The most common type of attack from someone in your guard is getting punched in the face. We covered how to deal with face punches in the punch block series article on May 5, but how do you go from defending yourself to finishing the fight?
“Once your opponent realizes that your control is so good that they can’t punch you, they will try to swim through and go for your throat or your face from inside your guard,” Rener Gracie explains.
“What they don’t realize is this sets you up for the perfect straight arm lock from guard.”
Maintain head control on your opponent from guard while you hook one of your arms under one of their legs. Go for the opposite side of whichever hand is trying to choke you.
To get here you’ll need to slide your hips away from the leg you want to trap in order to get the space you need.
Once you have it, you can release their head with your other arm, but use it to push their face away from you by driving the edge of your forearm into their throat. This is a sensitive and potentially damaging area so you don’t need a lot of force for this – especially if you are sparring with a partner – but in a street fight you don’t need to be as gentle.
Don’t forget, though, you may have to explain your actions to a judge.
Now, if you’ve got your right arm trapping their leg, you need to bring your left leg out of guard and over their head so that you trap their neck behind your knee. Really get in there and bring your legs together as close as possible so you’ve got a nice, tight lock on their head. This will give you better control and better leverage.
You can now take hold of your opponent’s arm – the one that was choking you just a few seconds ago – with your free hand. You can also release the hold you have on their leg and trap their arm with both of your hands.
Hold your opponent’s arm so their thumb is facing up – the socket of their elbow will also be facing up, which is what you want – and then drive your pelvis into the back of their arm.
Your opponent might try to roll away from you at this point – or they might just lose balance and fall over – but it doesn’t matter. Just sit up as they roll away and then suck your hips in even tighter and lean back with the same pressure on their arm.
“This is actually better if he’s on the bottom, it can be much more difficult to escape,” Gracie explains. “And I still have his arm nonetheless.”
See www.coastmartialarts.com and stay tuned for more of the Green Grappler.
