Category: Mount Escape

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How To Do A Heel Drag Elbow Mount Escape

Escaping mount is one of the most important skills you learn from Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. At its core, BJJ is a martial art, and you learn it in order to win a fight. There is no way you’re ever going to win a fight while your opponent is sitting on your stomach or chest and can rain down punches on you or (in a strict grappling match) is free to impose try submissions without exposing themselves to any threat. 

That’s why a large portion of the Gracie BJJ blue belt test includes mount escapes like the Standard Trap and Roll Mount Escape, the Punch Block Trap and Roll Mount Escape, the Headlock Trap and Roll Mount Escape, the Standard Elbow Mount Escape, the Hook Removal Elbow Mount Escape, the Fish Hook Elbow Mount Escape, and this technique, the Heel Drag Elbow Mount Escape. 

The Gracie BJJ blue belt test is in depth with mount escapes because it is essential that you have multiple options you can rely on to give you paths to escape the position, depending on how your opponent responds to your escape attempts. SundarBJJ points out that this heel drag elbow mount escape is a perfect response if your opponent fights the fish hook escape by shifting their weight onto the leg you’re trying to lift. That can be frustrating, but every situation in BJJ has options, and your opponent has just opened you up to the heel drag elbow mount escape.

Start: Mounted with opponent using a heavy knee to prevent you from escaping

Step 1: Circle your non escape side leg around opponent’s escape side ankle and bite down with knee as in figure four 

Step 2: Switch hips towards non escape side to drag opponent’s heel towards center of your body

Step 3: Push opponent’s knee down further into trap

*Note: You can stop here to play a half guard bottom game*

Step 4: Swim escape side arm in front of opponent’s arm and around their head

Step 5: Shrimp towards escape side

Step 6: Brace opponent’s non escape side hip

Step 7: Drag non escape side knee in front of opponent’s hip

Step 8: Shrimp towards non escape side and recover guard

End: Full guard

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How To Do a Fish Hook Elbow Escape From Mount in BJJ

Some say that the UFC and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu truly made it in the world when Friends did an episode about it. And in the opening to that episode “The One With The Ultimate Fighting Competition,” there was reference to a fish hook. 

Monica: “It’s sort of like wrestling, but without the costumes.”

Joey: “And it’s not fake. It’s totally brutal.”

Chandler: “Yeah, it’s two guys in the ring and the rules are THERE ARE NO RULES”

Monice: “You can, like, bite and pull people’s hair and stuff?”

Ross: “Anything goes except eye gouging and fish hooking.”

Monica: “What’s fish hooking?

Ross: “What’s fish h—”

*interrupted by Joey fish hooking him*

Ross: “thanks man that would have been really hard to describe”

So of course when the Gracie family wrote out their BJJ Blue Belt Test, they included fish hooking. The fish hook that is actually used in BJJ isn’t as dangerous or disgusting as the Friends fish hook, but they do share a name.

In actual BJJ the fish hook is a technique for escaping the mount when your opponent is wise to your standard elbow escape and hides their leg from you, and this sneaky ninja move will let you work around that.

Start: Mounted, opponent has tight legs securing you

Step 1: Bend your knee on the side you’d like to extract first until opponent’s foot pops up and over your knee

Step 2: Hook your other foot under opponent’s foot (this is your fish hook)

Step 3: Lift opponent’s foot up with your hand while you push down on their knee with your elbow to clear the path for your extraction leg (this is your fish hook

Step 4: Swim extraction side hand over opponent’s shoulder and then over their neck to grip opposite side shoulder

Step 5: Step extraction side foot over opponent’s leg from the outside to trap it

Step 6: Extract trapped leg by slicing knee inside of opponent’s knee and switching jips for more room

Finish: Closed guard via fish hook elbow escape from mount

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How To Do a Hook Removal Mount Escape in BJJ

In BJJ, MMA, and in street fights, being mounted is one of if not the worst position you can be in. When mounted, your opponent is using their weight to control all of your movements while leaving their hands and feet free to stop any escape attempts or mount their own attacks. Being mounted in BJJ only gets worse when someone grapevines you and hooks their heels under your legs, stretching you out until you can’t bridge or upa.

With no ability to post either of their feet, the grapevined BJJ fighter is stuck with no chance to create space between their body and the top player’s hips. To get back to a position they could upa from, the bottom fighter would need to leg curl with enough strength to overpower their opponent’s extension. Unless the bottom fighter is built like elastigirl, that’s a losing battle.

The BJJ hook removal mount escape is an essential Jiu-Jitsu mount escape, so critical that it is part of the Gracie BJJ Blue Belt test guide. 

Start: Mounted and grapevined

Step 1: Kick one leg out to the side to strip opponent’s grapevine and then circle inside

Step 2: Use free foot to peel opponent’s other grapevine off and kick the trapped leg straight

Step 3: Frame a hand on opponent’s knee to stop its movement

Step 4: Slide the frame-side knee through in front of opponent’s knee

Step 5: Step free foot over opponent’s leg to trap it and switch onto you opposite hip

Step 6: Frame against opponent’s other leg and slide that knee through

Finish: Guard via Hook Removal Mount Escape

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How To Do A Headlock Trap and Roll Escape

Being fully mounted in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is an awful position. With no opportunities to attack your opponent, your only goal when mounted is to escape from the mount and recover your guard or switch to the top where you have a chance to break your opponent’s guard and pass to an advantageous position. In MMA or a street fight, the mount is an even worse position. That is why escaping from mount is a crucial tool to have in BJJ and is included in the How To Get A Blue Belt guide. 

A common position when the bottom fighter is strong or very active trying to escape is the cross-face or headlock, where the top fighter will reach their arm under the bottom fighter’s head and through so that their elbow is against the bottom person’s neck. This locks them down onto the bottom fighter and sets up attacks like the Ezekiel choke.

The headlock trap and roll escape in BJJ allows you to sweep your opponent off of their position mounted on top of you even when they have you in a headlock, an even worse position! The headlock that secures the mount can be used by the bottom fighter to trap the top fighter and turn their attack against them as they are swept to their back.

Start: Mounted with a headlock or cross-face

Step 1: Grab arm with headlock and make your head heavy to trap in place

Step 2: Step foot on same side as headlock over opponent’s foot to trap it

Step 3: Wrap other arm around opponent’s back in a body hug

Step 4: Bridge hips up

Step 5: Reach body hug arm across towards other side

Step 6: Switch hip to follow opponent over

Finish: Opponent’s guard via headlock trap and roll escape

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How To Do A Punch Block Trap and Roll Mount Escape in BJJ

The punch block trap and roll mount escape is a simple, basic, effective mount escape. This variation is based on the idea of blocking a punch, so it is definitely essential for a street fight or MMA, but it is so essential for Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu that it is a part of the Gracie BJJ How To Get a Blue Belt guide.

This mount sweep relies on one of the fundamental ideas in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu when thinking about sweeping or escaping from your opponent: remove one of the legs of the table. Think of an opponent’s limbs as the legs of a table (since they have four of them and usually use all four to support themselves when they’re in a top position), and then think of what would happen if you were to take one of the legs away from a table (it would fall over, if not immediately then definitely if you bumped it towards the missing leg). This is a fundamental rule when escaping or sweeping an opponent. In the punch block trap and roll escape, you take away one of the table legs (the opponent’s arm) and then set up a block on their leg to stop them from changing from a normal table into a tripod. This allows you to simply visualize the trap and roll mount escape shown in the video below.

Start: Mounted with opponent posturing up to punch

Step 1: Sit up and hug opponent’s midsection to reduce space

Step 2: Bridge hips to push opponent forward and force them to post their hands on the floor

Step 3: Reach hands up and onto opponent’s shoulders from behind and climb up opponent’s body with legs
Step 4: Trap opponent’s arm on the rolling side with a whizzer-style over-elbow arm wrap

Step 5: Post rolling-side foot on the outside of opponent’s leg to trap it

Step 6: Bridge up and to rolling side and reach other-side arm up to roll opponent onto their back

Finish: Opponent’s guard via punch block trap and roll escape

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How To Do an Elbow Escape From Mount in BJJ

Being mounted in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu stinks. You’re stuck on the floor with someone who might be bigger, stronger, better at BJJ, or just lucky sitting on your stomach making every breath you take feel like it’s underwater. And then they start attacking you with submissions! The mount in BJJ is bad, but in MMA or a street fight, it is a very bad place to be.

That’s why having a good, reliable escape from mount is a basic self defense staple and essential to progress in Jiu Jitsu. The elbow escape is a standard escape from mount that anyone practicing BJJ should know and one that you can see used in the highest levels of grappling because it is effective at all levels of grappling. This technique is part of the requirements for how to get a blue belt in BJJ through the Gracie system.

Start: Mounted

Step 1: Frame one forearm against opponent’s hip and one against their thigh with one palm on opponent’s hip and the other on the back of that hand with arms at a 90 degree angle

Step 2: Turn 45 degrees to the side of your frame, maintaining the frame

Step 3: Keeping your leg flat to the mat, slide frame-side leg under his leg towards the outside, pushing on his thigh to help create space if necessary

End: Half-guard

This video also includes good method for removing your opponent’s hooks when they are mounted on you and a good transition from half-guard to full guard, which is one of the most powerful positions in BJJ.

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How To Execute a Trap and Roll Mount Escape in BJJ

In BJJ, the worst position to be in is fully mounted by your opponent. When fully mounted, your opponent has a full array of options to submit you while you are forced to carry their weight. It’s an unpleasant place to be, but there is a very simple escape from mount that will land you in your opponent’s guard. Being in someone’s guard is not ideal, they are still in control, but it is much better than being mounted.

In a fist fight or an MMA match, being fully mounted is even worse, and escaping is even more essential. In fact, in a fist fight this escape is more of a game changer. Unless your opponent is an MMA fighter or skilled in BJJ, being inside someone’s guard is a good place to be in a fist fight (because then you can create space easily, make them carry your weight, and have more of a chance to run away!)  

This is a simple BJJ mount escape that can save you when you find yourself mounted and is a part of the Gracie BJJ Blue Belt Requirements. 

This is a great video from Gracie NEPA that shows the simple escape and then goes into extensive detail of the nuances of the trap and roll escape.

Start: Full mount on bottom

Step 1: Grip opponent’s right wrist with your right hand 

Step 2: Grip opponent’s right elbow with your left hand

Step 3: Step both feet together to outside of opponent’s right leg

Step 4: Bridge up and turn into opponent

End: Inside Opponent’s full guard

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How To Get a BJJ Blue Belt – The Gracie Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Blue Belt Requirements

In Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (BJJ), getting a blue belt is one of the first major milestone accomplishments in your grappling career. It’s a sign that you have really learned BJJ to the point that you’re not a beginner anymore. Of course, your road is still very long, but it is a great accomplishment and one that most white belts are focused on in their grappling training.

A major problem for white belts is a lack of information on what you need to know to get your blue belt. Luckily, Gracie University Jiu Jitsu has published the basic requirements needed to be eligible for a BJJ Blue Belt in their system. This isn’t a checklist that guarantees you a blue belt (if you’re that desperate, you can always just buy a blue belt but that’s not really the point) but it is a list of the basic knowledge expectations for someone looking to get a BJJ blue belt.

Mount Techniques

There are four sections to the Gracie BJJ Blue Belt test: Mount Techniques, Guard Techniques, Side Mount Techniques, and Standing Techniques.