Beginning Brazilian Jiu Jitsu - Takedowns

Jeremy Lefreniere: This is Jeremy with Capital Jiu-Jitsu. We are now going to show a Take Down, and this of course, is after I have closed the distance with Stuart. I have slipped his punch, and I am in a clinch, which of course is the middle distance in a complete martial art.

So he throws that jab, I am moving in, I am slipping that punch. I have clinched against his body, I have minimized the ability for him to inflict damage and I have maximized the ability of me to afflict damage on him.

Now, the next piece, and this is a safety issue, is my left foot is going to step parallel with his lead foot. Notice how this happens. I dont want to trap up or step on his foot, because then when I fall, it could hurt him, and ultimately, the science of Jiu-Jitsu is the science of taking out the most dangerous moves, so we can practice against our partners with a full resistance. And therefore, if we are ever encountered with a real fight situation, we are used to taking full resistance, and so thats why we always want to think about our partners and our own safety.

So, here I am in a clinch, I step so my foot is parallel with his, and my right foot is going to sit straight out. This is a leap of faith move. I have to have faith that if I sit straight out and my butt hits the ground, he is going to come with me.

So, jab, slip the punch, I am underneath his rib cage, parallel, sit, bring him down.

Notice when I fall, my elbow collapses and comes towards my body. I dont want to land on my elbow, I am at its surface, you are not going to get injured, but if its the street, you will shatter your elbow, and I dont want to keep my arm underneath him, because he will land on my arm, trapping it or pinning it there. So, I want to collapse the elbow at the last second.

I also want to achieve, one of the dominant positions that we talked about in the earliest clip. So, when he is here, and I am here, I get into that clinch, I step, I sit, I am going to follow up with the mounted position.

Now, remember, the mounted position is one of the best positions that we can have. I am going to put my knees on the ground, I am going to rest my weight on him, my hands are going to go out just past shoulders width, and I am going to flare my elbows out, so that way if he tries to trap an arm, its going to be very difficult for him to break me down.

One more time, he throws that jab, slip the punch, wrap, step and sit. I am going to achieve the mounted position, rest my weight, flare out those elbows, and now you have a dominant position where you are on top of your opponent and you can deliver strikes or try to win the fight by using submission opportunities.