For MMA Gospel’s new Technique of the Week segment, we called on 4th dan Hapkido black belt Ed Perdomo and his student and assistant instructor Johnny Rodriguez to provide our readers not just with quality grappling techniques they can take with them to the cage, but with those finer points that make specialists out of the merely proficient. Over the next three weeks we will cover not just three techniques from the guard, but the small refinements that take them to the next level and how to chain those techniques together. This week, Ed Perdomo demonstrates how to gain head control and establish an armbar from the closed guard.
- We start with John in Ed’s closed guard preparing to rain down punches. Ed keeps his head off the mat and his hands at the ready to defend against John’s attack.
John attacks with a right punch and Ed defends by deflecting the blow across his body with his left hand while simultaneously sitting up to gain head control by hooking his right hand behind John's Head.
Take special note of Ed's arm position. With his elbow placed tightly inside John's upper arm, it traps John's arm against his thigh, making it difficult for John to pull the arm free to strike.
Here we see the incorrect arm position. With Ed's elbow outside of John's upper arm, he no longer has any means of preventing John from freeing his arm and continuing his ground and pound attack.
After gaining head control, Ed moves quickly for the armbar. He first controls John's right wrist, opens his guard and posts his left foot against John's right hip.
Ed next uses the head control he established with his right hand to both pivot his hips and push John's head to the outside.
After turning his hips, Ed brings his left leg around John's head, isolating the arm. Notice that he maintains head control until he begins squeezing his knees together. Another common mistake is to release the head control as the leg is brought around in a rush to finish the technique. By retaining control of the head until the armbar is set, Ed ends up with a much tighter submission that is more difficult to defend.
To finish the submission, Ed squeezes his knees together hard without crossing his feet, slides his right hand back to John's wrist, and extends his hips. Hand position is extremely important. John's thumb should by pointed upwards away from Ed's chest to insure maximum pressure against the joint.
Recap:
- Gain head control, making sure that you tuck the elbow of the controlling arm inside of your opponents bicep.
- Take control of your opponents wrist on the opposite side from the side where you have control.
- Post your foot against your opponents hip on the side where you established wrist control.
- Turn on your hips moving your head towards the side where you established head control while simultaneously pushing your opponents head towards your hips.
- While maintaining head control, bring the leg you posted with around your opponents head, isolating the arm.
- Squeeze your knees together without crossing your feet, release head control, and move the hand up to your opponents wrist.
- Make sure your opponents thumb is pointed away from you and extend your hips to elicit the tap or the snap.
Next week, we will cover how to counter your opponent with a triangle choke if he manages to defend this armbar. Just as in striking, submissions are more successful when used as part of a combination. Often a fighter misses a submission then moves back to the starting position to try again, much like throwing punches one at a time. Even in weekly video lessons on submission fighting, rarely do the instructors link their techniques together and MMA schools often follow suit. The MMA Gospel Technique of the Week will always be part of a chain, giving our readers not only detailed instruction on individual submissions, but instruction on how to chain them together as a lethal combination of fight ending attacks.
*Ed Perdomo is a 4th degree black belt in the Korean grappling art of Hapkido and is head instructor of the Hapkido Institute in Morris, Il.
Korean Hapkido is not a grappling art! Hapkido is a full Martial Art that also teaches the student a wide variety of punches and kicks that go along with a variety of throws and grappling. One of the most pre-eminent Hapkido practioners was Bong Soo-Han.
Hapkido is a predominately grappling art. While not as one dimensional as Brazilian Jiu Jitsu or sport Judo, it is still considered a grappling style. Hapkido is 90% ground or clinch work thus it is a grappling style, just as the Isshin-Ryu I study, while it is a “complete martial art” that has as much grappling as Hapkido has striking, is still considered a striking art. Also keep in mind the man you are relying on to represent Hapkido’s striking credentials, Bong Soo-Han, was also black belt in Kwon Bup, one of the progenitors of early Tae Kwon Do. Hapkido was derived almost entirely from Daitō-ryū Aiki-jūjutsu (A Japanese form of Jiu-jitsu) and later had basic strikes from Tang Soo Do and Taekkyeon added too it. For all practical intents and purposes, and especially for the purposes of these demonstrations, Hapkido is a grappling art.