I went in for open mat today. Only three folks showed up, myself, Choung, and Derek. Was a pretty hard training session, as we rotated through with two rounds on, then one round off. I did get some very good guidance on my guard game. I need to start incorporating more of what I know into my game which I’m not doing right now, or not doing effectively.

I was also given a nickname today which I think is pretty funny which is “Heavy B"

Cross Choke from Guard
I normally try to grab the two cross collars to get this choke, and it never works. I even questioned myself why I even bother with this technique. I was shown the proper way to do this, which is also safer because it gives you away to post your arm out if you need to.


  • Use grips to break posture
  • Get very high cross grip on collar
  • With same side grip, reach all the way over and grab deeper than the cross grip
  • Wait for opponent posture, then slide same side grip around had so you’re now in a cross grip
This is very effective, even if the opponent does not posture. If that happens, just use your legs on their hips push them away and make the space that you need to swing your arm around.

Once you have the grip, stretch them out and complete to choke. It is important that you flair your arms when completing the choke. I did not do this the first time, in the choke was not tight enough. As soon as I flared my arms choked tightened up greatly.

Paper Cutter from Side Control
This is a pretty cool move, but beyond that we talked about the actual side control position and how to set this up. This move works, along with many others if you’re able to get high inside control, and get your knee under the near-side arm.
  • Work your knee and hip up to under their near-side arm
  • With your far arm, reach all the way under and grab their nearside back lapel
  • Slide back a little bit, making them think that they have space. As you are sliding back, grab their far side front lapel with your hand that is closest to their head.
  • As they shrimp in, push her elbow to the floor and complete the choke

Triangle Setup from Closed Guard
This is a good triangle setup that is pretty sneaky and provides less of a risk of being passed than just throwing your leg up around their head.
  • Get cross grip and same side sleeve control
  • Hip out, and pushing knee into their chest. Make sure to be pushing with your knee and pulling with your arms to keep them controlled.
  • Slide foot out and around their arm in behind her head
  • Complete triangle
There seems to be a lot of things that you can do from this position. This is the one that actually has been so frustrating to me when I’ve had it done to me. I need to work on making sure I released those grips before worrying about anything else. That will be a focus of mine moving forward.