Ground fighting is a critical aspect of self-defense, even though the ultimate goal is to stay on your feet. Once you’re on the ground, it’s essential to understand how to make the best out of bad situations, particularly from inferior positions. While these situations are less than ideal, there are strategies to maximize your leverage, protect yourself, and open up pathways to escape or counterattack. Here, we’ll go over four common inferior positions and break down how you can turn them into something more manageable.
1. Under Guard: Close the Distance to Gain Control
Being under someone’s guard can be a precarious position, especially in a real-life street fight where outside factors—like the presence of multiple attackers—come into play. The further your opponent is from you, the more opportunities they have to strike or maneuver freely. To regain some control, you need to limit their movement by pulling them in as close as possible. Wrapping one arm around their neck and the other around their arm while closing your legs in a guard helps eliminate their ability to punch or easily stand up. Once they’re close, you can start looking for opportunities to attack their arms or neck, reverse the position, or sweep them. The key is limiting their range and forcing them into your preferred position.
2. Under Cross-Side (Side Control): Don’t Stay Flat
Lying flat on your back while someone is in side control is one of the worst things you can do. It allows the opponent to fully use their body weight against you, making it difficult to breathe and even harder to escape. Instead, focus on getting off your back by turning onto your side. Position one arm under your opponent’s armpit while using your other arm to control their hip. This will reduce the pressure they can apply to you and give you more mobility. By maintaining this position, you have a better chance of reversing the situation or escaping altogether. The idea here is to prevent your opponent from settling into a strong base, while opening up options for yourself.
3. Under Mount: Shrimp and Protect
The mount position can quickly end a fight if the person on top has free rein to strike, especially if their knees are high up in your armpits. In this scenario, the priority is to make space and protect yourself. Begin by shrimping your body—this moves their knees down from your armpits to your elbows, reducing their control and limiting their striking range. Once you’ve created space, focus on bridging your hips upward and pushing one of your legs against their lower back. This makes it harder for them to sit upright, reducing their balance and power. With them off balance, you now have more opportunities to reverse the position, sweep them, or look for an escape. Controlling their position is key to limiting their offensive options and giving yourself a fighting chance.
4. Under North-South: Turn and Wiggle to Freedom
The north-south position is another highly vulnerable spot, particularly because it exposes your arms and restricts your ability to defend against attacks. To make things worse, if your opponent drops their weight onto your chest or head, it can be tough to breathe. To improve your situation, focus on getting one arm under your opponent’s arm and the other under their hip. This provides a little more control and helps you move into a better angle for an escape. Turning onto your side also relieves pressure from their chest and keeps your lungs free for breathing. This position leaves your arms exposed, so it’s important to act quickly and decisively to avoid being caught in a submission or further pinned down.
Wrapping Up: Turn Inferiority Into Opportunity
When you’re on the ground in these inferior positions, it’s easy to feel trapped or overwhelmed. But by understanding how to maximize your leverage and protect yourself, you can take back control of the situation. Whether it’s through shrimping, maintaining a guard, or repositioning your arms, these small adjustments can be the difference between staying trapped and finding your way out. Ground fighting may not be where you want to be, but with the right techniques, it doesn’t have to be where the fight ends.
