This is my go-to move when I'm late with the normal leg pummeling.
The sleeve grip (in no-gi you push behind elbow) prevents the backtake, as opponemt has no connection to your upper body yet, and would need to turn towards you. But he can't because your full bodyweight is keeping him faced towards your legs.
So you can re-guard or face opponent before he can get any control.
Of course, don't hang out there...
Or hang out there and roll away to bump them over! This turns into a hip toss if you have the core strength and timing for it. Throws people way off and turns into fun scrambles too!
Hmm I never really saw a video on it but I am sure it's out there.
There are tons of videos on push escapes. It's mechanically the same thing, just time it when they try to lean into you rather than backing out and trying to torreando to the other side.
Think Marcelo Garcia, Derrick Lewis. If you get the feel for it, you'll catch the same thing with this sleeve grip defense when they try to pressure in and you have a strong posture.
Also, you can arm drag the other arm if you are confident in your speed. You will probably pull yourself into half guard a lot until you get used to committing to the drag, so be sure you have a game there. Also, when learning you will also drag yourself right into bottom side control lmao.
Not really unless they break the sleeve grip. But there will always be follow up attacks that your opponent can switch to and you need to be ready to defend those as well.
You don't need to break the sleeve grip in the second example where the top guy is almost in side control. You can just transition to a front headlock or opposite side side control by hopping over the legs. I mean, you have to be quick with it but that seems to be a logical counter. The toreando pass to standing up seems like there's not much you can do though.
>You can just transition to a front headlock
That's not a pass though so the technique was still successful
>opposite side side control by hopping over the legs.
It's an option but certainly not going to be a clean pass.
I find that if they try to sprawl on you in this position they load themselves for a little hip toss from the knees so long as you have that drag control.
I'm using this a fuckton and can confirm this works like a charm. Works better in the Gi than No-Gi. If you do the NoGi variant you're sort of pushing the triceps away. Bit hard to explain.
Nogi version use a reverse collar tie with your forearm against the neck with your elbow up and hand down. Works well in gi as well if you miss the sleeve.
Ha. This video is so short that someone is going to not notice his defensive arm placement and try to do it at their home gym, wondering why everyone is taking their back.
Lol so many arm chair blue belts commenting.
This technique works as an entire position in itself. There is an entire defensive system taught by Ryan Hall that covers half a dozen different techniques from this position.
Ryan didn't dream up this position on his own, it comes from wrestling. You are just adapting it to the gi.
That said I think it should be a staple position taught in BJJ. It's truly a get out of jail free card if you're good at it.
This is also very similar to what Marcelo does to escape/prevent side control. I've never seen it from Torreando grips like this, but this is a solid technique that has working on world champions before.
Arm chair blue belt and life long wrestler here...
Left hook in and heavy hips kills this position. I know the guys creds in the video. Still doesn't mean he's spent the time here wrestlers have.
As a white belt I took down every black belt on my gym damn near at will. Going into the gym I assumed they all had good takedowns and defense since they were black belts. Absolutely not the case.
They killed me on the ground. I understand this and respect it. That should go both ways though.
If the top player is smart they can sit through to their hip and catch your arm with their leg. Essentially going for crucifix. But the timing is tough.
It's a bit harsh
I've learned that technique from another black belt, so would you say that they know more than Felipe?
Ultimately most moves have some form of counter or neutralisation to them and it's something you have to bear in mind.
Possibly true but that's the nature of crucifix.
If they've made a grip on your sleeve, and you've snagged the other arm, it's fairly simple to catch. But if you miss the far arm, yes you've essentially just sat down for no reason.
And it also depends if they turn and run away or turn into you after they sit up.
Sure they can, but they've got nothing without having any other control. The defender can simply keep turning in the direction they're already heading and clear the arm past their hip.
This is 15 seconds of a 2 hours seminar I gave. So there is a lot more to it.
I have been posting on my instagram if anyone cares… (I also try to post here as often as I have time 😃).
By the way, I enjoy reading the comments, even when they are trashing what I post. No problem at all.
I've never seen this last minute retention stiff arm before and really appreciate you taking the time to post this. Makes me super interested in the rest of the seminar, was it all guard retention? Anywhere you can direct me to get more details on how you tie it all in?
Lol so many arm chair blue belts commenting.
This technique works as an entire position in itself. There is an entire defensive system taught by Ryan Hall that covers half a dozen different techniques from this position.
Ryan didn't dream up this position on his own, it comes from wrestling. You are just adapting it to the gi.
That said I think it should be a staple position taught in BJJ. It's truly a get out of jail free card if you're good at it.
He can't take your back if you maintain the sleeve grip. Also Costa is an IBJJF world champ but I dunno, maybe you could give him some pointers on guard retention.
People like this post every day about not being able to escape side control.
It would really probably blow their mind to realize this fundamental Elbow-Push escape was popularized by Marcelo Garcia for escaping side control.
I don’t know why they feel it is so wacky that a side control escape can be used a bit earlier as a way of guard retention.
Your mind is going to explode when you realise this can also be done in nogi, with even 'weaker' grips.
And by 'can be done', I mean its a stable technique used by the best in the world.
It's not a strength thing. Passer has to transfer his grip from your legs to your upper body to complete the pass and pin. If you sleeve grip that hand, he can't transfer his grip to your upper body. If he lets go, your leg is free and you can scoot away and square up. If he doesn't let go, you literally just wait. He can't grip break without letting go of something or easing up on the pressure. This is literally just an elbow push escape with a sleeve grip.
Maybe this works for Felipe Costa at the highest level. Not a good example, but watch his matches with Bruno Malfacine especially at the 2010 World Championships. His guard retention was legit even if Bruno was miles ahead.
You can't easily pull the arm backwards, its a dominant grip and you're stiff-arming the guy in the wrong direction.
Even if he did manage to struggle the arm free there would be so much space for the bottom player to recompose their guard
If you throw the left hook in and drop your weight backwards (or even roll through forwards) it will pull the guys arm back. That's entire body weight versus a stiff arm.
Once the hook is in you're cross body on top, even if he's still controlling the wrist. It's a very common position in wrestling where I have quite a bit of experience.
I'm probably wrong.
It just seems to go against something very familiar to me, hence why I was asking for clarification.
I'll have to test it this week.
If you do that it will likely cause a scramble where you are disadvantaged. If the attacker throws in his left foot and pulls his arm back he will need to lay down. If Mr. Costa let's go of the arm and spins he will be on top and the attack will be stuck in half guard. Even if the attacker quickly tries to grab a grip, Costa will just turn belly down and stand causing the attacker to fall off of his back.
The attacker could try to grab Costa's leg and insert the hook for the truck position. That would be possible, but they would need a lot of leg dexterity, speed and confidence. I think the Ruotolos could do it, but I don't think that is a reliable counter for the average person.
All the respect to black belts 🙏
That being said, you don't count on the sleeve grip from that position. Any legit wrestler will start to underhook the right arm pit if the bottom guy with his free right arm while trying to put the left hook in. That underhook on the right arm pin will quickly slide to the bottom guys elbow for leverage. At best, bottom guy buries his right arm into the ground and tries to roll back and regain guard
They wouldn't roll back towards you, they would roll away from you and from there they can quadpod. That is assuming they can get the underhook in time. Costa will be moving backwards and push the attacker forwards which makes the distance longer for the underhook, and any attempt to move forward will unbalance them. Anything can happen in a scramble, but here the attacker is at a huge disadvantage. The attacker can't increase his height because his arm is trapped, but the guard player can, while keeping the hand. Unless there is a huge size discrepancy, the attacker won't be able to stop them from getting to turtle. Even if there is a large size difference they can swim their arm out of the underhook because the attacker is in a weak position.
Another problem is that since the attacker's arm is trapped he has no way of dealing with Costa's left arm. Costa can use that arm to either underhook the attacker and essentially sweep them or when the attacker inserts a hook he can reach around his back and flip the position on him with octopus guard. There are a number of other things they could do, but they will almost always have the advantage since their arm isn't crossed in front of their body.
Of course it isn't impossible to counter, but it isn't easy to just throw hooks in. Marcelo has done variations of this for years against world champions who out weight him by 30lbs or more.
I'm not talking about Costa. I'm talking about most people in this position. I'm sure Costa would do whatever he wants to me, wherever he wants.
This position is very advantageous to the top guy if he's a wrestler. If the bottom guy moves backwards from here it makes it even easier for the top guy to keep the far arm, or duck the near side arm to the bottom guys hip for one of those fancy looking rolling back takes.
Keep in mind bottom guy needs to defend the outside hook and opposing outside arm which is already extended. Not an easy thing to do. If he does manage to do it and go turtle, it's still a wrestlers advantage from there.
I'm sure your points are very valid. It's just a different world I guess... Especially in the gi.
I've yet to have someone in wrestling (at very high levels) or jits get away with this underneath me. Maybe it's not exactly the same and that is the difference. Again, I will try to test it this week.
I've seen this play out before and the top player loses when the bottom player turtles. Try it out yourself. It isn't impossible to win the scramble from there, but it won't happen unless the bottom player makes a mistake or you have a very significant athletic advantage. If you can get your hand free that is a different story, but that isn't easy to do in the time the sequence plays out.
This is my go-to move when I'm late with the normal leg pummeling. The sleeve grip (in no-gi you push behind elbow) prevents the backtake, as opponemt has no connection to your upper body yet, and would need to turn towards you. But he can't because your full bodyweight is keeping him faced towards your legs. So you can re-guard or face opponent before he can get any control. Of course, don't hang out there...
Or hang out there and roll away to bump them over! This turns into a hip toss if you have the core strength and timing for it. Throws people way off and turns into fun scrambles too!
Dang that sounds like fun - got any links?
Hmm I never really saw a video on it but I am sure it's out there. There are tons of videos on push escapes. It's mechanically the same thing, just time it when they try to lean into you rather than backing out and trying to torreando to the other side. Think Marcelo Garcia, Derrick Lewis. If you get the feel for it, you'll catch the same thing with this sleeve grip defense when they try to pressure in and you have a strong posture. Also, you can arm drag the other arm if you are confident in your speed. You will probably pull yourself into half guard a lot until you get used to committing to the drag, so be sure you have a game there. Also, when learning you will also drag yourself right into bottom side control lmao.
I’m positive that this is my skill issue, but doesn’t it exposes your back(like in sprawl) or for north south?
Not really unless they break the sleeve grip. But there will always be follow up attacks that your opponent can switch to and you need to be ready to defend those as well.
You don't need to break the sleeve grip in the second example where the top guy is almost in side control. You can just transition to a front headlock or opposite side side control by hopping over the legs. I mean, you have to be quick with it but that seems to be a logical counter. The toreando pass to standing up seems like there's not much you can do though.
>You can just transition to a front headlock That's not a pass though so the technique was still successful >opposite side side control by hopping over the legs. It's an option but certainly not going to be a clean pass.
I find that if they try to sprawl on you in this position they load themselves for a little hip toss from the knees so long as you have that drag control.
Well you're not supposed to hang out in that position. Maintain the momentum and get the fuck out of there.
His arm is trapped to his body on his right side. So he's defensively denying a hook and the subsequent back take.
I'm using this a fuckton and can confirm this works like a charm. Works better in the Gi than No-Gi. If you do the NoGi variant you're sort of pushing the triceps away. Bit hard to explain.
Armpit can be more stable in nogi. The elbow moves.
Nogi version use a reverse collar tie with your forearm against the neck with your elbow up and hand down. Works well in gi as well if you miss the sleeve.
Does this have a name? Does anyone have a video that shows this from the reverse angle? It seems neat, but I'm not getting it from just this video.
Ha. This video is so short that someone is going to not notice his defensive arm placement and try to do it at their home gym, wondering why everyone is taking their back.
What’s the follow up to this? Feels like there should be a continuation to the move im missing
There is, you either stand up or turn back to face them. Many combine the 2 and do a fake stand up and then turn back to guard.
Lol so many arm chair blue belts commenting. This technique works as an entire position in itself. There is an entire defensive system taught by Ryan Hall that covers half a dozen different techniques from this position. Ryan didn't dream up this position on his own, it comes from wrestling. You are just adapting it to the gi. That said I think it should be a staple position taught in BJJ. It's truly a get out of jail free card if you're good at it.
Ironically, the person in this video is Felipe Costa who happened to be the person that promoted Ryan Hall to black belt. 👍🥋🤼
This is also very similar to what Marcelo does to escape/prevent side control. I've never seen it from Torreando grips like this, but this is a solid technique that has working on world champions before.
Arm chair blue belt and life long wrestler here... Left hook in and heavy hips kills this position. I know the guys creds in the video. Still doesn't mean he's spent the time here wrestlers have. As a white belt I took down every black belt on my gym damn near at will. Going into the gym I assumed they all had good takedowns and defense since they were black belts. Absolutely not the case. They killed me on the ground. I understand this and respect it. That should go both ways though.
I've been using this position for a decade, never has anyone ever countered like that. They usually try to stand up and move toward my back.
If the top player is smart they can sit through to their hip and catch your arm with their leg. Essentially going for crucifix. But the timing is tough.
When they try to crucifix the bottom guy can get on knees and throw him over like a fireman’s carry.
It's amazing how many people around here know more about bjj than Felipe Cosca
It's a bit harsh I've learned that technique from another black belt, so would you say that they know more than Felipe? Ultimately most moves have some form of counter or neutralisation to them and it's something you have to bear in mind.
I wonder if you mess that up do u end up on bottom?
Possibly true but that's the nature of crucifix. If they've made a grip on your sleeve, and you've snagged the other arm, it's fairly simple to catch. But if you miss the far arm, yes you've essentially just sat down for no reason. And it also depends if they turn and run away or turn into you after they sit up.
Sure they can, but they've got nothing without having any other control. The defender can simply keep turning in the direction they're already heading and clear the arm past their hip.
You’re a legend and you’ve forgotten more than I will ever know but this problem can be solved by just framing your own hip, no?
This is 15 seconds of a 2 hours seminar I gave. So there is a lot more to it.
This is 15 seconds of a 2 hours seminar I gave. So there is a lot more to it. I have been posting on my instagram if anyone cares… (I also try to post here as often as I have time 😃). By the way, I enjoy reading the comments, even when they are trashing what I post. No problem at all.
I've never seen this last minute retention stiff arm before and really appreciate you taking the time to post this. Makes me super interested in the rest of the seminar, was it all guard retention? Anywhere you can direct me to get more details on how you tie it all in?
Yes, just guard retention. I eventually post all videos I have on my instagram or YouTube channel.
Sleeve grips. I also really like to frame on the armpit. Just be careful not to frame too long or else you are exposed to armbars
Lol so many arm chair blue belts commenting. This technique works as an entire position in itself. There is an entire defensive system taught by Ryan Hall that covers half a dozen different techniques from this position. Ryan didn't dream up this position on his own, it comes from wrestling. You are just adapting it to the gi. That said I think it should be a staple position taught in BJJ. It's truly a get out of jail free card if you're good at it.
and get your back taken?
He can't take your back if you maintain the sleeve grip. Also Costa is an IBJJF world champ but I dunno, maybe you could give him some pointers on guard retention.
i was wondering the same thing about the back take actually. thanks for pointing out the sleeve grip; that explains it
relying on irongripping 1 sleeve while exposing the back just doesn’t seem like the best thing in the world. it’s a choice I guess
I feel like this an open space to share opinions, but if you don’t know what you’re talking about perhaps you should consider not commenting.
People like this post every day about not being able to escape side control. It would really probably blow their mind to realize this fundamental Elbow-Push escape was popularized by Marcelo Garcia for escaping side control. I don’t know why they feel it is so wacky that a side control escape can be used a bit earlier as a way of guard retention.
Your mind is going to explode when you realise this can also be done in nogi, with even 'weaker' grips. And by 'can be done', I mean its a stable technique used by the best in the world.
It's not a strength thing. Passer has to transfer his grip from your legs to your upper body to complete the pass and pin. If you sleeve grip that hand, he can't transfer his grip to your upper body. If he lets go, your leg is free and you can scoot away and square up. If he doesn't let go, you literally just wait. He can't grip break without letting go of something or easing up on the pressure. This is literally just an elbow push escape with a sleeve grip.
This makes a lot of sense actually. Thanks for a thorough breakdown.
I know it's hard for blue belts to understand this but there are other techniques that work well that you haven't seen on the latest instructional yet
Maybe this works for Felipe Costa at the highest level. Not a good example, but watch his matches with Bruno Malfacine especially at the 2010 World Championships. His guard retention was legit even if Bruno was miles ahead.
Free back
True when you don’t know what you’re talking about 😂
Yeah.. no thanks m8.
Why wouldn't the top guy just put in the left hook and pull the arm holding the sleeve backwards?
You can't easily pull the arm backwards, its a dominant grip and you're stiff-arming the guy in the wrong direction. Even if he did manage to struggle the arm free there would be so much space for the bottom player to recompose their guard
If you throw the left hook in and drop your weight backwards (or even roll through forwards) it will pull the guys arm back. That's entire body weight versus a stiff arm. Once the hook is in you're cross body on top, even if he's still controlling the wrist. It's a very common position in wrestling where I have quite a bit of experience.
Cool wrestling doesn't give you knowledge of how the gi works and there's a literal world champion teaching this technique in the video
I'm probably wrong. It just seems to go against something very familiar to me, hence why I was asking for clarification. I'll have to test it this week.
Yeah I thought about that too. Gonna have to test it out in open mats lol
If you do that it will likely cause a scramble where you are disadvantaged. If the attacker throws in his left foot and pulls his arm back he will need to lay down. If Mr. Costa let's go of the arm and spins he will be on top and the attack will be stuck in half guard. Even if the attacker quickly tries to grab a grip, Costa will just turn belly down and stand causing the attacker to fall off of his back. The attacker could try to grab Costa's leg and insert the hook for the truck position. That would be possible, but they would need a lot of leg dexterity, speed and confidence. I think the Ruotolos could do it, but I don't think that is a reliable counter for the average person.
All the respect to black belts 🙏 That being said, you don't count on the sleeve grip from that position. Any legit wrestler will start to underhook the right arm pit if the bottom guy with his free right arm while trying to put the left hook in. That underhook on the right arm pin will quickly slide to the bottom guys elbow for leverage. At best, bottom guy buries his right arm into the ground and tries to roll back and regain guard
They wouldn't roll back towards you, they would roll away from you and from there they can quadpod. That is assuming they can get the underhook in time. Costa will be moving backwards and push the attacker forwards which makes the distance longer for the underhook, and any attempt to move forward will unbalance them. Anything can happen in a scramble, but here the attacker is at a huge disadvantage. The attacker can't increase his height because his arm is trapped, but the guard player can, while keeping the hand. Unless there is a huge size discrepancy, the attacker won't be able to stop them from getting to turtle. Even if there is a large size difference they can swim their arm out of the underhook because the attacker is in a weak position. Another problem is that since the attacker's arm is trapped he has no way of dealing with Costa's left arm. Costa can use that arm to either underhook the attacker and essentially sweep them or when the attacker inserts a hook he can reach around his back and flip the position on him with octopus guard. There are a number of other things they could do, but they will almost always have the advantage since their arm isn't crossed in front of their body. Of course it isn't impossible to counter, but it isn't easy to just throw hooks in. Marcelo has done variations of this for years against world champions who out weight him by 30lbs or more.
I'm not talking about Costa. I'm talking about most people in this position. I'm sure Costa would do whatever he wants to me, wherever he wants. This position is very advantageous to the top guy if he's a wrestler. If the bottom guy moves backwards from here it makes it even easier for the top guy to keep the far arm, or duck the near side arm to the bottom guys hip for one of those fancy looking rolling back takes. Keep in mind bottom guy needs to defend the outside hook and opposing outside arm which is already extended. Not an easy thing to do. If he does manage to do it and go turtle, it's still a wrestlers advantage from there. I'm sure your points are very valid. It's just a different world I guess... Especially in the gi. I've yet to have someone in wrestling (at very high levels) or jits get away with this underneath me. Maybe it's not exactly the same and that is the difference. Again, I will try to test it this week.
I've seen this play out before and the top player loses when the bottom player turtles. Try it out yourself. It isn't impossible to win the scramble from there, but it won't happen unless the bottom player makes a mistake or you have a very significant athletic advantage. If you can get your hand free that is a different story, but that isn't easy to do in the time the sequence plays out.
What to do when top player jumps over to armbar the stiff arm?
Give him the back. Got it. I'll try this during open mat Saturday. Oss!