Slick Side Control Escape

Posted by Ismail Safi on February 13, 2019

Being in bottom side control is an unfortunate circumstance every grappler has to deal with at some point in time. If you are going up against a skilled grappler who knows how to adjust their position well and respond to your movements, it’ll take a long time to escape, and that’s if you don’t get submitted.

Usually, when we practice side control escapes, we start in the standard bottom side control position with our frames. Unfortunately, when it comes to rolling time, the attacker will be in a much better position and the defender may not have their frames or be in that same position that they practiced their escapes from. This is why it is important to learn lots of escapes for all the different possible side control positions.

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One of the most common and simple transitions the top player can make while the defender is moving is placing their crossface arm across the defender’s body and sit hip to hip. This is a great position to attack from or transition to mount. This position is also very hard to escape from for the defender. With the appropriate movements, however, there is some great escapes that the bottom player can try.

In the following video, Tom Deblass black belt Tom Scala illustrates how to escape this difficult position and elusively end up on the attacker’s back:

It is important to always be ready to attempt this style of escape because the earlier you try it, the more likely you will be successful at it. You want to time it so well that by the time the attacker turns over, you will have placed your frames correctly and begun shrimping. Another option you have after setting your grips too is setting up a butterfly hooking and sweeping your opponent onto their back.

Also, its necessary to be cautious of the mount take the top player can do once you get on your side. Because it is difficult to see your lower body when doing this escape, we have to keep our senses up, and if we begin feeling that mount take, we respond appropriately by catching their legs and going to half guard or deep half guard.