Tag: Side Control

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How To Do The Ghost Side Control Escape

The Ghost side control escape is a 10th planet jiu jitsu technique that uses one of the fundamentals of BJJ – using your opponent’s energy against them. The Ghost escape starts like a normal side control escape, using your forearms to protect your neck and keep your opponent from getting too close. Then, you threaten a traditional guard recovery side control escape and when your opponent reacts, you use the space they create to slip away like a ghost.

Bonus: check out the Mortal Kombat intro music and try to stop yourself from saying GET OVER HERE like scorpion. If that doesn’t make you want to do some ninja stuff and choke someone out in a cool way, you’re dead inside and nothing can help you.

Start: Side control bottom

Step 1: Establish forearm blocks with T-Rex arms

Step 2: Shrimp away from opponent and face them

Step 3: Use inside hand to stiff arm or pimp hand and block opponent’s hip.

Step 4: Switch outside hand to whizzer overhook

Step 5: Attempt to step outside foot over opponent’s bottom side leg

Step 6: When opponent reacts, reach inside arm through under their body and between their knee and arm

Step 7: Swing feet away from opponent and punch inside arm through to spin around to all fours as you rotate away from opponent

Finish: Scramble

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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 An Omoplata From Side Control

The omoplata is a simple Jiu-Jitsu submission that uses your hips to twist your opponent’s shoulder. Once the omoplata position has been reached it is very quick and easy to complete the submission. Using a strong part of your body against a relatively weak body part, you are able to create a very painful amount of force with relatively little effort with the BJJ omoplata. 

The other reason the omoplata is a great submission is that it looks very cool. The typical omoplata from guard looks pretty cool, but setting up the omoplata from side control involves spinning around on top of your opponent so that you are facing the same way as them and the finish involves sitting over the other person while they are smashed face first into the ground. 

The omoplata from side control is one of those great BJJ submissions that makes you feel like a ninja. 

Start: Side Control

Step 1: Switch to reverse kesa gatame position facing opponent’s feet

Step 2: Hop your butt back and sit on opponent’s shoulder

Step 3: Step your outside leg back, spreading your legs so that you can grab opponent’s arm and trap it between your legs

Step 4: Drive into opponent and drag their arm with you so that you can slide your inside foot below their shoulder

Step 5: Post inside hand on mat next to opponent’s hip and grab your inside shin with your outside hand

Step 6: Continue spinning in that direction around opponent’s head, dragging them onto their stomach with their arm trapped in the omoplata

Finish: Submission via omoplata from side control

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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 An Americana From Side Control in BJJ

The Americana is a very effective submission that every Brazilian Jiu Jitsu fighter should know. It can be seen used effectively at all levels of BJJ, as well as in other grappling sports, MMA, and is very effective in practical use like street fights. Because it is such a useful technique in BJJ, the Americana has become one of the staples of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and is even a part of the Gracie BJJ Blue Belt test. This is also one of the submissions that works the same way in no go BJJ as it does in go BJJ, like the rear naked choke.

The Americana (sometimes called the keylock, figure-four armlock, or paintbrush) is executed by bending your opponent’s arm at 90 degrees like they are celebrating a touchdown, then bending the wrist backwards to put immense pressure on their shoulder, resulting in a tap. 

This video shows how to attain the americana from side control, a position many BJJ fighters find themselves in often. René A. Dreifuss shows the details of this technique and breaks the submission down to three steps you should focus on: accordion, motorcycle, down.

Start: Side control

Step 1: Separate opponent’s far-side arm from opponent’s body, using your head if they pus against it with that arm

Step 2: Grip opponent’s wrist with your top-side hand, keeping fingers and thumb on the same side of the grip

Step 3: Slide your bottom-side arm underneath opponent’s and grip your own wrist in same monkey grip, keeping your arm parallel with his forearm

Step 4: Pull opponent’s arm in towards you like an accordion

Step 5: Twist your wrists down toward the mat like you’re decelerating on a motorcycle

Step 6: Push opponent’s hand down towards their feet

End: Submission via Americana

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How To Escape Any Side Control in BJJ – By Xande Ribiero

How to Escape Any Side Control in BJJ by Xande Ribiero

Xande Ribeiro is one of the best grapplers in the world. Having won the World Jiu Jitsu championship open weight division twice and the heavyweight division five times, he has rolled with the best grapplers in the world and come out on top. So when he says his diamond guard side control escape will show you how to pass any side control, you should listen to what he has to say. 

This diamond guard takes a lot of abdominal strength, and Xande talks for a while in the video about his workouts and how he keeps his abs in shape. He also mentions that his guard has not been passed in competition since 2005, so while this side control escape might be tough at first, it is proven. 

Start: Side control bottom

Step 1: Wrap outside arm around opponent’s back, holding tight and maintaining a constant pressure so that you move with any pressure and when opponent pushes into you, it creates space between opponent’s hips and you

Step 2: Bring inside knee and elbow together across opponent’s waist

Step 3: Push off opponent’s hip with inside arm to create enough space to move inside leg into half guard or full guard

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How To Do An Inverse Buggy Choke From Half Guard Bottom Or Side Control Bottom

bjj instruction video buggy choke from half guard bottom side control bottom

Half Guard Bottom can be a frustrating position in BJJ. Unlike mount of side control, you have some options for sweeps from side control bottom, but that can make opponents nervous. Sometimes nervous opponents will insist on pinning you rather than trying to execute their own passes or submissions. Luckily for you, even if your opponent has decided they are just going to smash their weight into you and stall, there is an option for na very slick choke from side control bottom.

This is called the inverse buggy choke and it’s a very cool choke that involves wrapping yourself into a bizarre yoga pretzel and makes you look like a ninja.

Start: Half Guard Bottom

Step 1: Shrimp away from opponent

Step 2: Shoot top-side arm out between his head and shoulder

Step 3: Grab your top-side leg as high as possible with top-side hand

Step 4: Use your bottom-side hand ton secure leg and drive top-side arm as high as possible on your leg

Step 5: Push bottom-side hand against his hip with a straight arm to bring yourself higher on his body and his trapped arm away from his body

Step 6: Bring the inside of your elbow to the inside of your knee

Step 7: Turn away from opponent and squeeze arm for choke submission

BONUS: Completing the Inverse Buggy Choke from side control bottom

Sometimes in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, you don’t get a chance to use your favorite moves. if your opponent passes from half guard to side control, you can still execute the inverse buggy choke from side control bottom.

Start: Side control bottom

Step 1: Shrimp away from opponent and turn onto your inside hip to free your outside leg up

Step 2: Grab your outside leg with your outside hand and create a connection as high as possible on both with the goal of meeting your inside elbow to your inside knee

Step 3a: If opponent drives towards you, use your inside arm to post against his hip and squeeze your arm to complete the choke

Step 3b: If opponent does not push towards you, use your inside leg to push against your outside arm and leg and squeeze your arm to complete the choke

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How To Do A Far Side Armbar From Side Control – By Demian Maia

The armbar is one of the most iconic (and dramatic) Brazilian jiu jitsu techniques, and side control is one of the most common positions in BJJ. Because these two techniques are both so popular, you might be asking ‘how do I finish an armbar from side control?’

UFC legend and world-class BJJ grappler Demian Maia shows his technique for the far side arm bar from side control in this quick video.

Start: Side control top with opponent’s far side arm between your head and his legs

Step 1: Grip his elbow with your low-side hand and pull towards you while rolling his elbow to the sky

Step 2: Stand up on your top side foot and drive your weight towards his far side hip with your shoulder, straightening his arm out and weakening it

Step 3: Step your top-side foot around and under his arm pit with your knee up towards the sky

Step 4: Pivot and sit back, then extend your hips to complete the arm bar

End: Submission via armbar