Breaking down your opponent in BJJ

Breaking down your opponent in BJJ

Breaking down your opponent in BJJ is one of the “little things” that makes a big difference. If you can break an opponent down or make them stumble, whichever move you choose to perform next will be easy. There are many truly valuable combat skills, but the ability to make your opponent get broken down or stumble at will, which may not seem very useful on the surface but is in fact, arguably among the most useful of them all. In addition, it makes possible to execute so many of the other more well known and glamorous skills. If you can do this it will be much easier to perform the subsequent moves that you use to score points in competition or finish your opponent with. You must develop this ability to the greatest degree possible. It is particularly important when you are grappling in standing position and in situations where you are seated in open guard and your opponent is standing in front of you (though it is important in other common scenarios also). The ability to make your opponent stumble both forward and backwards, as resistance to one direction will set up attacks in the other. Furthermore, you will need to develop good dexterity in your feet as you will be using your feet and legs like hands and arms to reach out and grab and push and pull. If you can make your opponent stumble, you make them defenseless for a quarter of a second, and in BJJ or MMA, quarter of a second can be an awfully long time and make the difference. So work hard on this skill, it will make many of your other skills much easier to apply.