High Efficiency Single Leg Takedown With Yuri Simoes

High Crotch Single Leg by Yuri Simoes

As one of the most successful competitive grapplers in the world today, Yuri Simoes is a 2 time ADCC World Champ. He continues to represent the Caoi Terra Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Association in some of the most competitive tournaments in the world. Simoes has over come adversity and injuries in his career while continuing to show that he has even yet to reach the pinnacle of his career.

Yuri Simoes was introduced to BJJ by his father at the early age of 9 years old. One of his earliest and most formative instructors was Mauricio Behring who inspired the competitive spirit in the young Yuri early on. When Behring was tragically murdered in 2006, Yuri worked through his grief at the loss of his teacher and mentor and thankfully continued to train BJJ under Ricardo Vieira where he would earn his purple and brown belts and continue developing his competitive prowess. After a brief stint at Atos, Yuri would remain with Checkmat under Vieira until 2013 when he made the move to Caio Terra’s association where he finds his home today.

Yuri Simoes is not only one of the top grappling competitors today, he is a much sought after instructor. As part of the Caio Terra Association, he has begun to follow in his world champion mentor's footsteps of being considered one of the top instructors in the sport.

Takedowns are one of Yuri’s specialties. He was even able to take down Olympic Judo silver medalist Travis Stevens in competition – which nobody expected.

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Let us take a look at Yuri Simoes high crotch single leg and then we will break it down. Check it out!

Yuri likes to start with inside arm control, having an all 5 finger grip over his opponent’s bicep on both sides, keeping his elbows inside so he can push and pull on the arms. If his opponent tries to pass under his arms he blocks it with the elbow, staying connected to his opponent’s chest. Yuri circles and rotates back to re-established his inside tie grip. He also a lot of control over his opponent’s body, dictating how his top half moves, allowing him to break down the posture, and open up either side for a single leg.

As soon as Yuri opens up one of his opponent’s sides he steps all the way around, to point where his knee is pinching his training partner’s knee so he can really secure the position. Notice the foot work too. From the open side, he steps first with the opposite leg (in this case the right side is open so he steps with his left leg) first, allowing him to move all the way around, securing the high crotch grip. Take note that you want to avoid gripping around the knee for the single leg. It gives you bad posture, allowing your training partner to push your leg down and free his leg. Securing the high crotch grip gives you good posture and lets you stay connected to your opponent with your head and chest.

To secure the high crotch grip, the hand that went around the opponent goes on top of the other wrist, you stay connected to your opponent, pulling his leg up and into you so that your knees are tight around his legs. Now you can use your head to twist his body and control him as he goes to the ground, setting yourself up for a leg lock, or a pass to side control.

Make sure when training that you are moving around with your training partner as you use that inside tie grip to set up openings. And do not lean on your opponent, or hang on him, otherwise he start to control you. Have a sense of where your own balance is before you take that step in. There is a lot of detail to the footwork in this single leg, so pay close attention to those details when training. You will find that most upper belts are familiar with the high crotch single leg, and will start to defend it as soon as you step in. But with a little speed, good posture, and connectivity you set yourself up for a very impressive take down.

Yuri Simoes doesn’t mess around when he grapples no gi... he takes his opponent down, he passes their guard, he submits. He has 2 ADCC Championship Gold Medals – which is considered the Olympics of submission grappling.

Yuri didn't wrestle in high school, but he is known for his ability to takedown ANYONE. He's taken down good college wrestlers, UFC Icons, Olympic Judokas and everyone he's competed against in BJJ. He has competed against all of the best grapplers in the entire world. Yuri has faced the best of the best and been able to implement his game on almost everyone. Yuri Simoe’s has finally revealed his tried and true methods in his news series High Efficiency No Gi Jiu Jitsu: Top Game and it will accelerate your No Gi game tenfold!

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