In the last post I went over how to stop stalling from the guard position, but this time let's talk about the standing position. I know many people who do BJJ aren't interested in takedowns, but without them it becomes difficult to stop people from stalling you. Of course you can just learn wrestling or Judo, but let's look at some strategies that are tailor made for no-gi grappling.
I previously made a complete breakdown of this whole match. You can check it out here. I'll show just a few things here.
Damien started his career by using his BJJ is a fairly standard manor, but when he dropped to the 170lb division things changed. He started working a strategy of shooting for a single leg and if he couldn't finish it he would just pull half guard. Once on the ground he would either go back to the single leg or move around to his opponents back. He did this for years and was able to get numerous high level wins with the "up, down, up" strategy.
I'm not going to include single legs and double legs because 1). They're basic and most people are already familiar with them 2). Some people don't want to shoot due to injuries, fear of guillotines, etc. I believe you should work on these takedowns that involve shooting, but there are times you need something else.
Foot sweeps
One thing that I feel that is very underused in grappling currently is foot sweeps and Judo style throws in general. Wrestling shots are of course important, however many people are afraid of guillotines or getting sprawled on. Adding footsweeps can help you keep active if your opponent is standing upright. This can also help bring their hips back to set up snap downs or front headlock opportunities. Many people think of foot sweeps as being Judo and only applicable in the gi, however as shown below they can be used against high level experienced opponents no wearing gis.
Up, Down, Up, Down
Often times the biggest reason stalling happens is because 2 people get caught in a position and stalemate each other. Neither wants to change their strategy and thus nothing happens in the match.
An easy fix for this problem is to mix up the positions every once and a while to keep your opponents on their toes. The easiest way to do this is to pull guard and stand up often. This can take the form of wrestling up, but it can also be used to pull someone down into a submission even when you have the wrestling advantage. This strategy isn't overly difficult or complicated, but it plays against people's insticts and forces them to engage when they don't want to. It also looks good to the judges and makes many people switch from wrestling mode to submission mode quickly, which can be leveraged to force mistakes.
Standing submissions
These can make people very nervous and cause them to abandon their usual strategy. The most common is the guillotine, which if you're an expert in it, makes people reevaluate whether they want to shoot on your legs or not. This by itself gives you a strategic advantage by lowering the number of options your opponent has.
Although it might seem like there aren't many options here, there are actually quite a few ways to go from the standing position directly into a submission attack. Ex. Flying armbar, flying triangle, immanari roll, victory roll, standing guillotine, standing kimura, wake gatame, kani basami, etc. These can all be used to keep your opponents on their toes and open up opportunities for other attacks.
Wrestling up
This strategy has become very popular in the last 2 years or so because people have realized how well it works with a traditional guard strategy. Regular sweeps and submissions from the guard are great, but many people will stay on the outside away from your grasp. If you can't bring someone in to you, hitting a sweep or submission become much more difficult. However it gives you the ability to come forward to knock the other person down.
This creates a fork/dilemma where your opponent either has to come forward to try to keep you down, which gives you a chance to sweep/submit. Or the can choose to back away and keep their hands out of reach, which allows you to hit single legs or double legs. Due to the fact that you're already on the ground you don't need to level change to get lower than their center of gravity.
Putting it all together
Of course all these things by themselves are good, but combining them makes a system that is unpredictable and hard to stall against. Many opponents want to stick to their game and shut down yours. By switching between these strategies you can catch them off guard and make them engage when they don't want to. Many matches grind to a halt because both people figure out what the other is trying to do and they get stuck in a loop. By varying your approach this won't happen.
Match Examples
Nicky Ryan
Through this whole match Nicky wrestles up from guard whenever he is on his back. Nicky had the better wrestling on the feet as well, but sometimes that doesn't matter. Even a good wrestler can get swept or maybe they'll fall off the back. Nicky fights for the top position and this allows him to control the pace of the match. He pervious matches he has been stalled out from the bottom position, but he's clearly fixed that and taken his game to the new level.
Daniel Maira
This match was a bit frustrating at first. Daniel's opponent seems content to stay on the outside and try to hit a quick pass when Daniel isn't paying attention. Daniel can't get a hold of him or setup any sweeps or submissions. After getting shut down for about half the match Daniel realizes he can just sit up and double leg his opponent. At 7:38 he hit him with a quick easy double leg to tie up the match. At 8:18 he does it again and wins the match.
Gary Tonon
Here Gary perfectly displays and "up, down, up" tactic. By constantly changing Dante isn't sure how he should attack.
Gary is a master of the Kani basami, which is somewhat of a scary technique. Here Tonon uses that fear to setup Dante for a harai goshi throw.
The whole match is great and you can learn something each time you watch it.
Demian Maia
He was also very good with foot sweeps. By using foot sweeps against the cage he was able to threaten takedowns and back takes simultaneously.
Seika
Izawa
Seika has backgrounds in wrestling and Judo and uses both here. She pressures in with a collar tie and then starts using kouchi gari and kosoto gari repeatedly until she gets the takedown. This is a great strategy against an opponent standing up straight, especially if you're worried about being guillotined.
Shinya Aoki
Shinya is known as the "tobikan judan" which means 10th degree blackbelt in flying submissions. You can see that fully on display in this highlight.
Watch the quick flying armlock here.
This is Shinya's most famous submission, which I believe is a waki gatame variation.
Finally he hits a flying triangle to finish to the match.
Shinya is a master of standing submissions and this makes it very hard for his opponents. Anytime they touch him they are only a few steps away from being submitted. This gives Shinya a tactical advantage and opens up more traditional attacks.
Conclusion
In some cases its impossible to stop someone from stalling, but most of the time it isn't. Using the tools I've shown in these 2 posts, you can get someone to move at react, or at least run away until they get DQ'd. Of course you don't need to use all of these in every match, but sprinkling a few of them in can force a recalcitrant opponent to do something. Keep in mind that many of these will burn quite a bit or energy, so you might not want to use them at all times, but if you feel like you're getting stuck in a cycles of running, pushing, hand fighting, etc give them a try.
Comments
Post a Comment