The last WNO event featured a few boring matches, but the one that is getting the most attention is the Craig Jones vs Pedro Marinho match. Of course some times fights are boring and there is nothing you can do, but for Craig it seems that recently people have been able to stall him out. The match consisted of mostly hand fighting with very few actually techniques being attempted(you could also argue Craig was stalling Pedro). It's not just him though. There are many BJJ players that get stalled out and can't get their games going. In a recent video on Bernardo Faria's channel both Gordon Ryan and Nicholas Meregali complained about people avoiding engaging with them. Of course the easiest way to solve this is to change the rules. I'm not opposed to that, but with all the different rule sets in grappling, it might take a while before all of them get on board.
Here Marcelo faces wrestler Mike Van Arsdale. Mike was a D-1 champion and quite a bit larger than Marcelo, but didn't have the BJJ pedigree that Marcelo had. It seems his strategy was to work his takedowns and then try to sneak in a guard pass if he got the chance, but stay away from submissions. This is a solid strategy for a wrestler, but Marcelo didn't allow it. Let's see how Marcelo pulled this off against a larger athletic opponent.
However instead of looking at things from the global level, let's look at ways individuals can stop this. I'm not a world class competitor, but perhaps if we look at athletes that have solved this problem we can find solutions. Stalling has been around since the beginning of the sport. It has been a tool for wrestlers since the start of ADCC. Knowing they couldn't submit the BJJ experts they chose to score points and then avoid positions that might get them submitted. Its not just wrestlers though as many BJJ players will use this strategy against their opponents in all levels of the sport. Is there are way to counter act this? I believe there are strategies people can use that can stop this type of stalling and I want to highlight the people that have used it at the highest levels.
Let's first take a look at some of these ideas and then watch how people used them in competition to keep the action moving. I'm going to stick to No-gi BJJ for this because I feel this is the area where you have the least amount of tools to stop this type of stalling strategy.
In this first part I'm going to focus on the guard player and specifically the butterfly guard. The reason butterfly guard is so useful against stalling is that it is mobile and lets you follow your opponents easily. Lying on your back can be effective, but if the opponent refuses to come forward it makes playing spline guard almost impossible. The butterfly guard on the other hand let's you stay mobile and easily transition back to your feet. Let's now look at some tactics people have used successfully to combat stalling.
Marcelo was a master of this and he is the first person I saw that went after people this aggressively from the bottom position. This allowed Marcelo to keep the fight moving and allowed him to beat bigger, stronger opponents that usually would try to stall out the match after scoring points. He often overwhelmed people with this type of pressure and was able to sweep them or take their back. What usually happens is your opponent will stop moving backwards and quickly attack you. This however isn't a problem because most of the time they won't be in proper position to attack and you'll have an advantage. By pressuring them you can force their hand and make them commit to a sloppy attack. I think this was the key to Marcelo's butterfly game. His opponents couldn't handle the pressure and ended up making forced errors.
This goes hand in hand with applying pressure. Watch how Gordon uses foot sweeps to off balance his opponent. Often this didn't lead to a sweep, but made his opponent move. This causes your opponent lose their rhythm and forces them to move when they don't want to. This can frustrate many people and throw them off their game plan. Marcelo and most others only use the dummy sweep/double kouchi gari, but Gordon uses a variety of different attacks. However you do it, this will force the opponent to either try to pass or kneel down, making it easier to hit certain sweeps and submissions. Standing passes are preferred by many people currently and this is one of the best ways to get people to go down to their knees.
Applying Pressure
Attacking the legs
Snap downs
This is a great technique to use when your opponent leads with their head. You can use this when they are kneeling or standing as long as they put their head in front of the hands. This is fairly easy to do, but it can lead to various chokes from the front headlock or allow you to run around to the back. If they choose to posture up to avoid it they will give you a clear shot to their legs. This can also be used with ankle picks and knee picks if you prefer to sweep them instead of enter the front headlock position.
Arm Drags
This can be used in conjunction with the snap down. If your opponent chooses to lead with their hands the arm drag becomes fairly easy and low risk. This is a very powerful technique that can be used by anyone, but it is particularly effective when it comes to beating people larger than you. There are a variety of grips you can use for the arm drag and it can easily be chained into a sweep. It is usually used to take the back, but it can also be used to enter sweeps or takedowns. If the back take isn't there something else usually is.
Putting It All Together
Now we have the tools, but that isn't sufficient to stop stalling. Using these techniques together in an intelligent way is what will give you offensive opportunities and the ability to stop your opponents from denying you openings.
The key is to switch between attacking the head, arms and legs. Look at your opponents posture and reactions and attack whatever they give you.
If you notice that whenever you get close, your opponent bends forward and retracts his hands to go head to head with you, attack his head. The snap down is great for this. After hitting it you can go into a number of front headlock chokes or take the back. If you don't like the snap down you could also try a collar drag or choke in the gi.
If on the other hand the opponent is hand fighting with you, pushing your shoulders/head or grabbing your legs, you should be going after the arms. The arm drag should be the primary attack, but armbars, elbow passes, or even triangles are possible. Don't be afraid of using a 2-on-1 grip to keep control of people determined to escape.
Some people will stand upright and keep their head and arms away from you. They will lead with their legs forward and usually try to hit a quick knee slice pass. Here is where you can attack the legs by wrestling up, using foot sweeps(ashi waza), going into a different guards such as de la riva or moving into a leg entanglement.
You opponents posture is very important, but also look at their reactions. Some people will stand up straight giving you their legs, but they have an amazing sprawl that will stop you from wrestling up on a single leg takedown. In that case feint a leg attack, wait for them to sprawl, get a collar tie and snap them down. If they lead head first, but pop their head up when you go for the collar tie, fake the snap down and go for the legs. The possibilities are endless, but the point is, mix things up and don't rely on only one tactic. It is impossible to defend everything. Now let's look at some of this stuff in action.
Match Breakdown
Marcelo Garcia
Luckily Ayrshire grappler has already done most of the work for me. He did a great breakdown of this match and check out his other videos for more great breakdowns. Marcelo chases Kron from his butt and dummy sweeps him over and over again. This seems to frustrate Kron and doesn't allow Kron to start working his game. Marcelo stays in the driver's seat and makes Kron either defend or try to counter attack. Although Kron isn't what I'd call a staller, Marcelo stayed in his face the whole time and didn't allow Kron time to properly set up his attacks. This was a masterful performance.
After Mike tries to snap down Marcelo's head, Marcelo sits down to guard. Marcelo then comes up to one knee and threatens a shot, which makes Mike lower his level and engage instead of just standing and stalling.
00:30 - Marcelo chases after him from his butt and Mike tries to jump over his guard, but instead Marcelo goes under his legs tries to go into a X-guard. Mike jumps away and frees his legs.
This is similar to the previous match where Marcelo is facing another high level wrestler in Otto Olsen.
00:49 - Marcelo hand fights and pressures until Mike makes another pass attempt by throwing his legs up. Marcelo gets into half guard and tries to work an "old school" sweep. This is a bad idea and Mike uses a whizzer to throw him down to the ground.
01:16 - Mike gets free and turns around to restart. Marcelo takes this opportunity to lunge at him and try a takedown. Marcelo isn't giving out break time and has been forcing Mike to work every second of this match. Mike stops the takedown and Marcelo rolls to recover his guard. Right after that he goes for an arm drag and then runs after Mike. He finally secures the arm drag, gets to Mike's back and sinks in the RNC.
This was a very short match and it shows how pressure can work to help you keep the tempo/initiative in a match. Even though Mike was bigger and more athletic is didn't matter. Marcelo's aggression from the bottom didn't allow Mike time to think and forced him to play a BJJ style game that I'm sure he wasn't comfortable with.
00:22 - Marcelo pulls guard deep under Otto and tries to lift him up, but Otto slips away. Instead of staying on the ground, Marcelo stands right back up and gets in his face and continues hand fighting.
This was actually their 2nd match of the day and I'm sure Yuri didn't want to lose again. He starts off by going for a quick takedown, but can't get it. Gordon then pulls guard.
00:33 - Marcelo is being clubbed and is starting to lose momentum, but he grabs Otto's right arm and arm drags him and then gets a single leg. Finishing the single leg is a tall task, so Marcelo rolls backwards and sweeps Otto over the top, but can't secure the position and Otto stand up.
01:09 - Marcelo chases him and reaches for his legs until Otto is forced to drop down to his knees and go for a guillotine. This allows Marcelo to get to the X-guard, which off balances Otto and knocks him to his butt. Then then roll out of bounds.
After a somewhat nasty restart, Marcelo takes control of both of Otto's legs, gets on top, passes his guard and chokes him from the back. Marcelo's pressure made Otto do things that I'm sure he didn't want to. By increasing the pace you can force your opponent's hand and force them to make technical and strategic mistakes.
Gordon Ryan
Gordon does a good job of breaking down the whole match himself, but I'll highlight a few parts.
01:30 - Gordon explains how he peruses Matheus and gets the takedown.
03:02 - Gordon explains the collar tie and shows how he used it to hit a snap down on Matheus.
In this match Patrick is trying to control the pace and not let Gordon get his game started, but watch how Gordon uses the techniques talked about above to force Gaudio to act.Gordon starts the match by pulling guard and going for a dummy sweep to off balance Patrick. From there Gordon starts entering into leg entanglements and sweeps Patrick.
03:14 - Gordon goes for the dummy sweep which forces Patrick to come forward and try to pass. However this leads into the saddle and Gordon ends up sweeping.
05:31 - Here Patrick actually does manage to stall Gordon out here. It seems like Gordon is focused on the legs however Patrick is hiding them behind his head and his hands. This prevents Gordon from getting to them. Gordon does still force Patrick to come down to his knees quite a few times by perusing him aggressively.
10:15 - Gordon makes a tactical decision to stand up and goes in for a shot. He doesn't hit the takedown, but it gives him a great position to pull guard from and he sucks Patrick into his butterfly guard. After a bit of pass defense Gordon gets a collar tie and comes up to threaten a takedown or a snapdown. Patrick comes up and Gordon falls down into a single leg takedown. He stands and moves towards the back, pull Patrick back in-bounds and then hits a de ashi bari foot sweep. From there he works to take the back as time runs out.
This match demonstrates how you can use constant pressure and wrestling up to frustrate opponents and even take down people that you normally wouldn't be able to by wrestling up from the bottom. I'll cover that more in the next blog post.
01:12 - Gordon starts out on the ground with hand fighting a dummy sweeps. This causes Yuri to drop to his knees and that give Gordon the ability to grab his head. Gordon gets the collar tie and comes up like he's going for a snap down, but as Yuri comes up to defend Gordon drops back down into a butterfly sweep. This is an easy back and forth combination that is hard to stop.
02:00 - Gordon uses that collar tie again to attack Yuri and keep him guessing. As Yuri backs out Gordon goes for the dummy sweep again. Yuri goes for a guard pass that was fairly close, but Gordon defends. Gordon goes back to the collar tie and this time Yuri pushes away on Gordon's head to make space. Gordon arm drags Yuri and then slips under him to go into X-guard. This was a great illustration on first attacking the head, then the arms and finally the legs. The entry into the legs looked easy because Yuri was worried about the other areas of his body.
03:23 - This is an example of what you don't want. Nothing is happening and Yuri is running time off the clock as well as planning his next move. Yuri is able to take his time and then run into for a quick pass and then disengage after it doesn't work. Gordon stops this by using the collar tie. As Yuri comes up Gordon comes up with him ready to snap him down or slide under him.
For the rest of the match Gordon tries these same tactics and Yuri does the same. Gordon's aggression went down a bit and if he really wanted to push the action he could have wrestled up, but he was ahead by 1 advantage, so perhaps he didn't want to risk it by doing something reckless.
Conclusion
Of course sometimes its hard to stop someone from stalling, but using the techniques and strategy above you can at least give yourself a chance to make something happen. One thing I should note is that this strategy does consume a lot of energy, so if you're constantly using this it is possible you gas yourself out. However the ultimate goal is to use this and then after about 30 seconds you'll find yourself on top, on the back, etc and then you can start conserving energy or just end the match quickly. Another thing to be aware of is that this will cause your opponent to move, but if they're better than you they can still beat you. You can use these tools to make your opponent engage, but by doing so it could get your guard passed or even cause you to be submitted. Speeding up the match isn't always a good thing. However if you find yourself repeatedly getting stalled out and nothing is happening, give these concepts a try. In the next part I'll go over wrestling and a few other things you can use to keep the fight moving.
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