Kneebar Bonanza - Add'l Concepts (competition footage & analysis)

Thoughts on setting up your backstep into the legs as most semi competent competitors these days shouldn't sit around with their legs ready for the picking, but, I still have success getting the reactions that make the backstep feasible. From the legs laced/ashi garami/saddle/whatever you call it, I break down some side on kneebar attacks I use against guys with longer legs/frames with or without heel hooks allowed and with one or both of the legs opponents' legs inside

My Competition Submissions Volume 3

Almost all of these are from the past year and a half or so with a couple exceptions, but all at purple belt or Advanced NoGi. Most are -145 & -155 with a random Absolute match win in there and an -162 Gi combined weight class match finish at purple belt as well. I used to do the Absolute but after hurting my neck a few years ago, because they often run the Absolute first thing in the morning and there's not adequate time for my body to warm up for the size difference, and because several times I got the 250 lb+/biggest guy in the bracket first round despite my being the smallest competitor, I've quit doing the Absolute.

My Competition Submission Volume 2

Almost all of these are from the past year and a half, and all are at either purple belt or Advanced NoGi level, -145, -155. 

Great Moments in Leg Lock History: Kazushi Sakuraba vs Carlos Newton

Couldn't find the full match itself, but you can see the kneebar if you jump to 1:17 of the video embedded below.
Known more for his rivalry with the Gracie family and the Kimura, his record actually reveals a diverse array of finishes with a variety of submissions.

I Dream of Kneebar - Gabriel Arges

I'm always looking for kneebar setups in the Gi as my next belt will be brown and that means toe holds, kneebars, & calf/bicep slicers become legal in the Gi below the waist.

From NoGi I've been spending a lot of time working my transition from the sankaku/leg lace to pull the far leg across and when they defend the near leg kneebar, lace the legs and attack the far leg kneebar.

At any rate, a guy who I've been perusing his matches and set-ups to attack the kneebar is Gabriel Arges. He first came to my attention when he caught the defending world champ, Claudio Calasans early in their match with a beautiful kneebar. He also caught former world champ, Otavio Sousa in similar style at the ACB Gi event/grand prix. Arges begins with inverting to the inside with what looks like a not very quick inversion from the Reverse De La Riva hook, and from the 50/50 kinda backtake threat but not really, he seems to have a lot of bait and traps because in both matches you can see him kinda baiting the guy but all the while he seems to be hyper aware of what to do depending how his opponent reacts. Against Otavio, he posts the far leg away after breaking/peeling the ankle cross apart, and hits the rotation to full knee behind the armpit. Against Claudio he spins/rotates what seems further distance but catches Claudio in an attempted backtake and goes almost belly down on it.

AND:

Leandro Lo vs Erberth Santos - Curitiba Fall 2017 Open (deep kneebar)

Tough match. Leandro dives on a foot and gets the kneebar counter from Erberth Santos. I don't even want to imagine what it feels like to have Erberth tuck your knee behind his armpit for the prime kneebar position leverage. Jesus. Leandro pulls out the win here but damn. Gotta wonder how many times Leandro will beat him before Erberth has his day. Especially with Worlds coming up. I remember at Copa Podio (with significantly shorter match times) Leandro quickly secured the back off a pass attempt and while Leandro is now bigger than before, Erberth has faced Leandro a number of times since then and really seems to have lost any tentativeness he might have shown at times early on when facing Lo. I can't wait to see them face one another at Worlds with the Gi portion of the sport's biggest title on the line.
Despite the specter of steroids and the like, it's still a great time to be a Jiu-Jitsu fan.

Rousimar "Toquinho" Palhares: Hype video for UFC 142/Rio

Off topic, but a recent interview with former UFC welterweight contender Karo Parisiyan on his ups and downs in the sport, training, and life.

Building off of yesterday's post about attacking the feets/knee/legs, I came across a pre-fight video montage with Palhares (recent UFC heel hooker, David Avellan kneebar-er, vicious ADCC competitor et cetera).
Similar to the previous video the UFC put out about him where he chronicles his struggles, this one features the inimitable Murilo Bustamante offering some thoughts on Palhares as well.

Not since Masakazu Imanari has a mixed martial artist with an affinity for crippling leg locks been so successful.

And...here's the longer, 10 minute Palhares UFC Brazil video the UFC put together.

Happy Trainingz and spend a few days attacking below the belt.
       

Triangulo-Armbar-y assault ends in Kneebar: Mamed Khalidov vs Jesse Taylor Edition

No, seriously. Why?

Walked in Monday morning to work and booted up my laptop to kill some time at work/watch several of the MMA fights I missed this weekend. This weekend I was pretty busy playing Gears of War (which I bought pre-owned for XBOX on Black Friday. Go 'Merica!!!).

It was a busy weekend splitting time between doing nothing and killing the Locust Horde while intermittently cursing my TV and lack of skill with the XBOX controller.

At any rate, the video below is 90 seconds worth of grappling with a bevy of triangle/armbar submission attempts from the bottom by Mamed Khalidov versus Jesse Taylor (most known for getting wasted at a casino, breaking glass, and insulting a woman while drunk on The Ultimate Fighter show. Keep it classy!)

At any rate, Taylor wastes no time getting a double leg, putting his head on Khalidov's chest and seemingly settling for a ground and pound decision.

Unfortunately for Mr. Taylor, the lack of sweat, his lack of posture, and Khalidov's dearth of BJJ fundamentals leads to some near missed armbar/triangles and finally caps with a pretty textbook turtle roll/scramble to kneebar following an armbar attempt.

All inside the first round, and all inside of 90 seconds.
It's the kind of transition you see on a DVD/instructional and think, "man, I dunno. The guy should f'ing know if i turtle then I may go for the leg...and he will hammerfist my head into the canvas while I latch onto his leg, then he'll pass or worse yet take my back."
Well....someone didn't send the memo to Mr. Taylor.
Enjoy.

Jump to 7:52 for the start of the brief and sweet fight.


Having tried this transition probably 50 times and hit it perhaps 4 times in Gi and NoGi, it's pretty badass to see this guy hit it inside of 90 seconds on a professional fighter. You can tell by the 2nd or 3rd armbar attempt that's pretty deep as Taylor tries to pull out of the triangle, that Mr. Taylor's submission survival clock is ticking down to "0:00".
--

That being said, Saturday at open mat, I was rolling with a white belt.
I'd hurt my knee pretty severely earlier in the week so I was just happy to roll around on the mat. At any rate, I finally hit guard, got one hand deep in the collar and collar choked him with the first collar choke I learned in Judo. At any rate, he asked about how to defend the collar choke with his hands, what to do once the choke was set, and I told him the best way as taught to me by one of my coaches is "don't be there in the first place." My coach wasn't being facetious, he just meant that good posture will avoid many submissions before they start. Good posture avoids danger(s) and good posture leads to passing. Passing leads to control/position. Position leads to submission(s).

At any rate, it's interesting to see basics and semi-basics lead to a quick and relatively punishment-avoiding submission in MMA. Taylor is no world beater, but he's not a guy making his pro debut either.

Happy Trainingz!