The Upa Escape…A Classic, Old School Escape
Posted by Corey Kuropas on
The upa escape. The upa escape is the first mount escape that any white belt should learn. It is a completely fundamental escape that allows its user to get out of a horrible position and go into his opponent’s guard to work a pass. The thing is, when first learning the upa, you might be confused on certain movements or controls that leads to a bad escape which can lead to you getting armbarred. Here are some things you can do to make your upa escape really clean. Here is what you can do…
Getting your opponent to come forward…
To even begin an upa escape, you need your opponent to come forward. Without getting him to come forward, there is a pretty good chance that you won’t be able to get it. There are a couple of ways to break your opponent’s balance to make him come forward. You can either bridge hard, or you can use one of your knees to knee your opponent in the butt to make him come forward. Both work, I just prefer the knee to the butt as it works best for me. Find out what works best for you.
Over hook the arm and control the head…
Once he has come forward, now you will need to get the proper controls. The best controls in my opinion are the over hook on an arm, and pulling down/controlling the head. When you over hook the arm, you take away his post so that he cannot defend that side. The over hook works best. Too many people I see getting things mixed up, and they try to get a over the arm grip, but not a true over hook. Get the real over hook and pinch your arm to your body. He won’t be able to get it away.
Bridge like you mean it…
The last piece of advice that I can give on the upa is to bridge hard. You need to bridge like you mean it. After you get your foot/ankle over his foot, it is time for the bridge. Put your feet flat, bridge up onto the balls of your feet, lift your hips to the ceiling, then bring your hips over to the side of the over hooked arm. Now his balance is broken, his post is gone and he is going over. After he is over, it will be time to work that closed guard passing game.
Don’t ever underestimate the upa escape. It is a classic escape that works. As you move up in experience, you will see that it ties together with other movements and escapes. Even if you don’t get the 100 percent correct upa, you can usually shrimp out of mount to half guard or butterfly. But before you can do that, you need to master the upa. The upa is a classic escape, and if your escape game needs some serious work, then check out…
Escapes From Everywhere by world champion, Bernardo Faria. Click here!
Enjoy reading about escapes? Then consider checking others:
ARE YOU A BJJ FANATICS INSIDER? IF NOT, YOU’RE MISSING OUT!
Take a deep dive on one specific skill per month with the top instructors in the BJJ Fanatics family.
With your subscription you'll get:
- Private Lesson (Masterclass)
- Preview of our Upcoming Daily Deals to better plan your purchases
- Rolling breakdowns & more.
You'll also get At Home Drills to work on, a Preview of our Upcoming Launches & More!
FREE FOR 7 DAYS TRIAL