Indirect Control
Words I Like – “Control in this game can be direct or indirect.” -Greg Souders
Outlier Mat Minute: Indirect Control
You can control your opponent through threat. This is called indirect control and here is how it works:
#gregsouders - Greg Souders says sometimes we give up direct control, but make up for it with indirect control.
#34jujigatame - In a standard armbar position, your opponent can stack you to escape. However, if you pummel into a 3-4 juji gatame, now if they lift their back off the mat you can triangle them. They’re stuck because of the triangle threat, not because of your direct control over them.
Straight Leg Entanglement - From a straight leg entanglement, the defender has to turn in one direction to hide their heel. If they want to build base, they have to turn in the opposite direction. Since the directions are opposite, we can use the threat of an outside heel hook to make the defender think twice about taking their hips off the mat.
Cross Leg Entanglement - If the defender’s leg crosses our body (think 50-50) now the defender can turn in the same direction to both hide their heel and build base. This makes the heel hook less of a threat to indirectly control your opponent. Instead, we can use the threat of a back take to make the defender think twice about taking their hips off the mat.
This one is probably pushing the 1 minute promise…forgive me but hopefully you found it helpful!
P.S. We discuss this in my podcast. Check it out here!