Leslie's last post on pulling guard got me to look at my own "guard-pull" attempts in tournaments. I only intended on watching the beginning of the match, but I ended up watching the whole thing. I always felt like I could have won if it was submission only or another minute longer, but I'm also pretty sure that my triangle at the end was a doomed attempt (she defended those really well!) What I'm wondering is, at 3:35, would I have been better off working for an armbar? Any other comments/suggestions about this match would also be appreciated!
Zero problems with the timing of any of the triangle attempts. That was what the confluence of position and openings gave you and you saw that.
ReplyDeletePerhaps better control of opponent's wrist would have led to a successful triangle. There's a couple spots where your attempts to control her arms left you out of position.
Also, when opponent is passing into side control, cobra your mat-side hand and get that cobra onto her far bicep. That'll prevent her from controlling your head and flattening you out in bottom of side control.
Good work and I'm sorry you didn't get the win. I believe your game was more complete at that time (and hopefully it's even better now).
@Tree Frog: Thanks for the kind words. I definitely allowed her an opening to grab her in-triangle wrist with her other hand, which also crept inside the triangle. I was getting so flustered because time was running short that I wasn't sure what to focus on--my position, her inside wrist, breaking her grip, or her head. At the time (and even now), my bottom side control defense was pretty crummy, so thanks for the suggestion.
ReplyDeleteI also wonder if she had kind of given up for the last minute, when I passed her guard and got mount, becuase she knew she was so far up on points that I wasn't going to win. Looking back on the matches from this tournament, I wince at some of the things that I missed(sweeps!), especially in my last match of the day. Unfortunately, at the time I never got to work sweeps in training much, and I also was expecting my opponents to have a stronger base. I really wish I could do another tournament soon, just to see if I've at least done a little to patch those gaps.
Thanks again for the comments! I always appreciate what you have to say.