Can You Attack Your Opponent Who Has Your Back in BJJ?

The back is considered one of the most vulnerable points of your body in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. If you have trapped the back of your opponent, then the submission becomes much easier for you. It means that you have won more than half of the game. Unfortunately, the reverse is also true. If your opponent has caught your back, you will be trapped, and it will become very difficult for you to escape. Therefore, it is very necessary for you to learn and practice how you can save or escape your back from the trap of your opponent. You should practice the drills and techniques to learn the escape. Let’s dive into the details about how you can attack your opponent when they have your back.

• The Back control can play a role in both ways for you. You can get a lot of benefits from it, and on the other hand, you can get trapped, from which getting out will be very difficult for you. So you have to learn it from both ways. You should know how you can get control of the back of your opponent and also how you can escape from the back control of your opponent.

• The back control position can give you a lot of benefits if you utilize it in a correct manner. You can get the back of your opponent for trapping them in the chokes. It gives you a strategic advantage over your opponent. You can also utilize it for getting the submissions over your opponent. Once you have a back control over your opponent, you can execute a number of offensive moves and techniques against them, and they will have no option but to defend against your techniques. Still, that too will be difficult for them.

• Moreover, when you get the back mount or back control over your opponent, the judges will give you more points because these positions or techniques are very highly scoring positions.

• Your opponent will become very limited in their options. The reason is that you have trapped their back and they will not be able to do anything. You can execute a number of techniques, but they will not be able to do a lot. They will become very limited in their range of options for attacking or defending against you or your techniques.

• The back control, also known as the back mount, is a highly versatile technique or position. It means that they provide you with the opportunity to set up the back control or back mount technique or trap from a variety of positions. There are a number of options available for you to do that.

• The last but not least advantage the back control gives is for the grapplers with short height or less strength. They can easily dominate against the well heighted individuals or stronger people by executing the back control.

You should learn and practice the ways to attack your opponent who has trapped your back. There are a lot of good ways out there in the art, but some of the best ways to attack after getting your back trapped are given below:

• When you are trapped in a turtle position against your opponent, they will try to flatten you out. They will also try to set up the hooks by controlling your far arm with the wrist control. In this position, your opponent is controlling you with the seatbelt grip. The quick and easy way to prevent your opponent from flattening you out is the reversal. You should try to reverse yourself so that your opponent cannot put you in the side control.

• So, in the turtle position, with your opponent controlling you with a seatbelt grip, they will grab your right wrist with their right hand, which is closer to your wrist. At the exact time they are doing this, you have an opportunity to prevent or reverse this. You can grab or control their triceps with your elbow because your elbow is free and not trapped by your opponent. Another option you can try is to trap their elbow with your free elbow instead of their triceps. This is also a great option, and this is particularly beneficial if you are not able to reach the triceps of your opponent with your elbow.

• Now, the next step after controlling the elbow of your opponent with your elbow is to create a space. The space should be exactly between your hips and the hips of your opponent. Once you have successfully created the space, you can move by rolling to the right side. After rolling, you will be in a reverse kesa gatame in the top side control. Once you have rolled and are on top, you should be ready to secure the position.

• One of the most common attacks when you are in the back control against your opponent is the foot lock. When you are trapped by your opponent in the back control, don’t try to cross your feet. Crossing your feet is, in fact, a two way tactic. It can be beneficial as well as harmful for you. The thing is, if you do it in seconds for a very short duration, then you can take advantage of it. But on the other hand, if you are doing it for a longer period, then you will not get any benefit from it. So now you know what you should do and for how long you need to do it.

• Now, if your opponent has you in their back control, then they can do the foot lock, which is the most frequent attack to think about in the back control. So if they have crossed their feet, then the tactic here is to understand that you should also cross your feet over their feet. After crossing your feet, bridge with your hips, and after this, if you correctly do this, then you will be able to finish the foot lock of your opponent.

• The straight armlock is another good option once you are trapped in a back control against your opponent. In this technique, you are locking the arm of your opponent, which they are using to control you, so it helps you in getting your opponent under your control, and at the same time, it helps in losing the control of your opponent over you with a back control. So it is a very effective technique, particularly in the context of the back control.

• For doing the straight armlock, imagine that you are in a back control position with your opponent dominating over you. They will put their arm over your right shoulder. They can also do otherwise. But preferably, their right arm will be over your right shoulder. So at this point, bring your left arm close to the right arm of your opponent and grab it. After grabbing their right arm with your left arm, push them downward and then bring it under your right arm. Trap them and then hook around their arm. Now, continue doing this and finish the submission with a figure four grip.

• Another good technique to counter the back control technique of your opponent is the baseball choke. This technique has the additional advantage that you can apply it from various positions in the BJJ. For example, some of the positions from which you can apply this technique include abc mount, back control, side control, closed guard, and if your opponent has passed your guard.

• When you are in a baseball choke, if you hold on to that, your opponent can take your back because in this process, your back will get exposed. So once they take your back and establish a back control position, you should continue holding onto the baseball choke. The reason is that not all tries go to waste in such situations. In fact, in the majority of the situations, your opponent will get themselves trapped in the baseball choke. So you should continue trying for that even if your opponent has successfully taken your back. This will not matter, and they can get into your choke even if they are having your back.

• To perform the baseball choke on your opponent, grab the collar of your opponent with your four fingers. And besides doing this, on the other hand, make sure you are keeping your forearm across the neck of your opponent on their carotid artery.

• Behind the neck of your opponent, grab the lapel of your opponent with your right hand. Now you need to finish the baseball choke. For this, go belly down on your knees. This will expose your back to your opponent so that they can take that.

• Although there are many techniques to attack your opponent having your back but the final technique in the top five is the kneebar. This is also a very good technique for countering the back control. So for doing the kneebar, the first step you need to take is to go inside the seatbelt grip of your opponent. Make sure to keep your armpit above the arms of your opponent. This will prevent your opponent from choking you.

• Now you need to do the hip escape. Put your left arm below the left knee of your opponent and then escape your hip and fall on your left side. Do the hip escape and tripod your feet. Trap the right leg of your opponent by triangling your legs and then finish with the kneebar.

The back control is the most effective position in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. It has a lot of significance in BJJ, and you can easily take your opponent to the submissions once you have control of the back of your opponent. But this is its beautiful side we all know. The dangerous side is when your opponent gets control of your back. They will also get all the benefits and ease of taking you to the submission. So that is why you need to develop some strategies to attack your opponent even when they have your back. There are a lot of effective ways for that, some of which are discussed above. Make sure to practice them by implementing them in your daily BJJ training routine.

• You can execute a number of offensive moves and techniques against them, and they will have no option but to defend against your techniques.

• The judges will give you more points because these positions or techniques are very highly scoring positions.

• Your opponent will become very limited in their options.

• The back control, also known as the back mount, is a highly versatile technique or position.

• Grapplers with short height or less strength can easily dominate against the well heighted individuals or stronger people by executing the back control.

• Escape From The Seatbelt Grip: Turtle Defense

• Foot Lock

• Straight Armlock

• The Baseball Choke

• Kneebar