Tristar headcoach and John Danaher black belt Firas Zahabi is no stranger to dealing with extremely difficult opponents.

In the past he’s discussed several strategies that might be useful in a scenario when you’re faced with a bigger opponent or someone with a wrestling pedigree.

One such technique is this:

View post on imgur.com

To quote him “I just think that diving into leg locks and using jiu-jitsu to counter wrestling is so powerful. One major reason is because the wrestlers don’t expect it. “

In addition to that you can also think about openings someone provides you when they’re determined to take you down – as so many stronger opponents are.

Every time someone tries to take you down, they are so focused on actually bringing to the ground that they leave a lot of openings. Look for the openings available for your submissions the next time
someone takes you down.

Examples:
• Guillotine
• Arm Bar
• Kimura

But it goes even further. In the just published instructional Firas advises to use framing to your advantage:

First thing you need to do when an opponent tries to grab onto you is to frame your arms exactly the way he’s doing it.

Frame in the jaw and sag your hips.

With the forearm underneath his chin you can drive his chin upwards and the most important thing is to drop your weight because if you don’t set your hips to drop the weight your opponent will have no trouble picking you up and promptly putting you on your back.

Once you drop the hips to the ground you need to start walking your weight with the feet and away from the opponent, circling away. The frame is there to mitigate the other person being taller.

Just because another person is taller doesn’t automatically mean they have more leverage – you have more leverage on the outside!