Is the back BJJ’s best position?

Is the back BJJ’s best position?

Is the back BJJ’s best position? It is a question we ponder at Savarese BJJ Academy (www.bergencountybjj.com). We love the back as well as the mount. But only one position truly merges position and submission,  the back. If you look at the pinning pressures of Jiu-Jitsu, you will see that as desirable as they are, you still have quite a bit of work to do to go beyond the pin into the submission. Getting side control or the mounted position or north south or knee on belly is good, but getting the arm or a chokehold from there requires a significant set of skills. The rear mount (aka the back) on the other hand, leaves you VERY close to submission. Unless your opponent has good defensive skills, a simple wrapping of your arm around the neck is enough to end it. You can see how closely the position (rear mount) is to the submission (rear naked choke) by the fact that the escape from one entails the escape from the other. This is not true for say, a mounted arm bar or Kimura from side or knee on belly. Usually escaping the pin is one thing, the submission from that pin is another. As such rear mount/rear naked choke is the single best synthesis of position and submission in the art of BJJ. Mastering the art of getting there, staying there, and finishing from there is the best way to close the gap between position and submission in your game. In this photo, one of our top women, Ariana Zeppetelli, controls the back position before attacking with the aforementioned rear mount/back to rear naked choke combination, one of the deadliest in Jiu-Jitsu. Notice she also has double wrist control in an effort to completely flatten her opponent.