Opinions on kimura from inside half guard?

**v1y** · Posted On: 4/28/2009 9:24am

Alright so imagine he's got half guard on my right leg, meaning my left leg is on the outside.

Generally after flattening my opponent and connecting the hips I like to put my left elbow to their LEFT ear (not an overunder), and try to drive the trapped leg through to mount while pushing on their leg with my right hand. To prevent this people push on my right knee with their outstretched left arm -- which signals me to grab their left wrist with my right hand, and then lock up the kimura (made even easier because my left arm is already on the far side of their body)

Passing half guard has always been one of my strong suits... but after tapping a blue belt with this the other day i'd really like to understand this position a little better. So questions:

1: Are there better options than a kimura in this situation?
2: How can my opponent potentially sweep me?

and most importantly

3: What is the best way to finish the kimura here? i've been having a little more success by bringing my left foot up and bringing my opponent into me, but i have no idea if there's a better way to do it.

**Kintanon** · Posted On: 4/28/2009 9:33am

The nice thing about this is that even if you get your hips too high and they sweep you and you end up on the bottom of side control if you KEEP THE GRIP you can use the kimura sweep to take top of side control again with ease.
I will say I've never had anyone finish a kimura on me from half guard though. plenty of people have hit the Americana when they have a huge height advantage on me and I can't push them down, but never a Kimura.

I would think you would want to hook their bottom leg with your leg to keep them from bailing from halfguard. Other than that just drag them up and crank it.

Potential sweeps are all there if your hips get too high and they roll you towards your head, but as I said before if you keep the kimura grip you can resweep to side and finish it from there. I would think the biggest problem would be getting the grip in the first place.

**SBG-ape** · Posted On: 4/30/2009 10:47am

I play this as a pass all the time. The first thing I'd say is that laying on the bottom guy before you lock in the kimura can get you swept.

Here's how I play this: Start upright using the same frames to keep him down that you would in a closed guard. Tuck the trapped leg under your body to avoid the lockdown. Now, as he hand fights & tries to curl in/sit up, get your grip at his wrist first & pin the arm down. Then lay into him & secure the figure four. Suck his arm in hard (preferabble on the mat & not on his belly) until you can put both hands on his wrist without kinking your wrist. Now you can let go with your right hand & sit out, using your right hand to push on his knees to get your leg free. As you get free, come around to cross sides & then north south, controling his near hip with your right hand. Your movement will either crank his shoulder & give you a 1-handed kimura/hammerlock (if his hand was on the mat) or give you a handle that will let you pull him in so you can take the back.

**threetoe** · Posted On: 4/30/2009 11:37am

I tapped out to this at the Arnold's.

Being confident in the lockdown, I went for the double underhooks. The guy simply reached behind his back and grabbed my arm before I could get a good grip. I though that I could squirm out of it, but the guy was tenacious and would not give up his grip. He eventually subbed me with it.

After working on it (from the bottom) my current working defense is to roll back into the trapped arm and try for a gable grip so that I can fight the submission. My thought is that if I roll on my side and give up mount or back mount I will still have a better chance of escape than if I try to squirm out from the half guard or lockdown.

Edit: accidentally posted to soon

**265lbsfist** · Posted On: 5/25/2009 4:44pm

One of my favourite moves.
It's really hard to sub anyone strong and skilled with it but if you inch it up slowly you can panic even seasoned guys into starting to buck and give up the pass. I'm a heavy guy so I usually have the pressure to keep my opponent down even though I stretch the arm out fully extended and start cranking his elbow up to his ear. Is dangerous on really explosive/strong types of course.

Sometimes when they stretch their arm to defend I get my forearm under the elbow and it becomes a short and sweet armbar instead. If they feel and start squirming the kimura is easy enough to reapply.

My biggest problem regarding sweeps outside of the explosive/strong types are the ones who gather up my free leg with their free arm and roll over their own neck for the sweep.

**v1y** · Posted On: 5/25/2009 11:11pm

hmm interestingly enough for the first time ever someone tried this on me todya... my instructor no less!

as soon as he got the grip i grabbed my pants with the 'kimura'ed arm', and bridged towards his side with no base and temporarily got on top... however he was able to sweep me right back with ease since i still was grabbing onto my pants to defend and could not base. he wasn't able to finish me though.

**HAPKO3** · Posted On: 5/28/2009 3:55pm

I tapped to this in the norcal legacy a few weeks ago. A good example of my head not being in the right place - I play this game all the time in training.

**GIJoe6186** · Posted On: 6/12/2009 1:43am

Just food for thought : Someone mentioned that at the very least if you get sweeped you can hold on to the grip and go for the sub under half-guard or use it for a sweep.

I catch the Americana all the time from under half guard and to a lesser extent the Americana. The key to getting these from under half guard in my experience is using the lock down to stretch them out while applying the lock. I actually feel more in control if I have the kimura/americana with the lockdown than if I have it from top half guard.

**cyrijl** · Posted On: 6/12/2009 4:33am

I might be extremely slow, but if you are putting your left elbow to their left ear, I think you are asking for an arm triangle to be applied to you. I you flatten me out, I wouldn't press your trapped leg with an outstretched arm, if you are flatt as well you are getting swept.

If you avoid the arm triangle and they are pressing on your leg I think this would be fine, I just can't imagine you being so far up on the guy on bottom that your left elbow is on/near their left ear. You generally don't want your arms to cross the cetnerline of your body. You have no base to the front/left corner. I'd find someone with a strong half guard and then try it.*

*At the end of the day, if the guys submits, the guy submits. I often get people with stupid ****. I wish there were more bjj bullies near me.