Why Grapplers Succeed:
And what strikers can do about it.
If one were to break down the last fifty years in to decades and choose the most popular art from each decade, the list may look something like this: 1950’s Judo, 1960’s Karate, 1970’s Kung Fu, 1980’s Ninjutsu and the 1990’s Submission grappling. The submission grappling of the 90’s was characterized by such styles as Brazilian Jujutsu and Sambo. In fact, Brazilian Jujutsu (BJJ) was easily the catalyst for this grappling revolution. It has gotten to the point where (like the other arts in their respective decades) you can’t turn a corner without finding a BJJ school; the US army has even adopted it for it official Hand to Hand Combatives program.
In the early 90’s Rorion Gracie created the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). The UFC was essentially a vehicle to showcase his family’s style of Jujutsu. It worked. His younger brother Royce cleaned up, only once not winning the tournament due to injury. The world was stunned. Gracie, along with other grapplers like Ken Shamrock, was beating skilled Karate and Kung Fu stylists. Weren’t these guys trained killers? They even beat boxers and kick boxers. In the face of such grappling superiority what was a 20 year practitioner of a striking art to do?
Regrettably, many Martial artists abandoned their previous styles to become grapplers. Others cross trained and learned submission grappling in addition to their previous styles. However, many strikers don’t want to be ground fighters. Some believe that the ground is a bad place to be in a fight; others want to stay on their feet because they would rather be a good striker than a mediocre grappler. So how does the striker defeat the ground fighter without becoming a grappler? The first thing to do is to learn what a grappler is aiming to do. The second is to learn how to defend against them, while staying in a position to use those striking skills.
The Grappler’s Strategy
The ground fighter’s goal is to get you on the ground. He knows that most strikers are uncomfortable on the ground. Once he has you out of your element and in his world he will gain dominant position then try to subdue you with a choke or submission hold. Short of that he will employ a strategy know as the ground and pound, which is essentially straddling you while he rains blows down on your head until you quit are unconscious. There are three main areas to the grappler’s game: The Shoot, the Clinch and the Ground.
The Shoot
The Shoot is the grappler’s first attempt to take you to the ground. This is usually in the form of a double leg takedown. Similar to a football tackle the execution varies depending on whether the grappler comes from a wrestling or Judo/BJJ background. The main points of the takedown are as follows: Enter low, wrap both hands around the knees or thighs, suck the legs in and drive forwards. Regardless of the variation used the defense the same, it is know as the sprawl.
To execute the sprawl one must move quickly so practice is needed but done correctly will stop a grappler cold. The first thing one must to is shoot the legs back and establish a wide base. By shooting the legs back one is doing to things, one is bracing against the grapplers forward drive and one is placing the weight forward and centered on the grappler making it hard for him to lift you. The next thing is to over hook the arm that is away from his head i.e. if his head is on your right side you hook your left arm over his right. Simultaneously, place other hand on his neck and press down. This downward head pressure is the key to the whole movement. This prevents him from driving from a strong position. Once in this position one tries to drive his head straight down, using the strength form you hips as well as you arms.
One of the most common mistakes strikers make when faced with the Shoot is to try and strike whilst the grappler is shooting. While confidence in one’s striking ability is admirable most grapplers are used to taking a strike on the shoulder or top of the head. In addition, the takedown is normally done so quickly you won’t have time for more than one shot before you end up on the ground. First sprawl, once you have stolen his momentum you can unleash the barrage of strikes you have spent your life perfecting. Also stick to hand strikes while the grappler is that close, once you lift one leg for a kick or knee you have lost all that balance you have worked so hard to maintain and you will end up on the floor.
The Clinch
The clinch is the position you are in when the grappler hasn’t quite taken you down but still has a good chance. A common incarnation of the clinch is when the grappler shoots and you sprawl but neither of you was quite fast enough. He has his arms around your legs, or butt, although he hasn’t sucked the legs in yet, and he is more or less under you. At this point you have two man options; you can fight the clinch and try to make the sprawl work. This is done by shifting your hips rapidly, applying more pressure to his head and sinking lower and back. Conversely, if you think it is just a matter of time until you go down, you can try and go down under your own conditions. One very effective way is to use a modified judo sacrifice throw. First you over hook your arm over the attacker’s arm which is on the opposite side his head is on. In other words, if his head is on the right side of your body, you over hook the arm on the left side of your body. Next, keeping your arm over his head, you would under hook his other arm. This puts more pressure on his neck, pushing it further down. After that is tight fall quickly to your butt roll back. As roll back plant one foot on the ground to push and send the other one straight up between his legs (inside of the thigh for your training partner). The roll, plus the kick in the groin, will send him over you. You can now get up.
The Ground
The ground is the submission grappler’s paradise. As a striker you do not want to be there. Once a grappler has you on the ground he will try and establish dominant position. The will normal be a side control or he will try and straddle you. Once he has you controlled, he will either choke you, lock you or he will just punch you until you’re done. The first defense is to not get in this position by using the tips above. However, we all now that sometimes things don’t work out the way we want them. So as a striker on the ground you have to get up. When ever you are on the ground you want to be on you back or butt with your legs facing the attacker. You will need to spin, push, bite, claw, kick and just do anything you can to keep that position. Once you have established that position start to create space by pushing with your hands and legs. Be careful not to reach or you could get locked. Once you have created space you can try and get up. Sit up and place one foot tight in to you butt. Plant the opposite hand slightly behind you hip. Give one last push kick and as you withdraw you leg, push up and back with you plant hand and foot. Withdraw the leg through the gap created and step back. You are now standing; retreat a bit more to create space for a counter attack or escape.
The main points to remember against a grappler are: Keep a solid base, stop the attack before striking, know when you are going down and work to do so on your own terms and don’t stay on the ground any longer than necessary. If you follow these guidelines you can do quite well against grapplers. There are many different ways a grappler can attack you, the shoot is just one of the more popular, research grappling attacks. When researching grappling always keep in mid that you are not trying to become a great grappler, you are just learning how they want to take you down and what you can do to prevent it. I have outlined some of my favorite ways to stay on my feet or at least stay off the ground for long periods of time. The benefits are that it takes very little time to learn how to stay up and by staying up you can put those striking techniques that you have spent so long perfecting to use.