triangle body lock

Yael Grauer · 08-04-2008, 12:55 PM

Okay, so after watching the main event on the WEC card last night and also a youtube vid of Kyra Gracie working Megumi Fujii (and I thought Fujii was invincible!) I started wondering... why would anyone EVER hold closed guard when you could do a triangle body lock instead?

Derek Simonds · 08-04-2008, 02:11 PM

I have only used it from the back. From the back I love it. I will try and lock it in tonight in open mat before class. The only limitation I could see would be if the person is too big to get the triangle locked in.

I watched the Fujii fight and I love how Kyra worked from the body triangle up to the high guard. I have been playing with that (high guard) a ton. If I can get a high guard where one leg is basically over their shoulder I have really been able to attack quickly.

Yael Grauer · 08-04-2008, 08:57 PM

Well I tried it tonight and it was a miserable disaster. I learned five things.

1. If you are as short as me, it only works on munchkins.
2. If you get it too low, it is like begging someone to put you in that weird footlock I've never seen before
3. If it was so effective, someone would've probably shown it to me already.
4. It was so nice in theory.
5. I need another beer.

Yeah that Kyra fight was pretty sweet. Oh, check out my top 5 girl fights list:
http://mmarated.com/blogs/blog/20080...ights-349.html

Derek Simonds · 08-05-2008, 08:04 AM

I also tried it and had pretty similar results. I think there is probably a time to use it. Mainly in transition to the high guard just like Kyra did. She had her arm locked over Fujii's head pulling her down and then worked up to the high guard.

1) Immediately got shown the foot / ankle lock.
2) If they roll you can actually get stuck because your legs are locked together and they are laying on them.

I will check out the girl fight links and show them to my daughter. She saw a shirt at the tournament that said "have you ever been choked out by a girl" and wants it so bad. I have video of her first BJJ class I have to edit and post. As any proud dad will say my girl did great.

Ben Langford · 08-05-2008, 03:59 PM

Just a couple thoughts on the subject.

1) You're also giving up mobility in favour of relying on leg strength to controll your opponent.

2) It takes a long time to sit out or even perform a sweep from a body lock style closed guard and, especially when you are little like me, it's important to be able to stand up or go to your knees from guard to help negate your opponent's ability to use their weight.

3) Like Derek said though, it is very useful when using a high guard to lock out someone's shoulder. However, I would consider this the end part of a climb.

Hope this spurs further discussion.

Yael Grauer · 08-05-2008, 05:42 PM

Derek I would love to see that t-shirt, I want one! I made some girl MMA shirts

http://www.cafepress.com/morewomeninmma Wanna see the video too!

Originally when I wrote this I was thinking that you're supposed to grapevine to butterfly guard ideally but I figure the two reasons I close my guard in a live roll are 1) because I'm tired/stalling or 2) because the other guy keeps passing my guard. So it seems like at the very least it'd be a more active way to stall. But since there's only one munchkin I roll with it seems like a non-issue esp. with the foot lock thingy... even for climbing I'd need to have open guard anyway. Baaaah.

Yael Grauer · 08-05-2008, 05:59 PM

P.S. My new top-secret ninja move from WEC that I would like to try next is getting someone just about to throw me so I can put on a guillotine while simultaneously jumping into closed guard mid-air. That was just about the coolest thing I've ever seen.

So I'm sure it'll be really high percentage for me.

Derek Simonds · 08-06-2008, 06:17 AM

I have the WEC recorded and only saw the Brian Stann (I think that is his name) title fight. So I will have to see this new ultra ninja trick.

I have had a guy try and jump to guillotine before and he almost got me. It kind of perturbed me cause I saw it coming, especially when he was sticking his opposite arm on my head, but didn't respond fast enough. You might find it works well for you.

I will get the video edited tonight. I couldn't find the power cord last night.

I like the shirts.

Derek Simonds · 08-07-2008, 06:43 PM

As promised. A day late but here is the video. My daughter wants a pink smilie so she gets one.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=61CUAzuo704

Anton Emery · 08-08-2008, 08:17 AM

I prefer to play open guard for more mobility. I suppose the triangle body lock could be good if you have long legs and just want to hold the guy there. As stated above, its going to be hard to move your hips quick enough for subs and sweeps. But i dont do MMA, which is probably a whole different story.

From the back its my preferred technique. Just watch out because you can get ankle locked.

Anton