Risk assessment in BJJ

Risk assessment in BJJ

Where is the right time for risk assessment in BJJ? Where there is danger there is sometimes opportunity.  The game of Jiu-Jitsu is essentially a game of risk management. You want certain outcomes, getting those outcomes will entail a degree of risk. You try always to lower the risk as much as possible but always remembering there is the understanding that nothing risked, nothing gained. While it’s in our best interests to general seek to lower risk to the greatest degree we can, there is no denying that sometimes we can get excellent results by increasing risk, provided we do so in a way that we can control to an acceptable degree. Probably the riskiest thing you can do in BJJ is expose your back to your opponent. However, there are things you can do to mitigate the risk to some degree, and as a reckless opponent over extends himself going for your back some interesting counter attacks become available, some of which can lead directly to victory. For instance, sometimes leaving an open door to your back via elbow position can bring an opponent on to some very strong leg locking positions. When your usual attacks aren’t getting the breakthroughs you need there can be times when upping the risk can turn a match in your favor. There are even escapes from the mount position into leglocks.  Learn to make risk assessments and marry these to specialized techniques and you can start drawing overzealous opponents into traps that can get breakthroughs that direct attacks could not.