Back Mount Defense - A Tale of Two Grips

500 Fighting Words on back mount defense we saw at FPI 4

Author

William
June 30th, 2023

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500 Fighting Words is an ongoing series where we discuss one technique, fighter, or theme in 500 words, or less.

Fight Pass Overtime on Full Display

Last night the UFC put on their fourth Fight Pass Invitational event. Having more avenues for professional grappling is great and I love watching professional no gi grappling. That said, the ruleset needs to be updated so something actually incentivizes action in regulation.

No gi grapplers have a bad habit of locking hands, stiff-arming, and circling around one another on the feet. The get down rule isn’t enough of a punishment to make anything happen. Even when competitors are made to get down they can just stand up, completely negating the point of the rule.

While the wrestling and regulation time period left a lot to be desired, some overtime sequences were intriguing. One match in particular provided a great case study on how to configure your hands when defending back mount.

In the main event, Craig Jones ended up beating Felipe Pena by total ride time. They both did an excellent job of harassing the face while switching their leg configurations to stay on the back. Harassing the face is important because it threatens an immediate choke while holding your opponent’s spine in place so they can’t escape easily.

Nicky Rodriguez ended up winning the tournament with a rear naked choke in the second round of overtime in the finals. Before Rodriguez got his submission he showed these two remarkable arm bar escapes.

Rodriguez’s right arm being uninjured would be a win in and of itself.

A Tale of Two Grips

Last night we saw a serious disparity in rear naked choke defense and back mount escape techniques. In one single match we even saw how a small change of grip configuration can literally be the difference between an immediate escape, or none at all.

Below Lachlan Giles demonstrates correct and incorrect defensive gripping from back mount.

When you’re defending the rear naked choke you want your hand opposite your opponent’s choking arm to be pushing down on top of theirs. If both of your arms are pulling down, or their non choking hand is on top of your defensive arm it’s going to be very difficult to hand fight and escape.

This gripping style actually was the difference between Roberto “Cyborg” Abreu and Nicholas Meregali.

Defensive Hand On Top

Cyborg is on offense

Meregali starts with his defensive hand, his right, above Cyborg’s right arm and on top of Cyborg’s choking arm, his left

Meregali’s grip prevents Cyborg from caging his head and Meregali immediately escapes

Opposite Hand On Bottom

Meregali is on offense

Cyborg’s defensive hand, his right, is below Meregali’s secondary hand

Meregali has an easy time winning the hand fight, cross facing Cyborg, and caging his head

Meregali would ride Cyborg for a full minute

Putting your defensive hand on top of your opponents’ arms to defend the rear naked choke can be the difference between you escaping back mount or not. We’ll talk more about back mount defense and EBI escapes another time, today we’re at 500 words.

Thanks for taking the time to read my work. If you enjoy reading my writing, consider clicking on the image below 👇 to support me so I can continue to make it. If you hated it, go ahead and hit the button below so I can get some ChatGPT support.