Jiu Jitsu submission attacks are something that we are seeing more and more in today’s MMA world. Any time you watch a UFC fight that goes to the ground the fighter with the best Jiu Jitsu will usually win. It’s not an aggressive style of martial arts like you might see in Muay Thai, Jiu Jitsu fighters like to think of it as a chess game. You wait for your opponent to make a mistake and you use that mistake to hurt them. Its a really popular style because it can be used by anyone of any size, the US Army actually teaches Jiu Jitsu to their soldiers because it so simple to learn and adapt.
There are a couple of key positions in a Jiu Jitsu fight, I’m going to discuss the most popular positions and some moves from each one. I’ll start with the mount, this is preferred by most people, with the mount your opponent is on their back and you are on their chest trying to keep your knees as close to their underarms as you can get. This is a very dominite position, you have the opportunity to go for a couple different submissions or pound their face into the mat. Some of the popular submissions you’ll see from the mount are the arm bar and the chimora.
My personal favorite Jiu Jitsu position is the guard, if you have someone in their guard it looks as if they have the upper hand , you are on your back, they are on their knees and you have your legs locked in place around their waist. From this position you can control them, you can move them back and forth with your legs to prevent being punches, you can also work some nice Jiu Jitsu submission attacks from here. Some of the more popular submissions from the guard are the triangle and the arm bar.
The guard and mount are two of the more recognzied positions but there are more. There is the side control, back mount and half guard that you’ll also see sometimes in a MMA fight. Jiu Jitsu submission attacks can change the tide of a fight in a matter of seconds. If you’ve been watching MMA fights for any amount of time you have probably seen a fight where one fighter was winning and slipped up and got caught in a submission. A great example is the Brock Lesnar vs Frank Mir fight. Brock was winning the fight using some very powerful striking, he knocked Mir down and Mir caught his leg and forced Brock to tap. It can happen to anyone that doesn’t have some decent knowledge of Jiu Jitsu.