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Heel Drag Side Control Escape

25 November 2006 192 views 2 Comments

I’ve had this sitting around for a while, but since I use it in my soon-to-be-released tournament footage, I
felt I should get it up on the site so I can refer to it later.

If I owe anyone for this escape, it’s probably Roy Harris. My first good mount escape (and still my
favorite) is the heel drag, which he showed on his website as a drill to improve hip movement. Somehow, I
mutated this move and applied it to escaping side control and the end result is a knee crank that ends with
me in half guard.

I have been caught under side control. They are clasping their hands around my upper body and head. I
have my right foot on my left knee to close the space around my stomach so they have less room to take
mount.

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Most important of all, despite being under side control, I have good posture. My arms are between his
chest and mine, with my elbows in and my hands by my face. My left forearm is across his neck and my
right hand is by my cheek, defending the crossface. My left elbow is inside his arm, since he will be trying
to underhook it to lock down the position.

Regardless of what escape I want to do, having correct posture is extremely important. If he’s
underhooking my arms or trapping them with his knees, I’ll have trouble with any escape. If I’m spazzing
out and hugging him or grabbing over his back or headlocking him, I’m just preventing myself from
escaping. And I must have reverted back to being a gotarded white belt or something.

If you take anything away from this, it should be the importance of proper posture. This escape and most
others won’t mean much without it.

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To begin the heel drag escape, I straighten my right leg (the one nearest to their knee) as I use the other
one to turn my hips on their side.

I step over with my left leg over and hunt for their leg, trying to hook my heel on the far side of it.

Someone with a good top game will hide their foot so you can’t hook it this easily, so don’t get your heart
too set on this escape if you can’t hook their leg after 2-3 tries. Give up on it for the moment and just go
back to the normal elbow-escapes and such.

But while you’re doing your standard escapes, you may find that you’re forcing them to scramble to keep
you down, and they’ll often leave their leg out by accident, giving you just what you need to nail this
escape.

So like all moves, use this in combination with others, not as a one-shotter.

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I catch their ankle and drag my heel back, lifting their foot as their knee gets blocked by my thigh.

I bend my leg, trying to bring my heel to my butt, so their foot slides up behind the back of my knee. This
adjustment is what traps their leg (so they can’t drive up and pull their foot out) and is what really makes
the move work.

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I scissors my legs, stepping on the floor with my left foot as I try to bring my right leg under their knee. I
also hip into them like I want to roll them to my left (which will actually happen sometimes). This creates
a knee cranking pressure that can hurt pretty bad, and they will usually try to relieve it by lifting their
knee and straightening their leg, making it easier for you to pass your right leg under it.

From above, you can see how harshly I have twisted their leg. I am still cranking their leg back with their
ankle trapped behind my bent knee. My right leg has now passed to the other side, giving me half guard. I
am bending my leg and using it to block their knee from trying to drive back out to side control.

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To relieve the pressure on their knee, they will drive it to their right, which firmly lands them in my half
guard. My escape is now complete. Next begins the half guard game, but we’ll go over that another day.

2 Comments » (No Ratings Yet)

Dochter said:

This is a common technique at my school, and one that I personally use a lot under both mount and
side control (and for the remaining leg under half).

There is actually a nice way you can take mount from side if your opponent likes this move. Give
your opponent the far leg (in this picture series, the left leg) to hook, without them realizing which
leg it is. Now you basically have grapevined the one leg. Drive the knee of the free leg up to KOS
and toward their stomach and then into their far armpit. This move works best when you’re grinding
the hell out of their face with your shoulder from side and they can’t see what you’re doing.

When your opponent is savvy to this method of taking mount it is easy for them to stuff it (and
possibly sweep you) but it can be quite effective. It has been particularly effective against me when
I’m facing an opponent where I have to be very effective and aggresive (i.e. when they way
outclass me).

# 28 November 2006 at 1:29 pm

Dochter said:

I should say, I don’t do it quite how you do but similar.

# 28 November 2006 at 1:30 pm

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