MMA Gospel Technique of the Week: Defending the Shoot with a Spinning Armbar

It’s a new year for MMA Gospel’s Technique of the Week and Ed Perdomo and Adam Valencia are here to usher in another 52 submission grappling techniques with a three-part arc on making your opponents pay for shooting from the outside. In each of these moves, Ed will turn a long range shoot into a fight-ending submission that capitalizes on Adam’s momentum and position. Starting off the chain is a basic Spinning Armbar.

Adam Valencia shoots in on Ed from the outside, looking for a quick single-leg takedown. Ed starts before Adam even gets close by getting his rear leg back so that if Adam gets too deep, he can drop to his front hip in a sprawl. As Adam comes in, Ed pushes down of the top of Adam’s head and overhooks his outside arm (LEFT).
 
 
 
 

From there, Ed pushes hard on Adam’s head while pulling up on the overhook (RIGHT). This forces Adam to be off-balance and fall to his side. Ed must maintain control of Adam’s arm throughout the maneuver in order to secure the Armbar.

As soon as Adam drops to the mat, Ed gets wrist control with the hand he was using against Adam’s head. Ed then turns to the outside and brings his foot around behind Adam where he tucks it firmly under Adam’s shoulder blade (LEFT). Ed will leave his outside leg in front of Adam’s face.

Ed then finishes the Armbar. He sits to the mat as close to his foot as possible, squeezes with his knees, lies back, and slides both hands to wrist control to finish the lock (RIGHT). After this, he has only to extend his hips for maximum pressure.

Recap:

1. When your opponent shoots, get your rear leg back, ready to sprawl to your front hip in case you allow your opponent to shoot too deep.
2. Overhook your opponent’s outside arm and use your other hand to push down on the top of their head.
3. Pull up on the overhook and push down and in on the head to turn your opponent on their side.
4. Turn into your opponent and slide your inside foot under their shoulder blade.
5. Sit to the mat, squeeze your knees around their arm, lie back, and move both hands to wrist control.
6. Extend your hips to finish the lock.

This extremely basic spinning Armbar is an excellent defense to an outside single-leg shoot. The most important part of the maneuver is always getting the rear hip away from the opponent so that the sprawl is still an option. Long range shoots are common among MMA fighters with limited wrestling experience and give plenty of opportunities for a savvy grappler to punish them for it.

*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.