Escaping side control is one of the fundamentals you need to learn in your early days of Jiu-Jitsu to survive a bit longer on the mat. I usually try to frame or get their near-side leg and transition into half-guard, but today’s lesson reminded me of the basics for escaping side control: bridge up to create space, tuck your inside elbow in to get the underhook on their hip. From there, you can use a pendulum motion with your legs to get the movement going, or you can do a forward shrimp while also throwing your hand to push their body away. The goal here is to get your face underneath their chest (removing the chest-to-chest connection); your head can move more easily, and you can continue that motion to get out of side control.

But what if they know what you’re about to do and switch their weight onto your hip, creating a hip-to-hip connection, not allowing you to get the underhook?

Start by framing with both your hands (creating a gable grip) to push against their neck and chin. The goal is to free your near-side arm to the other side (away from their body). Move your body to the side instead of keeping both shoulders flat on the mat. If you feel their body leaning, you can perform a reversal here to end up in side control.

So What About the Ghost Arm Drag?

The idea of the Ghost Arm Drag is quite simple. When escaping side control with the underhook on their hip (as mentioned before), if they switch their hand placement onto your hip to keep you from “sliding through,” you can choose which arm to perform the arm drag with to slide your head under. The goal here is to move your face away from their chest.

That’s all for now. It’s great to revisit the fundamentals from time to time—these techniques always seem new to me, especially when explained by different coaches with different perspectives.

See you next time!