We’ve all been in those pesky situations where we’re competing against an experienced judoka. A quick example comes to mind, Judo Brown Belt and BJJ White Belt Tayanara Melo killing it on the BJJ competition scene.
While this was entirely legal under the rules, it’s hard not to notice the skill disparity. But this is just one side of the coin, there’s also considerations to make when faced with a highly defensive judoka!
Here are some tips you could utilize to come out on top against classic judo defense moves. This time we’ll be closely looking into what to do when a judoka avoids turtle and just defends choke from a belly down position.
What to do When the Opponent goes down and immediately goes into Choke defense mode in a fully prone position and not in Turtle?
When mounted on the Back of an opponent determined to defend you wouldn’t have much success placing a Rear Naked Choke. So this is when you should transition into Knee on Belly – just placed on the center of the back hence Knee on Back. Pressure and tension on the lower spine is strongly encouraged.
This would be a good position to forward your momentum. From Knee on Back raise the opponent by the back of the collar and use the opportunity to open the elbow and slip your arm in. This would allow you to use a kimura type position to role the prone opponent turn him or her over, and start working on that armbar submission!
If the opponent is defending with a cross grip, X-ing their arms while defending the neck – you should be able to pull of the same thing, maybe even slightly easier because they wouldn’t be defending the imminent armbar after rolled.
Stephen Kesting also offers some words of wisdome on the topic:
” If the opponent is 100% defending the neck, then don’t attack the neck. “
