Browse techniques across disciplines and skill levels.
10 techniques
50/50 guard is a symmetrical leg entanglement where both players have one leg trapped in a similar fashion. It is used for sweeps, back takes, and leg lock entries.
The simultaneous-attack scenario of standard 50/50: because the entanglement is symmetric, both athletes can hunt the inside heel at once, so the exchange is won by tempo, angle, and defensive priority. The athlete who secures the heel and rotates to a back angle first - or who hides their own heel while exposing the opponent's - wins. It is a defining puzzle of the modern leg game.
The americana (ude garami) from mount is a bent-arm shoulder lock. When the opponent pushes your chest or face with one arm, trap that wrist to the mat, place your other arm under their elbow and over your own wrist (figure-four), and drive the elbow toward their hip while keeping the wrist pinned. The pressure is rotation of the shoulder outward.
The anaconda is a D'Arce-family choke but from the opposite direction - the choking arm threads over their near arm and under the neck (not under the arm), gripping your own bicep. Common entry: from front headlock, you thread over the arm rather than under. Finish by rolling forward (not sideways like D'Arce) while squeezing the figure-four, which drives the choke tighter.
After blocking or checking a strike, immediately step to a 45-degree angle outside the opponent's lead foot to create a dominant attack angle. This moves you off the centerline, disrupts their counter-attack trajectory, and creates openings for your own strikes.
The ankle pick is a technique that requires pulling the opponent forward to load weight onto the front foot, then quickly reaching down to grab the ankle while driving the head and shoulders into their hip. It works best off a step-in sequence or when the opponent is reacting to a push-pull setup. Bend at the hips to reach the ankle, do not squat - faster and harder to see.
A short-offense takedown that uses a hard collar tie to break the opponent's posture forward, then drops level and cups the ankle on the same side to remove their base. As you snap the head down and to one side, their weight shifts off that lead leg; reach down and grab the heel/ankle, pull it toward you, and drive their head and shoulders the opposite way so they cannot post. Finish by walking around behind as they fall.
Grab the opponent's wrist and elbow, pull their arm across your body while stepping to their outside, ending up at their side or behind them. The arm drag is a positioning technique that exposes the back - from there you can take the back, attack a single leg, or apply a rear bodylock.
From butterfly guard, drag the opponent's arm across your body and use the momentum to sweep them to the side while taking their back or coming on top.
The arm drag from butterfly guard is a fundamental back-taking entry. Two-on-one their sleeve, drag the arm hard across your centerline while dropping your elbow to the mat and shooting your body to the dragged side. As their weight shifts, come up to your knees and get seat belt control before they can turn in.