Adults: Knee-on-Belly Defense
Warm-up
Hands Connected
Player A
Player B
Win Condition(s)
We’re hand-fighting until our hands are connected around our partner’s leg, and we’ve lifted their foot off the mat. We’re not taking anyone down; we’re just connecting our hands to our partner’s leg, and we’re attempting to lift their foot off the mat. Make sure you keep this within the context of the standing position, so if someone falls over, stop and let them get back up.
Focus on your grips and your head positioning.
Knee-on-Belly
Player A
The top player is in knee-on-belly, with whatever grips they choose. You are not transitioning from this position. Your objective is to hold this position for as long as possible. You can move, switch sides, etc., as long as you maintain and stay within the knee-on-belly position.
Player B
The bottom player is being placed in knee-on-belly. Your objective is to either a) get up/wrestle up or b) recover your guard.
Win Condition(s)
There is no win condition for the top player. They must just maintain. If the bottom player wrestles up or recovers their guard, switch top and bottom.
Knee-on-Belly
Player A
The top player is in knee-on-belly, with whatever grips they choose. You can now transition from this position, but you must transition into the mount.
Player B
The bottom player is being placed in knee-on-belly. Your objective is to either a) get up/wrestle up or b) recover your guard.
Win Condition(s)
If the top player gets to mount and holds the position for three seconds, switch top and bottom. If the bottom player wrestles up or recovers their guard, switch top and bottom.
Main Class
Knee-on-Belly Wrestle-up
From the knee-on-belly position, our opponent is looking to attack. They can raise up and start gripping and isolating limbs, and yes, I count the neck/head as a limb. To stay safe, we need to keep our hands and arms inside the ride at all times. Meaning our elbows should be close, and our arms should always be in the inside position.
From this position, we need to get our partners’ hands to the mat, even if only for a split second. But, in this split second, is when we move. We’re going to plant our foot on the opposite side of the knee-on-belly, on the mat, and we’re going to use our other knee, with a bridge, to knee our partner forward. Our objective is to get their hands to the mat.
From here, we’re going to swim our arms around their leg and we’re going to go as deep as we can. From here, we can connect our hands, grab the foot, whatever grip you land in naturally. Our objective is to get our shoulder behind the thigh.
Make sure you also bring your head in close. If you leave your head hanging out, then you can get stiff-armed or crossfaced away.
From this position, we’re going to scissor our legs to get our hips to the mat as quickly as possible. We’ll come up to the knees, and grab the ankle with our outside hand, shelfing it up on our outside hip.
Now it’s up to your opponent. If they stand up, we stand up with them and take them down. If they stay, we chase the back. If they turn toward us to sit to guard, we get our outside passing position and pass into knee-on-belly.
Closing: Heelhook Attack
In closing, there’s also a heelhook entry here. I’d recommend getting up with your advantageous position, but if you have to throw a Hail Mary or you are losing the position, you can attack this. Everything is the same, but we don’t shelf the leg. Instead, we shoot our far knee under their knee, sit back, and throw our inside leg over. We then rotate, using our head to base, and rotate all the way around into the saddle. Again, I’d always recommend taking the back or passing the guard, but it’s important to know these things.