Half Guard/Ezekiel Choke question

[MickC]

Hi,
I'm an albino belt nub whose been working on improving my half-guard,sidemount,mount and other escapes. One thing that has been catching me a lot lately when I go for Half Guard underhooks is the Ezekiel choke. I roll a lot with a blue belt that's very strong. When I drop my hands and go for the underhooks, he goes right for the ezekiel. So I either have to yank my hands out fast to fight the Ezekiel or try to get the sweep going as fast as I can but the dude is so strong that the minute he has the frame of the choke set up, its all she wrote unless I bring my arms back under to fight it off.

I've tried to not let him control my head but my neck strength versus his arm strength is like a chipmunk versus an east german steroid squirrel. I've tried to shrimp- out, do the eddie bravo-whip up thing,etc.. never seems to work. The minute my arms go somewhere other than base defense, the ezekiel attack comes. Invariably, I end up back in half guard with T-Rex arms to avoid the chokes and my few sweeps are off the menu. Was wondering if anyone had any tips.

[DKJr]

If his hands are on your lapel/neck they aren't on your hips. Learn to use your legs to gain the sensitivity to shrimp back to guard or butterfly guard. Also you're probably not disrupting his base enough, and you're probably flat on your back. Ask your coach as always.

[Sley]

Consult your coach they are the best source of advice

[3moose1]

Make sure you're on your side, not your back. Bring the outside knee in front, use it as a block. Thats right, open up your half guard. It'll be fine, i promise. Distance is your friend, if you know how to control it.

So, you bring the knee in, now shrimp back to guard, or get your underhook. If he goes for a choke, use your non-underhooked hand to defend. Plus, his base will be compromised...

[Uncle Skippy]

When on half-guard bottom, keep one hand (your 'bottom' arm; remember you are on your side like Moose said, not flat on your back) up by your face to deal with his arms and anything he may throw at you, including the ezekiel. The other hand is fishing for an underhook on his near-side arm. If he is really focusing on the ezekiel, getting this underhook should be easy.

Once you have that underhook, use your legs and your underhooked arm to bump him high (bring his hips toward your head) and bury your head in his stomach ("bump and bury"). Your other arm protecting your face can now go down to his hips because the angle for the ezekiel is gone. He is too high up on you to sink the ezekiel. From here, there are a ton of sweeps; play around with it.

If you are flat on your back and he has your head underhooked, you will need to t-rex your arms (as mentioned above) and you can make use of lock-down to get back to your side. Then, fish for the underhook, bump, rinse, repeat. As long as you are flat, you are screwed.

I've used the 'bump and bury' to break a sunk ezekiel as well. The pressure on their wrists after the bump and bury will make them want to let go.

EDIT:

Also, ask your coach. :-)

[JohnnyS]

When doing half-guard - don't mess around. Always get the guys weight on his hands. If his weight is on his hands he can't choke you and can't put weight in you. If his weight is back on his legs then you're in trouble.

[3moose1]

How would you propose doing this?

[jnp]

Some ideas off the topic of my head, underhooks, pushing above you with your hands in his armpits, bumping his butt with your knee, or just pulling your knees toward your stomach.

[JohnnyS]

I know Eddie Bravo loves the double underhooks etc, but I think you're better off avoiding any underhook on the back (from half-guard) because you are vulnerable to brabo chokes, whizzers etc.

Use jnp's tips above to get the guys weight forward and things will become a lot easier.

[GoldenJonas]

I know Eddie Bravo loves the double underhooks etc, but I think you're better off avoiding any underhook on the back (from half-guard) because you are vulnerable to brabo chokes, whizzers etc.

Use jnp's tips above to get the guys weight forward and things will become a lot easier.

GET OUT OF THE "BASIC" FORUM..........lol,lol.....sorry jnp.

But, Johnny, as usual, is 100% correct. Although I know there is a large group of beginners (whites and probably some blues) who are screaming "WHAT, NO UNDERHOOKS!!!!, YOU'RE F&%$# CRAZY." This discussion is pretty technical and can be a preferential choice depending on your build, skill level, and wrestling/scrambling ability. So, may be beyond this forum.

The best thing to keep in mind is as stated above,

1) You want to be on your side ALWAYS, never flat (chalk one up for Moosey);

2) You want to use your knees, hips, bridging, lock-down, whatever you can generate enough leverage with to "ball down" like jnp, Johnny, and skippy said. From there you probably have 10 different half-guard sweeps you can use. Although, right now you should be focusing on the "Old School" (sorry Bravo haters, it is a good name to remember the sweep by) and the "Reverse Old School".*

3) If you are not balled down and buried you should have one hand up near your neck, preferable the bottom hand, to defend until you are balled down and can focus on a sweep/reversal.

* If you don't know what this is, ask your instructor.

[MickC]

Thank you for the tips everyone. I'm going to ask my instructor,too. But it was my last class of the week and the question was stuck in my head. I was really annoyed with myself since the Blue was getting that ezekiel at will on me from HG. Y'all are right though, I let him flatten me out before I got in trouble. And he was controlling where his weight was. Great tips, ty all for replying.

[Hedgehogey]

I think focusing on grips is generally missing the point of the discussion. Do what ErikW says. The muscles you're using to escape this choke aren't your hands. They're core and hip muscles.

So that in mind, I reccomend pushing headwards on his elbows with your palms and sliding down on his leg until you get to deep half. Balled up, low on his hips, you can't be choked anymore. I can't restate this enough. Go towards his feet. Underhooks are really only a tool to get there.

Resist the urge to defend the choke by playing handsy-wristy. It is entirely possible to defend this without your hands being involved. In fact you might try drilling with your hands taped into fists .

[jnp]

Missing post moved here: Confusing the technique forums for YMAS - No BS Martial Arts

[chingythingy]

First with underhooks the important one is the high side underhook, on the side your outside leg is. If you can swim for that in transition and get it, or use Bravo's Jaws of life, or whatever, keep it high under his armpit with constant pressure around the back and towards his other shoulder in a semicircle with your shoulders rounded. If you get this right he can't crossface you, and you can shrimp your hips out. My instructor can't be held down in side control due to that underhook, even outweighed by 70+ lbs. Also that high rounded pressure keeps from being hit hard in a MMA situation.

Next, if you're flattened, you can hip out away from him and insert your high side butterfly hook for leverage and sweeps and going to butterfly guard. You can do this with a little less space than the whip-up takes.

Also, similar to what jnp wrote and JohnnyS is saying about getting their weight on their hands, Eddie Bravo's half guard game from lockdown has similar movements. The lockdown itself serves to remove one of his legs as a base, which he is using two legs and his choking arms as a three point pressure on you for the ezekiel choke. To execute the whip-up from there, get your hands under his armpits, and bring your knees to your chest. When you practice this, naturally it loads his weight on you, then he falls off to the side. On one side there's a sweep, on the other is Bravo's Dogfight position, which has a number of combos. Or if he lands with you closer to his legs, there is the Electric Chair pass to the Truck position, which I use a lot. Breakdowns of these are in his "Mastering the Rubber Guard" and "Mastering the Twister" books.

Half guard has a lot of rich options.

Finally, for your particular nemesis who's getting this ezekiel choke consistently, you need to break down his technique in detail to be able to counter it. He's probably starting by spreading legs out wide and getting his hips down low so he can't be swept, then adding shoulder pressure to immobilize and then finishing with the sleeve. Think through the sequence of the submission - there's specific things you can do at each step to counter it, and the farther he gets into it the rougher time you'll have.