Crab Ride Back Take With Craig Jones!

What is the most important position in Jiu Jitsu?  Well, that’s a big question, right?! A big factor here is what positions are you most comfortable with?  The positions you train the most will likely be your go to positions. When choosing which positions and transitions you spend your most time on, I would encourage you to look at the positions where most fights are won, or look at tournaments where the most points are scored.  The reality of this is you will likely find that while playing guard is great, and side control can allow you to put pressure on someone that makes them wish they were dead, mount and back mount tend to be the positions where most fights are finished.   

The ability to get to the back from any position is most certainly a skill set everyone in the Jiu Jitsu world would love to have.  Regardless of if you are competing in the Gi, or No Gi, or perhaps not competing at all and only looking for self defense application, having the back will most certainly give you the upper hand in any encounter.  In most tournaments getting back control will yield you the highest number of points available for any technique, typically tied with full mount. When you have back control it’s nearly impossible for the opponent to land any impactful strikes, it’s also very difficult for them to attack you with any submissions and typically their only priority at this point is to escape because of the level of control you have.

It’s no secret that there are tons of very high level Jiu Jitsu practitioners out there today, and many of them with vastly different views on how your should approach each position, or “problem” that you are looking to solve.  The reality here is that the more you study someone else’s game, the more options you will have when it comes to building yours. No one says you can’t take bits and pieces from all of the high level guys and add them to your game.  

Craig Jones shows us a “Crab Ride Back Take” in his short video clip from which we start standing in the position shown in the picture below.  Craig’s game has taken him from someone no one knew to a champion on some of the largest stages in our sport including Polaris Middleweight Champion, ADCC World Championships and the podium of EBI.  Craig makes the bold claim that not only will his video instructionals take your game to the next level, but he will save you time, and energy.

  

Let’s dive in and break down this wild crab ride back take Craig has in store for us.  To get started Craig takes his right hand and grips behind the opponent’s right knee using s thumb down grip.  Next he cups the opponent’s left hip with his left hand. In order to do this Craig needs to break his own posture down and lean down closer to the opponent.  Once he has established these grips, he is then using his left hand to lift the opponent’s hips and using his right hand to “steer” them rotating the opponent around so that their hips are perpendicular to ours, as shown in the image below. 

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Craig now uses a two on one cupping over the opponent’s far leg with both of his hands and pulling them over to their left hip while working to collapse their hips so that the opponent’s top leg is below his knee.  The goal is to make it so only your ankle is trapped.  

For the next step in this technique Craig reaches for a deep over hook grip with his right hand over the opponent’s top leg, cupping under the opponent’s thigh.  Once established Craig looks to roll over his right opponent and over his right shoulder while pulling the opponent’s leg with him using the over hook grip as well as the instep of his trapped foot (as he rolls this will slide out until the instep catches behind the opponent’s knee. 

As he completes the roll he is immediately extending his right leg while also pulling in with his right arm over hook extending the opponent’s leg and maintaining control.  Craig then looks to bring his top leg over the opponent’s top leg. Rather than keep it under as a butterfly hook he prefers to bring it over the top and use his foot on the inside of the opponent’s leg to push and force the opponent to sit up. 

Lastly, Craig secures an under hook on his left side positioning him for the seat belt grip.  He then brings his left hook across the opponent’s body as he secures his seat belt grip and falls to his left hip.  Because of the preparation Craig’s left foot is in position for the body triangle to be locked up.

 

Craig has dedicated the time and work ethic to develop an insanely strong Jiu Jitsu game.  He has a multitude of video instructionals available covering everything from “How to pass guards quickly and easily” to “The triangle machine” that are certain to elevate your game and make you better positioned to dominate on the mats at your academy, and more importantly, in competition.  

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