Use This Escape To Get Out Of A Tight Guillotine And Finish In A Dominant Position With Malachy Friedman

 

Defending against submission attempts and beating your opponent to the submission is the ultimate goal is Jiu Jitsu, and is what most fundamental techniques that are drilled consist of. However, one of the most difficult aspects of Jiu Jitsu is escaping submissions when they are already locked up.

Obviously the goal is to prevent this from happening all together, but that won’t work all the time. It is just as important to drill submission escapes as it is all other aspects of offense and defense. Those last ditch efforts may just be what saves you at the end of a match.

There are also positions some practitioners tend to get cocky in. If you lock up a tight guillotine in a closed guard with proper head and arm positioning, you will probably end up finishing it more times than not. Though when people hold this assumption they may get lazy in their finishing mechanics if they think they have the submission in the bag. This is where making things difficult for them with technical submission escapes combats their over confidence. 

In this video, Malachy Friedman demonstrates an extremely effective escape to the worst case guillotine scenario, check it out below!

 

The Technique

The guillotine is an extremely popular submission. While finishing mechanics and technique are important with every move and especially in higher levels of Jiu Jitsu, with a solid hold around the neck the guillotine is fairly easy to get to and to finish. It is as simple as shooting for a takedown and leaving your head on the outside and next thing you know your opponent has locked it up and is sitting into a closed guard.

In this scenario your opponent has leverage and body weight working in his favor. The most common escape is preventing your opponent from closing his guard and getting yourself to the opposite side of your opponent's body from where your head is. Sometimes in the struggle to get out of the closed guard from this position your opponent winds up with a mounted guillotine. This is definitely the worst case scenario.

The most important detail in this technique is going to be to make certain small adjustments before your opponent moves into the mount. If you are able to secure these adjustments, it actually may play into your favor to be mounted rather than to be stuck in your opponents closed guard.

While locked up in a guillotine in your opponent's closed guard, the first thing your need to do is to effectively get your arms into the equation. You need to get one of your arms towards the inside of his guard. This is done by placing your hand on your opponent's hip, and slipping the rest of your arm inside his guard, between his leg and your torso. Learn more about Arm Lock Defense. 

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You need to be careful not to let your arm get too far inside as this obviously gives your opponent the perfect opportunity to transition into a triangle choke. However, your arm needs to be strategically placed on the inside so it creates a sort of wedge that you will be able to use once he moves to the mount.

Think about your basic mount escapes for a moment. It is common knowledge that you need to protect your arms and keep them in tight when you are mounted to avoid arm attacks and head and arm chokes. You typically want both of your hands in your opponent's hips so that when you bridge you can attempt to lift your opponent's hips off of you and begin to hip escape and get to a better position. By placing your arm inside your opponent's closed guard, you are getting the jump on having better positioning from the mount.

Once your arm is in the proper position, you are going to roll to the same side of your arm that is inside your partner's guard, right into the mount. This may seem counterintuitive as no one usually voluntarily allows themselves to be mounted, but remember this is the worst case scenario and you likely aren’t going to be able to open your partners guard in time from the top.

As your partner is now in mount, not only is your hand already in his hip, but your arm is wedged right against the inside of your opponent's leg which gives you so much more leverage and strength when you go to lift him off of you. With this arm positioning, place your other hand in your partner’s hip and simply push him up and over your head.

The inside placement of your arm on your partners leg allows you to push and roll him directly over your head. One of his arms is already occupied with the guillotine and trapped under your head, so his ability to base and stop himself from rolling is extremely limited. Another key component to pay attention to in this technique is making sure that both of your arms are strong and framed before you push your opponent so you don’t waste your energy or an opportunity to escape.

Remember, this is for the worst case scenario guillotine. Depending on how tight the choke is or how long you think you can last, you may have some time to try and open his guard before you allow him to mount you. If you roll into mount too soon or before your arm is properly positioned, finishing the guillotine from the mount will be just as easy for your opponent. 

About Malachy Friedman

Malachy Friedman is a second degree Brazilian Jiu Jitsu black belt under Ricardo Liborio, of Carlson Gracie lineage. With over 20 years of experience, Malachy is also proficient in MMA, Muay Thai, and boxing. His training began with UFC Champion Evan Tanner, and after many years of successful competition experience he has transitioned into the role of coaching.

He began coaching at the well renowned American Top Team in 2006, where he trained professional fighters such as Kimbo Slice and Ken Shamrock. Along with his experience and coaching ability, Malachy is known as an innovative strategist for the sport, producing tons of high level instructionals and making appearances on podcasts. He is by far one of the most well versed practitioners in the highest of levels.

About Malachy’s Instructional 

Malachy has dedicated the focus of this series on systematic winning concepts for BJJ. Included you will find techniques such as butterfly to kneebar diamond concept, the real americana concept, lasso feint to scissor sweep, back maintenance concepts, and so much more.

Malachy is one of those guys in the Jiu Jitsu community who you know has been around the block and is at the top of his game. He has it all from competition experience, coaching top levels guys, and years of hard work poured into this art. This series covers everything you could possibly want to improve on. Better understand the concepts of Jiu Jitsu and add this top level technique to your arsenal, check out Malachy Friedman’s instructional here!

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