Before taking a week off for the Christmas holiday, Ed Perdomo and Johnny Rodriguez had one last technique left in the current arch that began with an escape from a Guillotine Choke in the opponents full guard. The first move was to fall back for an ankle lock. When the opponent defended that attack, Ed moved on to sweep into back control and snatch a Rear Naked Choke with a gable grip. This week, Ed Perdomo will end the current arch with a finish designed to make an opponent pay for preventing the sweep from last time, a devastating Hammer Lock from the quarter mount.
As soon as Ed moves to sweep Johnny onto his belly, Johnny drops his hips and starts to spin in order to regain his guard. Ed, now out of position for an effective ankle lock, looks at his options. He knows he can scramble for side control but instead elects to maintain control by moving instead to quarter mount. He starts by controlling Johnny’s leg, pinning it against his stomach, and using his hips to prevent Johnny from getting flat on his back (LEFT).
Ed then pushed hard against Johnny’s leg and drops in close behind him, using a side control posture to control Johnny and prevent him from rolling flat (RIGHT). Ed wants to keep Johnny trapped on his side so he braces his thighs against Johnny’s back and pins him with his arms.
Here, Johnny’s first instincts will work against him. He wants to get his inside arm back in between himself and Ed’s body. Ed intentionally leaves him an avenue for this outside of his arm. As soon as Johnny begins to bring his arm around, Ed shoots his hand between Johnny’s body and arm, moving to underhook the arm at the elbow (LEFT). This control will both set up the pass into quarter mount and carry over into the submission itself.
Ed then steps over Johnny’s waist into a solid quarter mount position with his heel firmly against Johnny’s hips and his knee in the small of Johnny’s back. As he moves into quarter mount, Ed uses his underhook to pull Johnny’s wrist behind his back while simultaneously using his outside hand to grip Johnny’s arm and pull his elbow forward (RIGHT). This both helps to keep Johnny from rolling flat during the pass and sets the frame work for the Hammer Lock.
Now firmly seated in the quarter mount, Ed moves to finish the submission. He does so by reversing his underhook so that he has both hands in a fist-in-palm grip behind Johnny’s elbow (LEFT). As he sets the frame, Ed keeps Johnny’s wrist trapped against his bicep. Many fighters would ask why Ed chooses this Hammer Lock grip over the more common Kimura grip. There are two reasons. First, the Kimura grip doesn’t allow for as much control or torque from the quarter mount. Second, in order to gain a Kimura grip, Ed would have to completely release his underhook and reset his hand position, thus allowing Johnny an opportunity to escape.
Ed then finishes the submission by pulling Johnny’s elbow in tight to his chest and rotating his upper body to apply pressure to Johnny’s wrist, thus torquing the shoulder in a manner similar to a Kimura (RIGHT). From here, all Ed has to do is turn sharply so as to face the same direction as Johnny and the shoulder will dislocate and tear almost immediately.
Recap:
- Block your opponent from rolling flat onto his back by controlling his leg with your hand and hips.
- Push the foot down and away hard and slide into side control against your opponent’s back.
- Allow your opponent to free his top arm and underhook his elbow as he moves to reposition it.
- Step across your opponent’s hips into quarter mount, pulling forward on his elbow and backwards on his wrist at the same time.
- Reverse your underhook so that you have both hands gripped behind your opponent’s elbow and his wrist trapped against your bicep.
- Pull your opponent’s elbow into your chest and rotate into his back to torque the shoulder and get the tap.
This technique ends MMA Gospel’s current three technique arch and it’s overall six technique series on defense and counter of the Guillotine Choke. Be sure to come back next week for the beginning of another series of ground attacks to strengthen any MMA ground game.
*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.
