Raspado's Half Guard Top

From Lockflow.com member, Aesopian:

Raspado, a purple belt at my school, was whining about how I get to goof off all day and put together BJJ tutorials. So I said I'd make one with him.

We are covering what I consider to be a very strong part of his game (having been caught by everything he shows below). This is his guard opening, passing to half guard and maintaining position, and attacking with the ezequiel choke and americana in combination.

First, we'll start with opening the guard.

• Step 1
ezequiel
Raspado is in closed guard with good posture. His back is straight and his head is up; his arms are straight and he's holding both lapels.

He steps up with his right leg.

• Step 2

Then with his left, coming all the way to his feet.

He reaches back and grabs the knee with his left hand.

• Step 3

He pushes down on the knee to open the guard and drive the leg to the mat.

As he pushes their leg down, he drives his knee through and drops it to the far side, trapping their thigh under his shin.

• Step 4

Alternate angle: His rear knee is off the ground and he's driving forward with it.
• Step 5

As he drives forward, he lays his weight on their chest and he reaches behind their head.
• Step 6

Alternate angle: You can see how he is still pinning their thigh under his shin.
Here's where Raspado has a dirty little secret. He should circle his rear foot out and pass all the way to side control. But he doesn't. Instead, he releases their leg from under his shin and lets them take half guard.
• Step 7

He drives his right hand under their arm for the underhook. This locks down their upper body and prevents them from taking his back.

To further secure the position, he drives his chest even higher and punches his underhook even higher.

• Step 8

While securing his upper body, Raspado is also working on the lower in order to control their legs and hips.
Here you see their legs in a mostly neutral position, just as Raspado is put into half guard.
• Step 9

He brings his left heel under their calf and lifts the leg.
He then threads his left foot through and hooks his right ankle, and his right foot hooks their ankle. Doing this makes his top position very secure and kills the bottom man's hip movement.

For those of you paying attention, you'll notice that he just did lockdown from the top. I find that very interesting.

• Step 10

Here's an example. The bottom man is going to bridge and try to throw Raspado off, once with lockdown and once without. Without the lockdown, the bottom man's bridge bumps Raspado's really high and makes sweeping much easier.
With the lockdown, the same bridge doesn't have anywhere near the same effect. Raspado's weight it locked to their hips, taking all the strength out of their bridge.
• Step 11

If they do try to bridge and roll him to his left, Raspado will post with his right foot (crossing over top of their leg) and on his left elbow.
• Step 12

Now for the submissions, starting with the ezequiel choke.
Once he feels secure, he'll take out his right overhook and bring his arm up by their neck. He reaches behind the neck with his left and grabs inside his right sleeve.
Then he drives his closed right fist into their throat, aiming for their jugular. He doesn't go all the way across the neck like in a normal ezekiel choke.
• Step 13

And lastly, he brings his head down to close the space.
• Step 14

Now for the americana off the ezequiel.
As Raspado goes to drive his fist into their throat for the choke, they bring their hand in to defend their neck.
He grabs their wrist with his right hand and pushes it down to the mat.
• Step 15

As he pushes it down, he reaches behind their head and grabs their wrist with his left hand.
His goal is to hold their wrist with the arm that's behind their head.
Once he has grabbed the wrist, he reaches under and locks the figure-four, as if to do the americana. He can't finish the submission yet since his arm is still behind their head.
• Step 16

Once he has grabbed the wrist, he reaches under and locks the figure-four, as if to do the americana. He can't finish the submission yet since his arm is still behind their head.
They will usually try to defend by pulling their arm to their chest.
• Step 17

As he feels them doing this, he slides his arm over the top of their head.
And brings his elbow to the correct side.
It doesn't take much to finish from here. Everything is already very tight. He just pulls their arm down a little more and lifts their elbow.
• Step 18

If you're going for this move and they try to escape by straightening their arm...
...he releases their arm and grab the back of their collar again.
• Step 19

And drives his fist into their throat, like in the ezequiel. Drop your head to close up the space too.