Grappling Game Plan: Get on top
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A few days after a no-gi Saturday down at the gym, I was thinking about how to put together a fierce grappling game plan and detailing a jujitsu roadmap to get there, something hit me. At first, I wanted to dismiss the thought as too simple – but the more I dwelt on it, the more sense it made.
Get on top.
What made it really click is something Mike Colby said while teaching. He said something like, “If you have the opportunity to escape from a disadvantageous bottom position to either a top position or a more advantageous bottom position, always choose to go to the top. The more time you spend in the top positions, the more guys you’ll tap.”
This rung true with most MMA and grappling I’ve watched, as well as my limited personal experience. Submissions are easier to get and harder to defend when attacking top down. When in top positions, it seems easier to attack the different body zones (head, neck, arms, and legs) from one spot. In MMA, half-guard, side-control and mount are some of the most excellent places to go on the offensive with minimum risk.
If you can just focus on getting from wherever you are to a more dominant top position, a lot of things will just take care of themselves. Having such a simple “plan” will help to funnel all of your moves to one consistent goal easily, instead of getting caught in analysis paralysis.
Watching Mike wrestle, he certainly practices what he preaches. It seems like he’s always putting pressure on his opponent from a top position, creating submissions or waiting for an opportunity. And if you don’t know Mike, it’s my understanding that he’s one of the state’s top no-gi grapplers.
Anyway, “Get on top” is just a quicker way to say, “consistently attempt to gain positional dominance.” It’s not that you haven’t heard this before. But for me, I often don’t really hear the truth, on a deep level, until I’ve heard it 100 times.
BTW, if you want to, here’s a video of Mike instructing a transition from reverse scarf position to belly down back control. Watch his training partner (Noah), squirm under the controlling preassure. Mike finishes via short choke/rear naked choke.
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