Have You Seen This Arm Bar Finish While Being Stacked By Tom DeBlass?

By Fanatics Authors, December 23, 2018

Arm Bar Finish While Being Stacked By Tom DeBlass

Who is Tom DeBlass? Tom DeBlass is many things. He is one of the most sought after instructors in the grappling world right now. He is a world class grappler and former mixed martial artist. He is an exceptional instructor. He has a huge social media following from his technique breakdowns and advice on relationships, transformation, adversity and training. Tom DeBlass is many things and world class in all of them.

Tom has many accomplishments in grappling and mixed martial arts. He has fought in both the UFC and Bellator. He is a 3x ADCC veteran, Fight To Win Pro Main Event Winner, 2016 ADCC North American Champion,2016 ADCC American Nationals Absolute Champion, ADCC NY Super Fight Champion,2015 Black Belt World No Gi Masters and Absolute Champion, 2014 ADCC North American Champion, 2013 Black Belt No Gi Pan American Champion, 2013 Black Belt No Gi Worlds Bronze Medal, 2009 ADCC North American Champion, 2009 Black Belt No Gi Worlds Bronze Medal, 2007 Brown Belt No Gi Worlds Champion, 2007 Brown Belt Pan American Champion, 2007 Brown Belt American Nationals Champion, 6X Grappler’s Quest Expert Champion and member of the New Jersey Martial Artist Hall of Fame.

DeBlass’ education and teaching ability is also exceptional. Tom earned his black belt from legendary ADCC and MMA veteran Ricardo Almeida in just over six years. There are many testaments to his exceptional teaching ability. His first black belt is the great Garry Tonon. Gordon Ryan is Tonon’s first black belt. Tom is a former elementary school special education teacher. This experience has honed his ability to take complex concepts and make them understandable to even the novice grapplers. Another testament to his teaching ability is his academy Ocean County Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. He has over 350 students and 20 black belts. Additionally he has an empire of affiliates around the world.

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It is also worth noting the Tao of Tom’s social media presence. He has many great quotes from training to adversity, transformation and life. Here is a great quote from Tom on transformation, “The last 4 weeks I have dedicated to changing myself. Every day I have been praying, asking God to help me in the areas of life where I struggle. Regardless how successful you may think you are, there is always so much room for improvement, always. I am nowhere close to where I want to be, but every day I am getting better. It is a conscious effort that I must put in, but I feel myself becoming a better person.”

In this video Tom DeBlass explores how to counter the stack escape from the arm bar. He begins by stating the stack is far superior to ripping your arm out. He explains that by ripping your arm out you are actually giving your opponent the submission. By stacking first, then pulling, you mitigate a lot of the danger. Tom states that the first reaction when we feel our opponent stacking us is to take the far side leg out from the front of the head and then wrap it around the back of our opponent’s head. He crosses his feet on top. Next Tom takes the near side arm and grabs his opponent’s hip. He then pulls himself under his opponent. He is essentially creating a stronger angle in which to attack. Tom then replaces the far side leg to the traditional arm bar position. Note the important detail of the finish. Many suggest pushing into your opponent to finish the stack. Tom states that it is a better option to use the momentum of the stack to push your opponent over the top of your head to finish. Besides leveraging the power of the stack to your advantage, it also allows you to end up in top position should something go wrong. Remember, Tom always advocates to leave you in a neutral positon should a submission fail. We violate this principal if we find ourselves playing turtle should the submission fail. Well done Tom. These details provide the steps necessary to stop a common defense to the arm bar.

This video is a fine example of Tom’s ability to breakdown technique and principles in a manner that is applicable to everyone from the white belt to black belt. Without a doubt, we can all refine our game with the information provided. Tom DeBlass is certainly many things. Beyond Jiu Jitsu technique, he sets an example on how to run an academy and our mindset for training, transformation, adversity and life in general. The Jiu Jitsu community is lucky to have people like Tom DeBlass.

Improve your submission defense by watching Tom DeBlass' Submission Escapes DVD! You can get this great series here!