Every grappling match starts standing, and how you reach the mat sets the position you begin from. Wrestling-style attacks change levels and target the legs, judo-style attacks break balance through the upper body, and sitting to guard concedes the top position in exchange for playing your own game immediately. Which one is correct depends on the ruleset and your own skills, but all three rest on the same work: posture, grip control and a stance you can move in.
Key points
- Stand in a staggered stance with bent knees and hips back so any leg attack has to travel through your posture first.
- Fight for grips before attacking, because whoever establishes inside control of the arms and collar dictates what happens next.
- Change levels by bending the knees rather than folding at the waist, since a bent waist offers up a front headlock.
- Break balance before throwing, as an opponent whose weight is centered cannot be thrown regardless of how clean the entry looks.
- If you choose to sit to guard, do it holding a grip and with your hips already moving rather than by simply dropping down.
Common mistakes
- Reaching for the legs with your head down and no level change, which offers your partner a front headlock and a strangle.
- Standing tall and square during grip exchanges, a posture from which both leg attacks and throws arrive easily.
- Sitting to guard with no grip and no plan, which simply gives your partner a free start to their passing sequence.
Put it into practice
Grip fighting only
- Face your partner for a two-minute round in which no takedowns are permitted and only grip exchanges are allowed.
- Work to establish inside position on both arms and hold it three seconds before releasing and beginning again.
- Add level changes without any finish, touching the hips or the outside of a thigh and returning to your stance.
- Close with a round where each of you may attempt one attack per minute, chosen deliberately rather than reactively.
takedownsgrip fightinglevel changestanding