Collar Drag to the Back
In our previous Gi class we had discussed attacks with the collar from Knee on Belly. This class picked up there by looking at some other options based on a collar grip when attacking the choke doesn’t feel right. In our first option we begin by attacking the loop choke. Our headside arm begins with a deep, thumb in collar grip. Our hipside arm then takes a fingers in grip, so that it’s thumb touches the pinky of the first grip. Lifting our opponents head high off the mat we look to loop the arm of the first, headside grip up and over their head. If they interfere here, we could run to the Darce variation we looked at last week, or if we prefer we can collar drag to the back. Keeping our fingers in grip, we let go of the thumb in grip and post on the mat behind their head. Pulling hard on the collar to make space we pivot behind them. It is my preference to lead with the knee not the foot as I find it less finicky in the moment but both can work. If you lead with the knee you will need to take the extra step of getting that hook in later, but as this will become the top side it isn’t difficult. It is important to remember to get the bottom side hook in quickly though as it can be caught out of position if they roll early. However, probably they most important thing is to dig for the far side underhook as quickly as you can. That will make or break the technique.
Nearside Armbar
The next few techniques work mainly due to the threat of the near side armbar so it can be useful to go over it again. From Knee on Belly, we begin by getting a fingers in grip with our hipside arm behind the collar. We want enough fabric here that we can push the grip forward a bit to make a fist and place it on the mat. This grip can apply a forearm choke by dropping the elbow if the opponent begins to sit up. Next we look to win a cuff grip with our free hand and begin working the arm across their body. Once the arm is in position, we transfer our weight from our knee to our fist on the floor and slide our foot into their armpit. transferring our weight back to our leg, but this time on the outside of our thigh, along our IT band, we lean toward their feet and step over their head. Do not sit back hoping to get the leg over their head after. Remember to let go of the collar grip if you feel you are armbaring yourself, but keeping it for a while can be useful to prevent your hip from landing too far from their shoulder.
Collar Drag to Crucifix
If when attacking the arm we are unable to push the arm across their body to set up the above armbar, but we are able to push the wrist down and straighten the arm, we can transition to the crucifix position. By pointing the arm down at their feet, we should be able to position our foot between the arm and their ribs. If we take the extra step of wrapping their arm around out calf they will often feel that this gives them the option to wrestle up and take the grip. From here we proceed to again post to the mat and pivot. This time however, instead of diving out knee to the their far hip as we did for the back take, we dive it to the near hip. Combined with again securing the far side underhook we should end up in a surprising crucifix attack.
Collar Drag to the Back with Arm Trap.
If we take the key points from both of the above drags and combine them we can attack the back with arm trap. The set up begins the same as for the Drag to Crucifix, however, after we place the arm behind our calf if we post and dive our knee again to the far hip we will come up again in back control but this time with our leg covering one of their arms. From here if we grab a kimura grip, we can use the same technique we looked at earlier in the week to apply our rear triangle.
360 Armbar
Another option from this setup is to again attack the near arm with a slightly different technique. If while fighting for control of the wrist, the opponent will not let us drive it across their body, but nor can we get it pointed down toward their feet and under your calf, we can usually punch our head side hand in for an underhook on the near arm. Everyone knows that the far side underhook is dangerous but people rarely worry about the near side. Once we get the underhook, we switch sides on our knee on belly, thus making our underhook into a far side underhook. We roll them to their side, apply lots of downward pressure through our elbow for control and change sides one more time to attack the armbar. As with all Japanese style armbars, we want to make sure our toes point at the head and our shoelaces grip the shoulder lifting it off the mat.
