A Classic Bait and Switch with Braulio Estima

 

There are legendary attacking combos that have continually been implemented (with much success) in BJJ training and competition over the course of history. The cross choke to the arm bar, the triangle and the omoplata, the hip bump sweep to the triangle. These are just a few that may have already found themselves a spot in your toolbox. These classic baits have been serving practitioners for years and years and remain as reliable methods of attack. The fact is, as you progress through the ranks, it becomes almost necessary to add some deception into your game. It’s often not the first thing we throw at our opponents that sticks. 

Depending on your preferences when it comes to attacking, you’ll need some different avenues so you can keep your opponent’s guessing. If you’re a huge fan of the arm bar, it’s a great idea to work through a series of moves attached to the arm bar, so that you can put some contingencies in place for when things don’t work out or simply just have alternate attacks ready to go. This mode of thinking will yield results for years to come as you insulate your own unique game with these types of concepts and attacking platforms. 

This particular theme plays out very heavily in the closed guard. We’re already beginning with a great workspace and loads of control over our partner’s body and this is the perfect place to launch a slew of attacks to confuse and eventually catch the guard player in our trap. No one does this better than Braulio Estima. His closed guard borders on nightmarish and his arsenal from this classic position runs incredibly deep. Is his newest instructional release entitled, Invisible Triangle Concepts, Estima takes us on a journey through one of his most revered and feared submissions and its many utilities. From the most basic concepts, to inverted entries and modern guard applications, Estima brings you the most updated version of his triangle instruction to date. 

Estima’s lineage, career, and level of skill speak for themselves. He’s accomplished much in his time as a BJJ competitor and has plenty of gold to share from his travels. The triangle has been one of his most relied upon submissions throughout his illustrious career and his level of detail ion this classic submission is simply mind blowing. 

Touching on the old bait and switch idea that we discussed earlier, Estima offers us a sample of his work in this video. Here, he uses the flower sweep to set up the triangle. This is definitely a classic duo but Estima has some important concepts to share that you may not be familiar with. Take a look at this bit of instruction and see if you can recruit some new details. There is one particular theme here that needs your attention!

 

“A fight is like an argument. He’s never going to agree with you”. You have to love the symbolism here. This is very true. In our matches we must find a way to bypass the defensive efforts of our training partners and opponents and create scenarios where they get themselves into trouble. Viewing your attacks this way is very important as it allows you to plan for the inevitable variables you’ll face when attacking. 

Cover the essential Triangle Concepts with Braulio Estima!

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In a traditional flower sweep, as Estima demonstrates, a sleeve and a pant leg are secured on opposite sides of the body. With a hip escape and some other important details, we can use our leg to move our partner across our body and perform a reversal. 

For this particular set up, we find Estima taking a grip on the pants like we would normally see, but he then secures a grip on the sleeve on the same side of his partner’s body, rather than the opposite side. He performs the flower sweep exactly the same way, pushing his partners weight across his body. But with this particular set of grips, his partner is afforded the ability to make a post and catch his balance, preventing the sweep. With the guard passers weight posted out to his left and his right-hand connected to the mat, Estima is provided a gaping hole between his partners arm and rib cage where he can escape his leg and travel to the triangle set up position. 

Make sure you’re not overlooking the most important detail here. Estima touches on it several times and you can see why this particular concept must be a constant. As Estima uses his top leg to push his partner to the other side, he keeps constant pressure, almost lifting his hips in the fashion of a bridge, causing his partner to keep the hand planted on the mat. If the hand is removed, he will be reversed. This dilemma plays out perfectly for Estima and gives him the space and time he needs to secure the triangle. We must make the guard player feel as if their hand is stuck to the mat here to be successful with this technique. 

Estima doesn’t go into great detail here on the finish (you’ll get plenty of that in the series) but as you can see, he does create a very solid angle when he attacks the submission and wastes no time locking the full triangle and pursuing the tap. 

What I love most about this piece of instruction is that it could be added into your game and used tonight! This is highly applicable stuff. Anytime we can join two fundamental techniques together to create a highly efficient attack, we have created a great opportunity. Start by attacking the flower sweep a bit more regularly and observe the most common reactions to the technique. As you download this information it will very quickly become clear to you where the triangle fits in. Great stuff here from one of the greatest of all time! 

Tighten up your Triangles with Braulio Estima’s game changing details. Invisible Triangle Concepts By Braulio Estima is packed with tactical triangle details that Brauilio has been sharpening for DECADES! Check it out today!

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