Over the years, various people have come forward with the argument that many submissions can be stopped by biting the opponent. Of course, in a competition setting or within the gym, biting is strictly illegal within the BJJ community. Nonetheless, as BJJ has strong elements of self defense ingrained in its roots, it’s somewhat realistic to ask these questions. So, what does happen if your enemy bites you whilst trying to submit them? Read on to find out more…
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Can you defend submissions by biting the opponent?
As mentioned, this isn’t legal in BJJ or MMA. Even in martial arts like Krav Maga where fighting dirty is encouraged, it’s still illegal in a gym setting and is only permitted on the streets. With rules aside, the reality is that bites may work, but if a submission is locked in, then they can be troublesome.
For example, a common scenario asked about is applying an armbar. If you’re trying to submit someone and they bite your leg – then would you flinch as a result, and would this give your opponent adequate time to escape? The answer to this was provided by legendary MMA fighter Bas Rutten. His MMA record speaks for itself, and he has also spoken on fights outside of a professional setting. In other words, he’s about as legitimate as it gets and is well versed in BJJ and general MMA.
Bas Rutten once answered this question and said that whilst a bite would certainly hurt, if he had control over the arm then he would definitely snap it and go to break the elbow. Thus, it would hurt but a broken arm would be much worse.
There’s also an element of annoying the person applying the submission. Perhaps they may get a Kimura lock to restrain someone. Then, if the restrained person bit them, they would crank on the Kimura with the intention of breaking the shoulder. Therefore, biting is probably not as effective as some people make out.
But does biting ever work?
The answer to this is yes, it can but it’s situational. With no rules in place, humans have been biting in fights for years and to great affect. Although this rarely involves submissions, people often aim for the ears as they’re easy to rip off.
Perhaps one instance where it does go against Bas Ruttens advise is if the armbar had not been fully set up. For instance, if you were caught in an armbar but had managed to connect your hands, and had the opponents leg caught between yours.
Then, biting may have some kind of effect and the pain applied could cause the opponent to stop. Still, with enough adrenaline involved and particularly if they wore thick clothes, they may not even notice the bite until the fight has ended.
Why biting against submissions is hard to do
As mentioned, the example given was the armbar. However, what about other submissions? This is where biting to defend submissions becomes much harder. Arguably, being in an armbar and biting your way out is the most realistic scenario where biting is concerned.
For example, if your opponent had you in most choke holds, it would literally be impossible to bite them. Imagine being caught in a rear naked choke. There would literally be no skin or angle in sight to generate a bite. The same goes for an abundance of chokes, such as darces, guillotines, bulldog chokes, and even triangles. As a result, many choking submissions are somewhat immune to bites.
When looking at joint locks, away from the armbar it’s a similar story. Perhaps the Kimura also leaves people open to be bitten, but other than that a lot of joint locks would be difficult to bite from. In fact, practically all leg attacks would be difficult to bite someone whilst being caught in a submission.
Further, let’s say the opponent is wearing a big coat or thick pants. This would make biting even less effective so it’s something to consider.
In summary, biting to defend against submissions is a possibility, but it can only be done from a variety of positions and even then may not work or have the desired effect.
Conclusion
Biting may be effective in fights, and it may be effective against moves like the armbar and Kimura. However, when it comes to BJJ, there are very few times when it should be considered to defend against someone whilst applying a submission.
As has been explored, most submissions are quite difficult to bite against for a variety of reasons. Then, there’s also the issue getting the bite to work. The last thing you want to do is try to bite someone who is trying to strangle you or break your leg, as this would not be wise.
Even from none submissions positions, if you tried to bite from bottom mount for example, you could get your head punched in. From top positions too, whilst biting could be an option, the reality is there’s probably more efficient ways to fight from that position.
Lastly, there’s always the saying of ‘an eye for an eye’. This means, even if you did bite someone whilst they performed an armbar, they could always bite back. In fact, from their position, they could bit the fingers which would be easy to access. From there, they would have immediate access to extend the arm and break it.
As a result, biting to defend against submissions is not as easy as it sounds. Whilst it may work in some cases, this relies on the opponent having a lack of control and you knowing how to escape submissions which can be quite a big ask against a skilled opponent. In conclusion, it’s probably best to learn other fighting methods before focusing on biting as biting your opponent is not a magic bullet and doesn’t guarantee results.
