Slide Down to Guard
Escape · Back Control
Takes you from under back control to guard or to top position. The moment is when his hooks are in but he has no seatbelt yet. Keep both hands high at your collar and chin, elbows tight, so no arm slides under your chin. Then slide your shoulders to the mat on the side of his lower hook, walking your hips away and down until your back, not your side, lies on the mat: your weight now pins that leg, and from underneath he cannot keep hooks and a choke. Clear the top hook by pushing the foot off your thigh, turn into him over the pinned leg, chest to chest, and recover guard. If he follows you on top into mount, switch to the elbow-knee escape.
How to do it
- Protect your neck with both hands: the hands stay high by your collar and chin, elbows tight, so their arm cannot slide under your chin.
- Slide your shoulders to the mat on the side of the lower hook, walking your hips away and down so your back, not your side, lands on the mat.
- Their leg on that side is now pinned under your weight; the other leg is the top hook.
- Clear the top hook with your hand or leg: push the foot down off your thigh, or kick your leg free, and keep the hands near your neck while you do it.
- Turn into them over the pinned leg, chest toward them, and recover guard or come up on top.
Key details
- Hands on the neck first: the choke ends the fight faster than you can escape the back.
- Your back on the mat means no back control: they cannot keep hooks and a choke from underneath once your back is on the floor.
- Slide to the side of their lower hook: your weight pins that leg and leaves only the top hook to clear.
Common mistakes
- Escaping with the hands off the neck. — With the neck open they choke you while you are moving. — Keep the hands up until the back is on the mat.
- Sliding to the wrong side. — Sliding to the wrong side keeps their top hook in, and they keep the back. — Slide to the side of their lower hook.
- Staying sitting up. — Sitting up keeps the neck in reach and the choke comes in easily. — Get your back flat on the mat as fast as you can.
If they defend
- They switch to a body triangle. → Attack the ankle of the top leg to open it.
How to drill it
Back escapes, 1-minute rounds; the top partner only keeps the position at first, then attacks.
What comes next
Where it comes from