Issue 074

April 2011

They say the best form of defense is attack. Your opponent is vulnerable during takedown attempts. As he shoots, he offers a multitude of counters that can lead to a dominant position or landing effective strikes. The key is to act quickly and prevent your opponent from creating all the conditions necessary to take you down.

SWITCH COUNTER FROM SINGLE-LEG TAKEDOWN (WITH HEAD ON THE OUTSIDE)

The is a favored technique of UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva, who executed a perfectly timed switch on elite wrestler Chael Sonnen at UFC 117.

1 Obi (wearing grappling spats) has captured a single-leg takedown on Pete (wearing shorts), with his head on the outside.

2 Pete reaches behind Obi’s knee with his far arm, going as deep as possible.

3 Reverse angle.

4 Pete places his left leg, the one Obi has captured, forward behind Obi’s foot overbalancing him.

5 Pete elevates Obi’s leg and scoots his butt underneath it. Note that he tries to avoid sitting all the way back.

6 Pete turns to his knees, collecting a leg ride which controls Obi’s ankle preventing him from getting away. 

MULE KICK TO ANKLE-PICK COUNTER FROM SINGLE-LEG TAKEDOWN (HEAD ON THE INSIDE)

1 Obi has captured a head-on-the-inside single-leg takedown on Pete.

2 Pete’s first concern is to stuff Obi’s head position by pressing on his crown. Pete can’t get a decent whizzer while Obi has good head position, so he lifts Obi’s armpit until he creates enough space to go deep.

3 Pete has loosened Obi’s grip by stuffing his head, so he reaches deep on the whizzer and makes a figure-four grip with it, applying head control too. Simultaneously Pete kicks his captured foot down to the mat.

4 Pete releases the head control and back steps into Obi, skipping his feet back and kicking Obi’s inner thigh up with the back of his leg.

5 With Obi’s balance all on one leg, Pete steps his kicking leg behind Obi’s supporting limb and reaches for the ankle.

6 Pete pulls the ankle up towards his chest as he recovers his posture. Pete keeps control of Obi’s leg so he can control any up-kicks and initiate a pass.

SCISSOR KICK TO HEEL HOOK FROM HEAD-ON-THE-INSIDE SINGLE

This counter against a single-leg takedown is the same technique used by Ryo Chonan to hand Anderson Silva one of his few losses.

1 Obi has captured a single-leg with his head on the inside.

2 Pete stiffens his leg behind Obi’s knee and posts his hand on the mat.

3 Pete supports his whole body on his arm and jumps his leg behind Obi’s knees.

4 The momentum of Pete’s jump knocks Obi off balance.

5 Pete laces his legs under and over Obi’s to prevent Obi from getting his legs out.

6 Pete sits up over Obi’s leg and applies a gable grip to the ankle. As he rotates his torso back over, he applies the heel hook.