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Dealing With Younger Explosive Opponents

“Give the opponent what he wants until he does not want it anymore”

 

Younger explosive players tend to favor an open guard and distance. Distance is crucial if they want to use their physical attributes to the maximum.

Spider guard is very often the initial open guard that gets used as an initial step towards a more favorable attachment.

The most common way to deal with spiderguard, is to to move away, bring the opponent’s feet to the floor, keep them pinned, make an angle and pass.

This is definately a good valid strategy.

However, spider guard is most often preferred by younger and faster players who tend to be more explosive than the older generation of grapplers.

The last thing I want to give a younger explosive opponent, is the space to move as that is when his physical attributes will shine the most.

My strategy is the opposite.

“Give the opponent what he wants, until he does not want it anymore”, is the pathway of minimal effort and maximum efficiency.

Whenever a foot is placed on my body as a frame, I want to give “a reason” to that foot.
I start to add more pressure to that foot.

This achieves a number of things:
1). The opponent will have to carry my weight, thus making him tired
2). Space is denied, the opponent can’t work
3). There are less options, thus less complexity. The game becomes slower and more predictable.

In order for the opponent to be able to work his game, he needs to create space.
He can achieve this by pushing, framing + walking away or bring you out of balance and move away as you recover the center.

When passing, you have to keep your weight forward (for pressure) and centered for balance.
Once the opponent gets tired, he will react by making an angle. The angle makes the frame of his feet and legs weak. Your constant forward pressure against the now weaker frames, allow you to progress your pass to the next line of defense (knees and arms), where you can repeat the same process again until you pass the opponent’s guard.

You can find an example of this process in action on the video below.

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The King’s Gambit – Baiting The Triangle Choke

The King’s Gambit – Baiting The Triangle

Chess and BJJ’s most “aggressive” opening

The King's Gambit in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu BJJ Baiting The Triangle Choke Wim Deputter The Mirroring Principle Jiu Jitsu Offensive Defense

Do you want to see Wim Deputter’s way to defend the triangle choke and use it to pass the guard in action and explained? Click here!

 

“A gambit in chess is a move where you sacrifice material in order to gain structural, positional or other advantage”

 

In Brazilian Jiu Jitsu we have “gambits” as well.
If your defense is well, you can bait your opponent with a submission and use his or her eagerness to your advantage.

My favorite BJJ gambit, the core of my game, and the one I have practically made my “career” on, is baiting the Triangle.

If the Footlock is the sneaky Thief, the Armlock Queen and The Choke King, we can consider baiting the Triangle “The King’s Gambit” of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu”.

Gambit’s can played if you know the position, structure and possibilities well. If you have a system to answer the different reactions the opponent might throw at you.
And all of this has to rest on a solid, systematic defense in case you make a mistake in your system.

For years I have understood the top part of the triangle better than the bottom. My Triangle Choke Defense was better than my choke itself.
I always found it easier to beat the triangle than to finish it. Something was missing on bottom, something didn’t make sense.

I have been willing to make an instructional on this topic for a long time. But to bring something out, you have to understand all aspects to it. One important ‘piece of the puzzle’ was missing on the bottom triangle.

Until today. Today I discovered something new. Something not generally known and used.

I will start filming the next installement of The Mirroring Principle “The King’s Gambit” this week.

And where there is a King there is a “Queen’s Gambit” in the future as well.

“The Thief’s Gambit” is, for now, still a work in progress 😀

Check out the link in bio for an example of “The King’s Gambit” in action.

 

In the mean time, here you can see an example of The King’s Gambit in action on competition and a basic intro.

 

 

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