High Crotch Single Leg Takedown

By Ismail Safi, February 24, 2019

Although many grapplers stay away from wrestling sometimes by pulling guard, there will be times where wrestling is a must. If you are on your butt and you are down on points but your opponent won’t engage you, you simply have to stand up and try to take them down, because if you don’t, you will lose. Wrestling is also invaluable for self defense, and if you can’t take down an aggressor during a self-defense scenario, then you won’t be able to defend yourself with Jiu Jitsu.

Wrestling is a very complex sport, just as complex as Jiu Jitsu, and this can be intimidating. You don’t have to learn the entire sport of wrestling to become a great Jiu Jitsu practitioner who is competent in self-defense though, all you need is a few highly effective, low risk ones, that you are good at.

One of the best high efficacy, low risk takedowns is a modified single leg called the high crotch. As the name suggests, this requires some sort of grip on the upper part of the thigh. This provides the person doing the takedown with a lot of power and control, something that is difficult to achieve in the standard single leg. The high crotch single leg is also much more difficult to finish compared to the old school single leg.

The Cross Choke is an old-school mount choke that is typically ignored after a BJJ students first week of class. But it is one of those old school fundamentals techniques that just work. 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.

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In the following video, Yuri Simoes, a black belt with great wrestling skills, shows how to set up and finish the high crotch single. See below:

One of the most attractive features of the high crotch single is that it doesn’t require a penetration step like the double leg or other single leg takedowns do. This is what gives the high crotch its low risk value. Without a penetration shot, the defender can’t sprawl on you, and they are forced to do something else.

Many instructors teach the finish for this takedown in really alarming way, not that it is wrong, but its not something many grapplers look to do. That finish is lifting the opponent off the ground and then dropping them. Although you can do this, its not necessary. Sometimes all it takes is a spin and downward force or a foot trip to finish.