed behind the opponent’s body when he sits up. In the traditional video, Dave shows a version of the Kimura at the very end, when he changes his body position, sitting his legs through in a manner similar to Kesa Gatame, causing Mike’s shoulder to come off the floor as the technique is being applied.

Another, somewhat unusual, version of ude garami can be seen in this video which shows Mike being held in a side triangle choke (sankaku jime) position: ude garami from jigoku jime.

During one of our classes Dave demonstrated why ude garami is less successful from full mount than from side control. Side control enables you to place far more body weight on your opponent. It also protects you from your opponent by placing most of your body away from him. If you are in full mount, uke has the ability to arch his back, negating the torque that is being applied on the shoulder, and possibly even bucking you off. Also, in full mount, it is possible for uke to manoeuvre his head between tori’s arms, rendering the ude garami attempt completely harmless.

Full mount also leaves a gap between your chests: this gap doesn’t exist in side control. Any time there is space between you and your opponent, there is the possibility of his escaping from your hold. In fact, side control enables you to drop most of your body weight on your opponent’s upper chest and shoulders. Few people can escape from holds when their shoulders are being held down, which is why kesa gatame is so effective as a groundhold.

ayjay

March 6, 2010

The IJF (International Judo Federation) has issued rule changes which are applicable to judoka who compete in tournaments nationally and internationally. Since, as a club, we have limited people competing in shiai, we ordinarily don’t pay much attention to judo tournament rules until someone is about to enter a tournament.

We were aware of the rule against grabbing pant legs and various defensive moves, which have long been frowned upon, and the causes of penalties. We were not aware, though, of the anti-wrestling attitude of the IJF. Basically, the IJF wants judo matches to be upright, showing good form and fast, beautiful, strong throws.  Any stance which looks as though the judoka is about to go to the ground (bending forward, grabbing a leg as with kata guruma, or yoko kata guruma, etc.) are grounds for penalties. Four such penalties in a match for a judoka and the match is awarded to the opponent.

The IJF and its proponents have decided that anything resembling wrestling moves are unacceptable. Granted, Butt Flops are annoying and irritating, usually an indication that the competitor is at a loss for a way to get his or her opponent to the ground. I can see penalizing the judoka for this manoeuver. Turtling without having unbalanced one’s opponent is comparable, and equally penalized.

The area of the rule changes which astounds me is that of being penalized for grabbing your opponent’s leg to take him to the floor. If you are successful, then you will have taken him off-balance, and he will hit the mats, and you will follow him and begin grappling. The fall may not be ippon, but the grab of the leg should not be penalized.

I will admit that throws which are high-amplitude and well-executed look spectacular. The number of people in the world who know judo, however, and watch judo, are very limited. It is not a spectator sport and certainly not a sport which lends itself to television: every time the CBC has shown judo competitions, either for the Nationals or the Olympics, a great deal of instruction for the viewer was necessary, and yet, I’m sure the average viewer still didn’t grasp much of the intricacies.

Judo is very complicated: there’s a lot to learn when studying it. People actually spend their entire lives perfecting techniques. It takes years to get one’s black belt. How can a five minute segment on the point system, throws, joint locks, or any other technique in judo, explain to the viewers what is happening?

To make rule changes with the viewers in mind is an amazing step backward. Rather than incorporating grappling into tournaments, the IJF and its members will have forced all those judokas in the world, who want to advance their skills into other areas, to go to other martial arts. I wonder how many people will leave judo because of the IJF rule changes.

At a time when, I believe, judo clubs should be growing from sport judo to judo/grappling, we have the top judo organization in the world telling us we can’t do anything resembling grappling. Luckily, we can teach whatever we want in our club.

ayjay

February 2, 2010