Tag: Kimura

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How To Do a Kimura Takedown in BJJ

If you watched UFC Fight Night: Ladd vs Dumont, you might have caught Ramazan Emeev taking Danny Roberts to the mat with a Kimura takedown. At the time it was called creative by the commenting team but like Jim said “as we all know, the one thing that thousand-year-old martial arts do all the time is change.” This video from 2009 has Nick Diaz showing how he does the kimura takedown.

The kimura takedown uses the kimura arm submission that we all know and love (if you don’t know and love the kimura, check out How To Do a Kimura From Guard in BJJ – Forced Variation, How To Do A Kimura From Side Control Bottom in BJJ.

Start: Standing, opponent has back with double under hooks

Step 1: Target which we of opponent’s hands is on top, this will be the side you attack. Grab that wrist with your other side hand

Step 2: Push down on opponent’s wrist with both of your hands while you base down.

Step 3: Use the space created by basing down to weave your attacking side hand over opponent’s arm and through to grab your other wrist.

Step 4: Push down and base to break opponent’s grip

Step 5: Turn towards attacking side and push opponent’s arm up, causing them to follow the motion and go off balance

Finish: Side control via kimura takedown

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How To Do A Kimura From Side Control Bottom in BJJ

Side control bottom in BJJ sucks. You are stuck on the ground with someone pouring all of their weight right into your chest making it hard to breathe while they’re also trying to bend your body in impossible directions. Add in that, unlike being mounted, you don’t have the option to upa (or bridge quickly with) your hips to knock your opponent off balance and create some space to maybe recover to a better position and side control can be a very frustrating place to find yourself if you’re new to Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. But there is one trick that lets the BJJ fighter on side control bottom take back some of the power: The kimura from side control bottom.

The kimura from side control bottom is a simple submission that uses the same kimura mechanics you know from the kimura from guard, kimura from side control, kimura from mount, or kimura from half guard bottom. While you may not get a submission with the kimura from side control bottom, it can open up options for escaping side control bottom.

This particular kimura from side control bottom involves catching your opponent while they are transitioning past your guard into side control bottom. It can also be used if you are able to hip out enough to grab a grip on your opponent’s high-side arm with both of your hands.

Start: Opponent past your guard and transitioning to side control

Step 1: Grip opponent’s high-side hand (the side they are passing on) with your inside hand

Step 2: Drop to your inside hip

Step 3: Reach outside hand over opponent’s tricep and grab your own wrist

Step 4: Turn onto outside hip and shoulder, allowing opponent to follow their movement and fall over your body onto their back

Step 5: Switch your hips perpendicular to opponent’s body and push their arm back towards their head

Finish: Submission via kimura from side control bottom

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How To Do A Kimura From Side Control in BJJ

The kimura is a legendary submission in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. Made famous by Masahiko Kimura when he sunk in the shoulder lock on Helio Gracie during their super fight, the kimura is such a strong submission that Helio’s arm broke when he refused to tap. The Brazilian was so stubborn that his brother Carlos Gracie had to throw in the towel and charge onto the mat to stop the fight.

The kimura from side control that broke Helio Gracie’s arm is not a complicated, hard to master trick submission that comes from left field and surprises people, it is a simple, basic BJJ submission that is still effective at any level.

This video by Bernardo Faria and John Donaher has the basic instructions for the kimura from side control along with a lot of details and explanations that are important to understand in order to actually land the kimura from side control in a BJJ roll.

Start: Side control top

Step 1: Grab opponent’s far-side wrist with your top-side hand by snaking the hand under opponent’s bicep

Step 2: Walk your hips up towards opponent’s head, putting your body at the eleven o’clock position relative to opponent’s body

Step 3: Grip your top-side wrist with your bottom-side hand

Step 4: Pull opponent’s wrist up along the mat towards their head

Finish: Submission via kimura

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How To Do a Kimura From Guard in BJJ – Forced Variation

The Kimura is one of the first submissions you will learn as a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu fighter. The reason you’ll learn the Kimura so soon in BJJ, usually right alongside the arm bar from guard and triangle from guard, is because you will often find yourself in guard as a new BJJ fighter (after you’ve recovered from mount or side control that is) and the Kimura is a simple yet very effective BJJ technique. The Kimura uses a simple two-on-one arm attack to twist the opponent’s arm until they can’t take it anymore and submit and it also uses the human body and simple geometry to do all that rather than strength.

This video by Ryron and Rener Gracie shows the Kimura Forced Variation, which is a part of the Gracie How To Get a Blue Belt in BJJ guide.

Start: Closed guard

Step 1: Use one hand (on attacking side) to push their head to one side and slide the other arm around, trapping their head with your armpit and tricep

Step 2: Post with your opposite-side foot and get onto your same-side hip

Step 3: Shoot opposite-side arm over opponent’s arm, trapping it at the tricep

Step 4: Grip opponent’s wrist with your same-side hand

Step 5: Grip your own same-side wrist with your opposite-side hand

Step 6: Drive with both feet, elevate your hips, and drive your shoulders back, collapsing opponent

Step 7: Post your same-side foot inside opponent’s legs, trapping their leg, walk your shoulders and hips so that you are onto your opposite-side shoulder and hip

Step 8: Keep opponent’s arm bent at a 90 degree angle and push their wrist back and up towards their head

Finish: Submission by Kimura from Guard