I got tapped out by a TMA wristlock. Woe is me. ;[

**strikistanian** · Posted On: 3/02/2010 10:16pm

I had just fought over the weekend and my body's pretty trashed from a very intense training camp, so I didn't feel quite ready to return to my normal gym for real training. Instead, I decided to visit this gym that I occassionally go to for some casual bag work and light exercise. It's run by a Kung Fu school and a bunch of different TMA people teach and train out of there. Very few of them throw down, but one of the few who does approached me and asked if I was in the mood for some sparring or grappling. With my body being worn and having already finished some heavy bag work, I declined to spar but said that I was up for some rolling.

Now this guy is very athletic, fast, and explosive. He's always given me a pretty good challenge, despite his...unorthodox techniques. I swear, if he was going to a combat sports school instead of doing Kung Fu, he would be a fighting god. I mean, with just the little bit of grappling he knows, he can put up a fight. (Not in the ways of offense, mind you, but he's pretty tough to sub.)

So we get to it. I go pretty lightly to conserve energy. His base is really strong and when i shoot into him, he's real sturdy, so it takes some time to drag him down. Half the time I just pull guard instead of trying to fight him on the takedown. I did a mix of that today. I find that our rolling is going like usual -- his base, strength, speed, and unorthodox "kung fu grappling" gives me some trouble, but I eventually get dominant position and take control. Also, as usual, I have a hard time subbing him and he writhes out of most attempts. All I got was a RNC.

What was different today was that he kept going for this weird wrist lock. He tried it in his guard once. It hurt like heck, but I was like "yeah... not gonna tap to a wrist lock." I eventually get out of it, passed his guard, etc etc. Next round, though, while we're standing I grab his wrist and he locks it in at lightning speed. I can't get out and I tap, 'cause I'm legit worried that something will snap.

I'm pretty much in awe, because I NEVER thought that would happen. I'm slightly embarassed, but at the same time I've got a newfound respect for that guy 'cause he did what I thought to be impossible.

Err, long story short, I got Aikido-pwnt. Also, I feel like that was the most valid "anti grappling" I've ever seen. I mean, I don't think it's particularly high percentage, but at the speed this guy locks it on, I bet he could catch a bunch of wrestlers in it at least once on a first encounter.

Just thought I'd share.

**Sley** · Posted On: 3/02/2010 10:25pm

BJJ has wrist-locks, people sometimes get tapped by them, think of the mão de vaca (cows hand)

Thread for consoling

Wrist Locks in BJJ? - No BS MMA and Martial Arts

**Kintanon** · Posted On: 3/02/2010 10:27pm

Caseyboy wristlocks us all like bitches, constantly.

**Iainkelt** · Posted On: 3/02/2010 10:27pm

For the record, I've tapped people via Aikido wrist lock while grappling (not high level people, but not complete beginners either). If you use it at the right time, against the right person who isn't looking for it, some of those locks work. Like you mentioned though, they are pretty low percentage so I mainly use them just as a means to break my opponent's grip, especially if working with a gi.

**Kid Miracleman** · Posted On: 3/02/2010 10:29pm

Originally Posted by Sley

BJJ has wrist-locks, people sometimes get tapped by them, think of the mão de vaca (cows hand)

Thread for consoling

Wrist Locks in BJJ? - No BS MMA and Martial Arts

What? That's ridiculous!

Cows are ungulates, they don't have hands!

**Sley** · Posted On: 3/02/2010 10:33pm

Originally Posted by Kid Miracleman

What? That's ridiculous!

Cows are ungulates, they don't have hands!

Humm, luckily they didn't name it the Camel toe...

**strikistanian** · Posted On: 3/02/2010 10:38pm

Oh! I just remembered, I had this happen to me once in Judo too. Although it was within my first few months of grappling, so it doesn't really impress me much. This time I was really impressed and wowed, though.

I mean I'm far from a great grappler, but with 2.5 years, a few tourneys, and a few MMA fights under my belt, I consider myself fairly competent on the ground. For a Kung Fu guy with pretty much no formal grappling training to catch me with this was quite a shocker.

Reading that thread, and going off of what some of you guys told me, I guess it's not unheard of to be tapped by a wristlock. I think the difference is, it's mostly BJJ guys doing it. Where as I got tapped by a straight up kung fu practitioner.

**ADM** · Posted On: 3/02/2010 10:47pm

The brown belt at my club tapped me with a wrist lock. And one of our blue belts got tapped with one at an Events BJJ Tournament last year.

Yeah, they happen.

**Necroyunus** · Posted On: 3/03/2010 3:26am

there are lots of lame submissions you can fall for if you are not ready for them or never saw them before.(I m not saying wristlock is one of them, however most of the time it is very easy to defend imo, and if you are in a position that you cannot defend a wristlock, you are already caught with something else or in a position that can easily be transited to another one) Even if the other person is less experienced than you on bjj.

The real question is, after you are submitted by that move and thought about it a little (or asked for a defence to your instructor) do you still get tapped by it repeatedly?

THEN you should open a thread here so we can talk about how shitty your bjj is.

**beardedtaco** · Posted On: 3/03/2010 5:50am

I would have got tapped by this new guy, who tried to cow-hand wrist and elbow lock me ( which he attempted at full speed full force with seemingly no regard for me ), if he had actually bothered to try secure a dominant position. Instead he put all his cards into the wrist-lock and left the rest of my body free to twist/roll out. I explained this to him, and said if he'd actually had position he would have probably got me. I also explained that if I had been a new guy too he might have broken my wrist and that's not cool. He just ignored all my advice about position first and continued to power through everything going for the quick tap with no care for the partner. Saw a purple mash him up on the mat later for being too aggressive with his sub attempts on other people too. He didn't come back again.

In another situation, one of my seniors ( the best comp BJJ guy for his weight in the country ) and he was giving me hell on all fronts. Each of my limbs was one by one becoming stuck trying to defend or block one of his spidermonkey-like attacks/feigns/setups. I actually thought I was doing rather well when all of a sudden I had to tap. He simply cow-handed me while I was paying attention to all the other madness. I asked him about wrist locks and he said they do happen, though not so often, but I must be aware of them.

I saw Roy Dean use Aikido wrist locks combined with BJJ in his one video. I would love to hear/read his opinion on this since I respect his abilities greatly.