In the above video from Black Diamond MMA, Head Coach Dan Faggella demonstrates two fundamental techniques for both Mixed Martial Arts and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.

We start in the closed guard, where our first priority, in BJJ and certainly in MMA, is to break our opponent’s posture.  Breaking your opponent’s posture curbs your opponent’s ability to throw damaging punches and elbows– ground and pound–and it also allows you to begin attack with sweeps and submissions.  Whether you pull guard, your opponent takes you down into your guard, or you regain guard from a worse position– this is always your first priority.  As Dan shows, breaking your opponent’s posture is accomplished by  reaching up and grabbing your opponent’s neck and head, and pulling him down into you.  A rocking, pulling motion with the whole body– legs especially– is essential to break down posture most effectively.

From here, Dan begins to attack with a kimura lock, a fundamental and versatile submission hold.  Dan begins by isolating his opponent’s arm to the outside of his body, through wrist control.  Maintaing control of his opponent’s wrist, Dan momentarily opens his guard as he clears his opponent’s head with his other hand, and reaches it over his opponent’s arm.  As Dan’s hand clears his opponent’s arm, he reaches to grab his own wrist, grabbing it in a figure-four hold.  Once secured, Dan uses the considerable leverage of this hold to swing his hips out towards the arm he is controlling, bringing his opponent’s head down onto the mat.  As he slides out underneath his opponent, keeping the captured elbow firmly against his chest, Dan pushes his opponent’s arm up and forwards, extending the shoulder and getting his submission.  It is imperative to note, too, that in no point during Dan’s attack is he vulnerable to strikes– his opponent’s posture is broken throughout, and Dan controls him from within his guard.

Obviously, often times an opponent will resist the kimura submission, either by locking his arm underneath his chest and stomach, or by reaching around and hugging his opponent.  This can make the kimura difficult to finish, resulting in a stalemate position.  However, when your opponent counters with one of these defenses, he leaves himself vulnerable for counter-counters of your own, like the hip bump sweep that Dan demonstrates.

The hip bump sweep is commonly used in conjunction with the kimura due to the two techniques complementing each other well.  To perform the sweep, Dan makes sure to keep his oppoennts arm close to his body, locking it with his arm.  He uses his other arm, the one that was controlling his opponent’s wrist, to post up, and into his opponent.  As he does this, his left leg–the leg on the side of the trapped arm– pinches into his opponent, while his other leg, posts and pushes as Dan explodes into his opponent, toppling him over, and ending up in his own mount position, ready to attack with submissions or strikes.

Above, Fabricio Werdum submits Alistair Overeem with a kimura in their first bout. The kimura is an effective and popular submission in the world of MMA.

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