More Subs After Losing Backmount

All Is Not Lost, Even if Your Backmount Is . . .

Okay, so losing a strong backmount is a minor tragedy – but it doesn’t have to be the end of the world, and it certainly doesn’t have to be the end of your dominance.

In fact, in the spirit of finding opportunity in calamity, we’re looking at some of the submissions available to you when your opponent sneaks his hips past his your bottom hook.

As you may remember, we discussed, in our last post, how to work your way to an arm triangle choke after losing backmount. In this post, we’ll look at a couple of alternative submissions: the kimura and the armbar. Our original posts on those submissions are here and here, respectively. We also covered the (similar) kimura from side control once before.

A Similar Start to Two Submissions

The two submissions start similarly, and so we’ll start with a video covering the early steps of both. Here, Coach Josh Labossiere of Black Diamond MMA demonstrates the fundamentals:

So, your opponent escapes your backmount by getting his hips to the mat. As he rotates his body away, the arm triangle becomes less and less viable an option. The kimura and armbar become perfectly fine options, though. Whichever option you prefer, here’s how to start:

1. Lean your bodyweight heavily into your opponent’s shoulder.
1. As Josh illustrates, your pressure should be angled down and forward.
2. That’ll sap a lot of his energy and force him to move.
3. If he rolls away from you, you can re-take his back.
4. If he tries to roll towards you, you have these subs available to you.
2. Switch from the over-under grip to a kimura grip.
1. Yes, get this grip, even if you intend to go for the armbar. It will give you great control over your opponent’s body and arm as you transition.
2. If you’re oriented like Coach Josh and (Crazy) Wayne, you’ll initially have your left arm hooked under your opponent’s top-side (left) arm and your right arm hooked under his neck.
3. Switch from that grip to a kimura grip as follows:
1. Grab your opponent’s top-side (left) wrist with your right hand.
2. Keep your left arm under your opponent’s left arm and grab your own right wrist with your left hand.
3. Scoot your head-side (right) knee up towards your opponent’s head.

Pick Your Submission, Go for the Finish

The Kimura

1. Get and maintain your kimura grip (see above).
2. Step up your hip-side (left) knee. Keep your shin to his back and your foot at his hip.
3. Step your head-side leg over your opponent’s head.
4. Hug the trapped arm to your chest. Twist your chest (with the arm) to face away from your opponent. Get the tap.

 The Armbar

1. As with the kimura, step up your left leg to your opponent’s hip, and step your right leg over his head to in front of his face.
2. Drop back onto your butt; change your grip as you fall.
3. Trapping the arm, grab your right hip with your left hand.
4. With your right, grab your opponent’s hand and make sure you keep his hand oriented such that his pinky is along the center of his chest.
5. Lean back, keeping your opponent’s arm glued to your chest. Extend your left leg across your opponent’s chest, if you choose. Keep your knees pinched. Push your hips into the back of your opponent’s elbow. Get the tap.

Comments

comments