Street effective BJJ.

When it comes to fighting Im a striker first. Ive always grappled but never with formal training other than H.S. Greco Roman. Ive been working on BJJ lately and i wondered what the more experienced grapplers thought were the most effective techniques. I know the clinch works well, Im looking more along the lines of specific submissions. Thanks for the insight.

"Knee-ride", while not a submission per se, is a very painful position for the person on the bottom, and can often make them submit anyway. It is a good position to control the opponent, and leaves you free to stand up quickly in the event of multiple opponents.

This is just stream of consciousness, so bear that in mind.

Although I work a lot of boxing and clinch, I consider myself a jiu-jitsu fighter first and foremost.

For self-defense and street fighting, it's always run first. That's the one thing that everyone always agrees with, yet hates to hear at the same time because that isn't "sexy enough".

However if I am involved in a fight, I am always doing several things if I cannot run.

1. Clinching up. I train getting into the clinch religiously against partners who are working to strike and keep me out of the clinch.

In a fight, the first thing that I want to do if I can't escape, is clinch so that I'm not knocked the hell out. Within that clinch is the fight for dominant position. Out of that position and the reaction from your opponent to what you're doing are the take-downs. I look to drop or throw my opponent immediately. After the throw or drop, perhaps then I can escape.

If not you go to part 2.

2. Control position. First and foremost. I want to stay out of the guard and take a knee ride or mount position. Knee ride is a little better because of mobility. It's a little less stable but you're usually "floating" when playing knee ride in side control, so that isn't a factor anyway.

Most of the time with knee ride on someone who doesn't have a ground game, you bait them to roll belly down, exposing their backs. You take the RNC from there.

Two things can happen from the knee ride; 1) they can roll away from you exposing their backs and 2) they can roll toward you exposing their far arm for either the Kimura or spinning arm lock.

If it's a street fight, I'm usually looking to strike to create a reaction. Even then it's with an open hand slap. I'm just trying to get my opponent to turn and expose something one way or the other - I'm not looking to knock him out in "most" cases. That option is there, particularly from the mount with liberal doses of elbows.

The GUARD position is used in the case that I am on the bottom for whatever reason. It's not something that I would seek for as in a take-down. It's a defensive position from which you can defend against strikes, sweep, disengage to your feet or hit a submission that is presented.

My preference would be the top game, but it isn't ground and pound so much as it is based upon classical BJJ. I would NOT be looking to punch repeatedly as it really isn't necessary for a jiu-jitsu attack. Again, slapping works rather well and still creates certain reactions that the jiu-jitsu fighter is looking for.

One reason I'm not punching in a street fight is because of the cutting and bleeding. I don't want to get a lot of someone's blood on me, or into any cuts and scrapes that I may have, to the least extent possible.

Chokes are the first thing that I would look for. Next would be shoulder locks followed by arm-bars.

Chokes put people out. Shoulder locks tend to separate / dislocate shoulders and make it very difficult to fight. Arm-bars can do the same thing but a shoulder affects an entire side of the body whereas the arm-bar affects just the arm usually. Its my opinion that the shoulder lock may produce a more thorough effect in terms of structural damage caused. Each circumstance will be unique so you can't assume anything.

Leg locks I tend to forget about unless I'm already with my back against the ground in a bad position. I wouldn't sacrifice top for anything like that. Considering that jiu-jitsu is about positional control first, submission second, I want to control the positions at all times, taking a submission only when I'm absolutely CERTAIN that I will have it. Think like a sniper; one shot, one kill.


More later. Questions? I'll do my best to answer.


Good training!



-John

What about leg or ankle locks while knee riding? Is that not much of a concern? With the balance being loose it would seem that it would be a viable reaction if they could sweep one way or the other.

From the top, what chokes are you looking for? Also, when in the clinch do you always seek the takedown or do you go for the choke there? Say Mata Leo for example. How much emphasis do you put on standup submission?

Also, can you not get the same reactions from a punch as a slap? It would seem to me that the opponent is going to block his face, still giving you the arm or back if he turns too much.

Effective techniques vary. You'll find some are more effective for you than others, and it will also depend on who you're up against. I have a very good triangle choke but there's some people I can't get with it, so I sometimes have to do some non-standard submissions. You'll want to cover everything. They won't necessarily be your go to moves, but you need the back up plans. You'll also find that you'll have an easier time getting submissions when you know the transitions from them. If you just practice the straight armbar, kimura, paintbrush, RNC and guillotine, even though they are high percentage moves, you won't get them as often as people who have a larger variety. Once you've done more techniques you have a better understanding of grappling overall, and also have a better "toolbox" to work with to make up necessary finishes on the spot for a situation you haven't been in before. In a street situation really the most effective submission is the one you can pull off right in the position you are in at that moment. It's good to have the standard high percentage ones, but more submissions from unusual positions is better.

At the risk of embarassing myself (I've only completed 2 BJJ classes) isn't there a range of SD techniques that the Gracie's taught as part of BJJ?

My instructor alluded to this fact last week but didn't go into specifics. I did see a program though were Rickson Gracie performed Harai Goshi (not sure if they call it that in BJJ), which can be a very effective throw for SD.

I know this is a little off topic though, apologies.

Since you asked for specific submissions, I prefer chokes, I like the guilliotine, the rear naked choke and the arm triangle in particular they can all be done from either standing or on the ground and are very effective.

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What about leg or ankle locks while knee riding? Is that not much of a concern? With the balance being loose it would seem that it would be a viable reaction if they could sweep one way or the other.

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With a proper knee-ride, leg or ankle locks are less of a concern than you might think. The support leg should be far away enough that the opponent cannot grab it easily, and all your weight is bearing down on their midsection. This makes moving that leg difficult for the opponent, and makes setting up armbars pretty easy.

And like JKogas said, if they roll, they either

* set up the armbar

* set up the RNC

Bad position for the person on the bottom.