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Picking up where we left off last week (in case you missed last weeks entry: here it is), we're going to continue breaking down dominant positions. In BJJ their are four basic dominate positions. Last week we looked at side control and the mount. This week we're going to look at the remaining two dominant positions, the guard and back, and we're going take another look another look at side control.
In each of the four basic dominant positions there are subcategories or variations of these dominant positions. However, for the time being we're only going to focus on the most commonly used type of these positions. There is actually a difference in dominant positions in BJJ and MMA, which I'll elaborate on later.
The video we're going to look at this week is a grappling match between former UFC Welterweight champion Matt "The Terror" Serra and former Pride Lightweight Champion Takanori Gomi. In this video Serra demonstrates excellent control as he is able to transition from one dominant position to another until he sinks in a rear naked choke forcing Gomi tap out. The fighters start the match on their feet. They feel each other out by circling and trying to make grips. Serra puts his right hand behind Gomi's neck and left hand on his tricep. From here Serra pulls guard (0:34).
This is a take-down in which you jump onto your opponent wrapping your legs around his waist, cinching your ankles together. The goal of this is to end up on the ground with your opponent in your guard. Serra ends up on the ground on his back with his legs wrapped around Gomi's waist and his ankles locked together, while Gomi is on his knees facing Serra. Serra's position is called closed guard. Their are many types of guard such as butterfly guard and rubber guard. However, right now we're only going to look at the closed guard.
Although Serra is on his back this is a dominant position. However, if this were an MMA match Serra would not have as much of an advantage since Gomi would be able to throw strikes from the top. In this position Serra is able to keep his opponent close to him and has the ability to apply numerous submissions such as armbars, double armbar, omoplata and the kimura to name a few. In fact for a well trained BJJ practitioner this is the most dangerous position. While in the guard the best thing that Gomi can do is to try to get out of Serra's guard or 'pass' his guard to gain a dominant position on him, especially since there are no strikes in this match.
From this position Serra then attempts an omoplata, which is a type of a shoulder lock designed to hyper-rotate the shoulder joint (1:05). Gomi is able to roll out of the omoplata and Serra ends up in side control (1:37). In this position Gomi is on his back and Serra's torso is on top of him with his legs off to the side. This is still a dominant position for Serra as he has a lot of submissions he can apply form here ranging from armbars, kneebars, toe holds and chokes.
Gomi tries to roll out of side control and Serra sinks his right arm under Gomi's neck (2:02). Serra then rolls Gomi over holding on to him tightly and takes his back. The basic back position is to put the hooks in, putting your legs over your opponent's legs and your feet in between your opponents legs, which you can see Serra doing at 2:35. Once you have this position you'll want to put one arm over theirs and the other arm under their other arm and grab that wrist.
It is best to control your opponent in this position and look for an opening to apply a submission. Serra does this when he sinks in a rear naked choke and makes Gomi tap out (4:25). (Since this article is about dominant positions we're not going to spend to much time on the rear naked choke right now we'll break that move down in more detail in the future).
Having the back is one of the most dominant positions you can hold as it leaves your opponent in a defensive position where he can do very little offensively. The most commonly used submission from the back would have to be the rear naked choke, however, there are plenty more submissions that you can apply from this position such as a backwards triangle, armbar and there are also a lot of collar chokes when wearing a gi.
Over the last two weeks we've looked at and broken down the four most common dominant positions in BJJ, the closed guard, mount, side control and the back. There are some variations on those four and more positions not even mentioned here, but those four are the basic dominant positions of BJJ. We'll look at other positions down the road as they apply to videos we review in the future. Now having this basic understanding of the dominant positions we'll continue to look at specific submissions, how they are applied and why they are effective.
Henry Dziekan is a new MMATorch Specialist who will provide insight into how effective and popular MMA submission holds work with video clips accompanying his explanations.