24/03/07 Top Side Control Basics

Top Side Control Basics

Contents

Posture

• Head side arm
• Hip side arm
• Legs
• Weight distribution

Objectives

Maintaining and improving position

• Prevent him returning to guard
• Kill off his frame (arms)
• Deal with him turning toward you or away from you
• Move to scarf hold/KOTB/Mount

Submitting your opponent

• Various technique videos

Conclusion

Books I recommend

Posture

Let’s take a look at the various basic options you have regarding the positioning of your arms and legs as well as the idea behind your weight distribution.

Head side arm

Cross face vs far side

Cross face

• Allows you to control the head with your shoulder preventing him turning toward you.
• Essential for setting up the cobra hold/gift wrap/various lapel chokes

Far side

• Lets you attack the far arm with armlocks

Hip side arm

Near side pants grab vs Elbow on the far hip

Pants

• Allows you to get up on your toes and grind your weight into O
• Prevents him turning into you
• Leaves his far arm free (not good)

Far hip

• Allows you to attack the far arm
• Allows you to make easier transitions to mount and KOTB
• Affords you some control of his hips (sandwiched between your elbow and your knee).

Be aware that with the diaper check (hand between the legs position) can leave you vulnerable to a triangle (the shame of being triangled from the bottom!). However, I sometimes stick my arm between O's legs to prevent him turtling. This can be done from the front or back.

Legs

Both knees in vs One knee in vs Both legs sprawled out

Both knees in

• Gives you good mobility
• Protects against the guard return
• Helps you kill the near arm if you can get under the elbow
• Doesn’t allow you to press a lot of weight on O

One knee in

• Protects against the guard return
• Allows you to press a fair amount of weight on O

Sprawled

• You need to position your hand to prevent the guard return
• Allows you to press the most weight on O by getting up on your toes and driving forward.

Weight distribution

Your aim is to keep O flat and prevent him from keeping good posture i.e. turning onto his side with a good frame. To do this you will need to use your weight efficiently.

• The basic idea behind weight distribution is that you want your weight where it makes movement hard for O. You should not remain in the same position no matter what O does. All is timing.
  
• If O tries to turn toward you, push your weight into him to flatten him.
  
• Pushing your weight too far forward at the wrong time may allow O to roll you over him.
• If you are fighting a very strong O who outweighs you then you will need to play a fast, mobile game, using KOTB, North/South.

Objectives

Maintaining and Improving position

One of the underlying theories behind BJJ is that of improving position. All beginners are taught this basic progression:

Mount/Back > Side Top > Guard > In Guard > Bottom side > Bottom Mount/O on back

However, within the individual positions themselves it is also necessary to improve position.

When on top

You should be working not only to maintain position but also to take away O’s leverage and gain more and more control over his body.

When on bottom

You should be working to create space and lock that space off with barriers before using it to escape.

The greater your understanding of the bottom game, the better your top game will be and vice versa.

• Prevent him returning to guard or half guard

You need to deny O the space he needs to insert his knee under your body. The 2 main ways to accomplish this are:

* Grab his pants by his near hip

* Bring your knee up to his hip

It is also good to avoid leaving your legs close to O’s legs as you do not want to become entangled in half guard.

• Kill off his frame (arms)

O will try to place his arms between you to create space and act as a barrier. Control them with your body so he has no leverage to escape.

i) Far hand

Forearm under your neck

• Push his arm up with your arm and tuck your head under his elbow so he can’t bring it back.
• Pull his arm across his body and lie on it.

Underhook

• When he underhooks, kill it by bringing your hand back and grabbing his gi pants on the near side (whizzer).
• You can counter the underhook with a Brabo choke.

Ideal position

Ideally you would like to have this far arm tucked under your head side armpit as your arm encircles his neck. I’ve seen this position called a few different names: Howdy, Barbed wire, Ji-boi. Whatever the name, this position sucks for the guy on bottom.

How to get it

* Swim your arm under his armpit and wind back round under his head, crushing his arm across his body so it sticks out under your armpit.

* Change sides via North/South taking the near arm with you against your body. When you reach the opposite side, the arm should be ready for the taking.

ii) Near hand

• When he puts his forearm in place to block your hips, swivel your hips towards his head and under the elbow as if you were going to scarf hold. Block his elbow from returning with your hip and knee.
• Once in this position, you may move to north/south and then to side control on the opposite side, crushing his arm under you as you go. Upon reaching the opposite side, you should lock his arm (now the far arm) in the ideal position as described above.

Ideal position

• An excellent way to kill this near arm without changing sides is to grab the wrist with the hand you have under O’s head. It’s difficult for O to pull his hand out. Again this position has a number of names: the cobra hold, the gift wrap.

How to get it

* Pass it over with your other hand.

* Push your weight on the elbow to move his hand into position.

* Attack the far arm with an Americana, forcing him to reach over and grab his far arm to defend, when he does so, catch the near arm and gift wrap it.

iii) Rolling with the frame

If you can’t seem to stop O from getting a good frame, you can use your hips to break down his frame by

* Rolling under his frame for a scarf hold (underhook his far arm).

* Rolling onto his frame for a reverse scarf hold

• Deal with him turning toward you or away from you

1) O turns toward you in order to go to his knees.

O will try to get on his side - it is good basic posture for him. You need to flatten him out which can be done in a number of ways.

* Push his head away from you with the shoulder of justice from the crossface.

* Grab his pants at the hip and push your weight into the far side of his body to flatten him out. You can use your head, chest, anything really.

* Roll into reverse scarf hold, dropping your weight across his shoulders

2) O turns away from you in order to go to his knees.

This is generally considered not as good an option as turning toward the guy on top as it exposes the back. However, people do try this.

Grabbing the far arm

* Grab under his far elbow. He will find it very difficult to turn when you have this gripped.

Hooking the near arm

* Hook the near arm with your head side arm. From here grab the belt, step over the head and go for an armbar.

* Hook the near arm with your leg side arm, reach under his head for his collar and half nelson gi choke him.

Taking the back

* If you cannot stop him turning to his knees, you want to take his back. One way is to slide your head side knee under him and pull him back towards you by pulling on his far hip. As he falls into you, get your hooks in and clasp your hands in the harness grip.

• Move to Scarf hold/KOTB/Mount

Taking Scarf hold/KOTB

Taking scarf hold requires you switch your hips so they slide under O's armpit.
Taking knee on the belly requires that you either hop your knee onto O's stomach or grind your knee in.

Taking Mount

Side position is good but traditional BJJ theory states that mount position is better. Mount your opponent to get a whopping 4 points in competition.

O will likely have his near foot on his far knee, placing his knee by your hip to prevent you taking mount. What can we do?

• Rickson leg pull- Turn into reverse scarf hold, pull O’s near leg toward you, when he resists, let his leg go and pop into mount as his leg springs out of the way. You can see Rickson do this in “Choke”.
• Turn slightly to reverse scarf hold, grab your own foot and pull it across O’s body into mount.
• Slide your knee hard across his stomach to the other side.
• Reverse scarf hold again. Hook the near leg with your near leg, push his knee with your far hand and mount.
  

Experiment with taking the different positions from side control whilst keeping your balance and using your mobility to stay in control.

Conclusion

I hope to have covered some of the basic information regarding side control. There are plenty of different theories about side control. Checking out books and instructional DVDs is a great way to see how others approach the position.

Books I recommend

Although the title of this book is Ultimate Fighting, it is in fact devoted to gi bjj techniques. Royce Gracie explains a myriad of useful techniques for finishing the fight from on top of your opponent in a top quality book filled with clear photos.