Dealing With Three Quarter Mount

Three quarter mount, called half mount by some, is a position that is not usually played from on its own. The way you end up in this position is when you are playing half guard and the top player lifts their knee and brings it over to the other side. This is essentially just a mount, with the only difference being that the top player’s foot is stuck between your legs.

Too many students (especially blue belts) focus on the new fancy techniques, guard sweeps, etc. But don't ignore the old school fundamental jiu jitsu that just works.

LEARN MORE

If the bottom player does not proceed to defend three quarter mount quickly, the top player will eventually get to full mount. As long as the top player can make space between your elbow and leg on the side you have trapped their foot, they will be able to escape that leg eventually.

Dealing with three quarter mount can be difficult. The top player has the support of gravity keeping their knee pinned to the ground, so moving it can be tough. Usually when trying to escape three quarter mount, we end up back in half guard and then the top player can easily come back to the quarter mount, making our effort pointless.

The first thing you should focus on if you get stuck in this horrid position is ensuring you maintain connecting between your elbow and knee on the same side you have their foot trapped. You also want to keep your elbow tight to prevent the top player from getting an under hook, which they will be adamantly searching for.

The next goal is finding a way to get their knee back in the hole between your legs. This isn’t too difficult if you did the other things I mentioned correctly. After trapping their entire leg, you can shrimp out and go to half guard. The escape isn’t over, though, because grapplers who like going to three quarter mount will try to go back to it again. This is where we have to finish our escape.

Masahiro Iwasaki is a Japanese Brazilian Jiu Jitsu practitioner who received his black belt from Marcos Barbosa. In the following video, Masahiro illustrates how to escape three quarters mount and end up in a dominant position.

If you think about it, this is escape is essentially the upa escape from mount we all know. As the top player tries to bring their top leg back on top, all of their weight is on their opposite side. This is what will give you the roll when you bridge towards them. It’s important to drill this a lot to have the timing necessary to do it correctly.

BUY NOW