Grip fighting is possibly one of the most important and overlooked areas in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. Whilst it is prioritized and drilled to perfection in Judo, sadly it doesn’t have the same emphasis when it’s analyzed in BJJ. In short, grip fighting requires specific, micro details which may be boring to some. However, if you do not understand the importance of grip fighting and its subtleties then it can let your grappling down significantly.
The UK’s first ever black belt, Ben Poppleton has spoken about lengths with regards to the importance of grip fighting. He believes it’s one of the most important and basic skills to learn and that without it you can suffer. Below will detail how and why grip fighting is so crucial in BJJ and how it differentiates between the gi and nogi. If you aren’t focusing on your grips; you should be.
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Grip fighting from standing in the gi
The idea of grip fighting is to establish a superior position against your opponent. If you have a significant knowledge gap such as a black belt vs a white belt, you can quite easily create dominant grips without your opponent being aware of their danger. Whilst standing, BJJ players often take grips that are traditionally used in Judo.
These can be considered basic grip fighting and it sets up your next moves. For instance, this typically involves grabbing the lapel of the opponent with one wrist and their sleeve with the other. This means you can opt into transitions such as pulling guard or various Judo trips and throws from here.
The important thing to remember is that without the initial grips, none of this is possible. For example, if your opponent manages to quickly establish a hard collar drag with superior grips, then before you know it you may be on the floor. With this said, grips in stand up are important for both defense and offense.
Usually, the player who dominates the inside space on their terms will win the battle of takedowns. Therefore, it’s important to set up grips that control the opponent’s posture and wrist-control. If you dominate the posture then you can put the opponent where you want to, rather than where they want to move to
Grip fighting from standing in no gi
Grip fighting differs significantly in no gi as there is no material to grab onto. Because of this, the main difference is substituting the gi with similar body parts of the opponent. For instance, instead of grabbing their sleeve, you can grab their wrist. Instead of grabbing the upper lapel, you can opt for a collar tie by grabbing the back of their neck. Basically, the fundamentals are similar but still quite different.
The main difference in no gi takedowns is that they focus more on C-grips and open palm hands, whereas in the gi you’re grabbing material. However, the objective is the same which is to dominate the inside space on your own terms. Typically, grip fighting in no gi is used to enter wrestling takedowns as opposed to Judo takedowns in the gi. As the opponent can’t tie up with your lapels, it is often easier to shoot for double or single leg takedowns. However, the main idea is not to wildly go for a takedown. Instead, it’s to set up your grips prior to this and control their posture and arms.
The importance of the cross grip in the gi
If you ever see new white belts, they may grip their opponent’s same side collar with their opposite arm whilst in closed guard. This would require grabbing the opponents left collar with your right hand. This is fundamentally poor as it doesn’t create as much tension when compared to a cross grip. A cross grip would be grabbing the opponents left collar with your left hand. By doing this, you can move your opponent much easier and therefore dominate their posture. In closed guard, and all guards this is very important as it stops their escapes and forces them to defend.
By doing cross grips, you can break posture easier to set up attacks such as triangles and chokes. You can also cross grip sleeves to create powerful arm drags. Whilst arm drags can be done in the same way as a no gi arm drag, a cross grip arm drag with the sleeve can be achieved with less strength. Again, this emphasizes the importance of cross grips in the gi.
Setting up dominant grips
As mentioned above, the cross grip in the gi is very powerful and effective. However, you don’t just start in that position and you need to take the steps to get there. This is the boring part of grip fighting which people don’t enjoy learning. In short, it’s the journey from the start which leads to the cool move but gets fewer plaudits in doing so.
Using the cross grip as an example, you would begin by stripping your opponent’s grips from your gi. In closed guard, this would often require taking a two on one grip with both hands against the opponent’s one hand. For obvious reasons, this creates a gap in strength as two hands are always stronger than one. The next part would be to bridge backward to weaken the opponent’s fingers which are holding your lapel. With this combined with the two on one, you can now set up the cross grip.
A similar concept applies in no gi grip fighting. For instance, breaking the posture of the opponent doesn’t just happen. Firstly you may need to get a C-grip on your opponent’s wrist. There are subtle details here, such as trying to grab the entire hand rather than the forearm. Whilst this doesn’t sound like much it can often be the difference in controlling the opponent and not controlling them. With this in mind a pattern should emerge, that grip fighting is not always pretty but if you take time to learn it then it will pay off massively.
Examples of how effective grip fighting is with black belts
As mentioned in the beginning, a black belt can control a white belt through grips without the white belt even knowing. This also goes on against other belts from the perspective of a black belt. For instance, if you spar a black belt then they will often win. There are clear reasons for this such as experience and knowledge. However, a black belt doesn’t just arrive at the point of submission. To get there, they will often begin by dominating grips.
We’ve looked at this perspective from playing the guard position, now we will look at it from a top position. For example, the torreando pass is always entered by the top player establishing key grips. Usually, this involves stripping the grips of the opponent completely and disengaging on your terms. You then re-enter the guard without grips from your opponent and then get grips on the opponent’s ankles or knees. From there, you can successfully use the torreando pass and pass the guard of the opponent.
Whether in gi or no gi, most black belts won’t even consciously think about the grip battle to set up the torreando pass. By now, it is ingrained in their subconscious and they will never start the move before prioritizing grips. This is where many lower belts go wrong. They try to rush through a move without controlling the grips to begin with.
A classic example would be a white belt doing a knee slice without the underhook. This is an obvious example where they would get their back taken from the bottom player. Instead of focusing on the basics to begin with, you can get punished for avoiding the early dirty work. Whilst the failed knee slice makes clear sense, there are often more subtle examples where lower belts let themselves down in this respect.
The Kimura is a great example of the intricate details of gripping
The Kimura is possibly the most dominant grip in all of BJJ. Earlier it was discussed that two on one grips are incredibly powerful and the Kimura is no different.
However, whilst it’s easy to understand why the Kimura works – there is an important distinction in how to make your Kimura grip more efficient. For instance, against a weaker, less experienced opponent you could finish the Kimura with sloppily applied technique. This isn’t ideal as it won’t work against stronger, more skilled opponents.
Good details of the Kimura grip are to make the ‘biker grip’ instead of the C-grip. Whilst the C-grip is good for certain scenarios, it lacks the control of the biker grip when finishing the submission. If you hold the Kimura for too long, you can also burn out your thumbs quickly, whereas doing it without the thumbs exposed will make it easier.
Similarly, the idea is to grip lower down towards the wrist rather than the forearm. Again, it’s not impossible to finish with a sloppy grip, but it becomes much harder. Lastly, you want to have a good angle to be able to finish the Kimura. This is a great example that whilst some moves will often work, they can still be improved upon with subtle details. This applies massively with grip fighting, the more micro details you know, the easier it will become.
How do I learn grip fighting?
It’s no secret that Judo prioritizes grip fighting compared to BJJ. If you are not satisfied with the analysis of grip fighting in your gym then there are a few ways to supplement this. For example, if you really want to learn then you can visit a Judo gym and cross-train. Whilst most of these moves will happen in standing, you can often apply these moves to the floor. For instance, the idea of controlling the opponent’s arm is the same on the floor as it is standing.
However, if you cannot learn from a local Judo gym then fear not. These days, there’s enough material online to learn from. These videos apply for both gi and no gi and can show you the intricate details that you may be missing. A lot of this work is conceptual, so the more you understand – the more it can be applied to other parts of grappling.
Summary
Grip fighting is hugely important in BJJ. It may not always be the most fun part of BJJ to learn, but it is key to controlling opponents and turning the fight in your favor. Whether in the gi or no gi, the principles still apply that you need to set up good grips before you can start moving on to bigger moves. Often this involves subtle details such as hand positioning and specific finger placement. With this said, if you aren’t sure about grip fighting then you should start to learn today to increase your BJJ ability.
