Massive weight mismatch

I’m exactly 110lbs and around 5’8", so I know how you feel. Rolling with 210lbs guys all the time is annoying, but I have no problem beating them consistently. Yes, it can be done. My biggest advantage over them is more mat time. Spend more time on the mat. If you train once a week, go twice a week. If you don’t want to do this, then try to scrounge up new submissions from the internet to surprise your opponents with.

Some people suggested bulking up. Let’s say you gain 65lbs of pure muscle and now you’re 200lbs. Then you’re gonna be posting here asking how you can beat the 300lbs guys (hey, just like that other guy in this thread). There will ALWAYS be somebody bigger and stronger than you, is the point. Plus, bulking up takes much more time and effort than spending a few extra hours per week on the mat.

Now, if you don’t want to do either of these things, then your opponents will be both larger and more experienced, so you’ll basically be fucked.

I’ll start you off with the three techniques that I always use for beating a larger opponent. This is going to be a massive post, and I mean absolutely gargantuan, but I’ll try to organize it as best I can. Learn how to:

Take somebody’s back.

I like doing this when people try a single-leg takedown on me. I keep my leg between their legs - that’s one hook :wink: - and then I just kinda circle around and get my other hook in there while securing an over-under grip (one arm across their neck, one arm under their arm). This may require above average flexibility, and yes you won’t be able to get the leg they grabbed properly hooked. This is a really unorthodox move, but hey, you’ll need to be as crafty as possible if you want to beat much larger opponents.

I also like getting back mount from guard. This is an art. BJ Penn did it to Matt Hughes in their last fight, just so you can witness what I’m talking about. Your goal here is to get one of your opponent’s arms on the other side of your head that their arm is usually on. This part usually isn’t that hard if you maintain tricep control. Then, their back is unprotected. Let’s assume you manage to get their left arm to the left side of your head (your left). Get your first hook in by opening your guard up and sticking your left leg between your opponent’s thighs. Scoot your hips out towards your opponent’s left side (their left). Get your right arm over their back and grab their right lat (grab below their armpit). Hoist yourself up there and get your right hook in. This part is very difficult, especially when done fast enough.

The standing arm-drag will also lead you to a glorious back mount victory. This is my personal favorite way to get back mount. This is used to get behind your opponent, either by pulling them towards you or by pulling yourself towards them (which ends up happening with us smaller guys). This is not an easy technique by any means. Once you’re behind them, you have three basic options. You can take them down from behind, or you can hop up on there, get your hooks in, and take them down from there (there is a way to do this that involves pushing one of your legs into their thigh while pulling their upper body in the opposite direction and leaning towards that side a lot.) OR you can hop up, get your hooks in, and choke them, if you’re a crazy bastard. The way with the highest rate of success is to take them down from behind. There are a few ways to do this. Here’s my favorite. 1) Encircle their hips with your arms, which you should ALWAYS do the moment you get behind somebody while they’re standing, unless you plan on taking their back while they’re standing. 2) Lift your knees and legs straight up - yes you will fall down. Place your feet against the backs of your opponent’s knees right before you hit the floor and then push. Timing is everything here. 3) Easily get your hooks, and start choking.

Also learn how to:

Triangle choke. Learn how to spot openings. Learn how to make openings. Learn how to secure it so that your opponent can’t break free. Learn how to finish it and tap your opponent out.

Spotting and making openings is too complex to explain here, let alone on the mat. Just experiment and see what works. But I will say that popping your guard open, lifting your hips up, and clamping your legs on your opponent (one on their neck, one below their arm, in case you couldn’t guess) is a ridiculously fun way of slapping on a triangle while your opponent is trying to break your closed guard open by forcing their elbows into your thighs. Speed is crucial here.

Keeping the triangle choke. This is one of the few things that I’m not going to label as “difficult”. I’ve given up maybe one triangle choke, ever. It’s a ridiculously tight submission with almost no hope of escape for your opponent, if you do it properly. Here are some pointers.

If your right leg is draped over their neck, hook their left leg (their left) with your right arm IMMEDIATELY so that they don’t lift you off the ground. Switch the sides around if your left leg is draped over their neck (duh). Don’t bother with this if it’s unfeasible for your opponent to lift you off the ground.

Tighten your triangle choke as soon as possible.

Some people get one leg around their opponent’s neck, and one leg under their opponent’s arm, and then they cross their ankles. This is a “loose triangle”. You must minimize the time your legs are in this position. Zero seconds is the goal. Also, no leg-over-top-of-foot stuff (like in the kempofist vs andy fight). Get your ENTIRE foot past the crook of your knee, then flex your foot upwards to make sure it can’t slip out. The crook of your knee should be resting as high up on your other shin as you can manage, but getting it resting past the top of your other foot is absolutely crucial. Going from a “loose triangle” or a leg-over-top-of-foot situation to a fully locked up triangle can be hard, especially if your opponent’s shoulders are broad, so here’s how to deal with that.

If your right leg is over your opponent’s neck, pull your right shin with your left hand and bring it towards you so that your left leg can rest where it needs to be. Fast, easy, and effective. If your opponent is so large that even this is difficult, then here’s what you should do: angle yourself off from your opponent perpendicularly. What I mean by that is if your right leg is draped across their neck, scoot your hips so that your right leg is in line with the rest of your body and your body is perpendicular to your opponent’s body. You can make this process easier for yourself if you hook their leg with your arm and use this to pull your body in that direction (if your right leg is across their neck, hook their left leg with your right arm). Angling yourself off like this will allow you to sink the choke in more deeply. If your opponent isn’t a huge beast, you can probably tighten the choke just fine without angling yourself off, but angling yourself off will always lead to a tighter choke, in my opinion.

Keep control of their trapped arm and make sure it stays across your chest/across their neck. Don’t let that arm escape. Otherwise your opponent may hook their trapped arm under the thigh of your leg that isn’t across their neck, completely preventing you from finishing the choke from that position. (You can counter this with an omoplata, or fight to get their arm back, but the point here is that the triangle is a fantastic move for all fighters, especially the smaller ones, so you shouldn’t give it up if you like winning.)

Pull down on their head, HARD, with both hands if possible. This will prevent them from moving around as much and it is also done when applying the choke in an attempt to tap your opponent, once you’ve finished locking it up.

Finish the triangle choke.

Not every submission will work every time on every person. This is like some kind of golden BJJ rule. Bah. In my opinion, there are enough ways to finish the triangle choke so that even the most stubborn of opponents will be greying out. One way is to just pull down on their head as hard as you can while squeezing your knees together. If this isn’t enough, you can try looping your arms around your knees, clasping your hands together, and using your arms to force your knees together. Note: this method of finishing is most effective if you haven’t angled yourself off from your opponent. My personal favorite way of finishing the triangle choke is to hook their leg with your arm (if your right leg is across their neck, hook their left leg with your right arm) but instead of doing this to angle yourself off perpendicularly, you’re going to fold your opponent. Bring their left leg to their head. Your left arm can either grab their head or grab your right heel, or whatever. This will pretty much crush the shit out of them.

I’ve heard that the less of their shoulder (of their trapped arm) that you can see, the better. I don’t really pay attention to this, but it might be useful to you.

Also learn how to:

Ahilles lock. Sadly, although this move is great for larger opponents, as somebody pointed out earlier, the number one easiest position to do this from is in your opponent’s open guard, which basically never happens if you’re a much smaller guy. This leaves you with achilles locking from the bottom, which is always scary as hell. My advice: learn how to do it while your opponent is standing. This way, they aren’t on top of you, and you also don’t have to get them on their back. If this means you have to resort to the hated butt-scooching strategy, flying scissor takedowns, and other generally crazy shit that results in ankle locking a standing opponent, then so be it. Standing, kneeling, whatever. As long as they aren’t on top of you. http://youtube.com/watch?v=8ldw-TFeZqY&mode=related&search= Use this guy as inspiration. Don’t be afraid to try the move that he does at 29s; I’ve used it to set up an achilles lock before.

Also feel free to go for the achilles lock during a scramble, like during the ensuing scramble after doing the backdoor escape from mount. That’s the one where you get your feet in your opponent’s armpits and then you roll backwards on your shoulder.

Also, learn how to set up the achilles lock from within your opponent’s guard/open guard, on the off-chance that you somehow get your larger opponent on his back.

Actually applying the hold is not something I have any good tips on. Just think of it as a guillotine…on their achilles tendon. Bony forearms help. Feel free to crank the hell out of it, it’s a safe submission. Plus, your opponent might tap because OMG LEGLOCK. I’ve won more with the achilles lock than with any other move at this point, even though I’ve only been going for it recently. It’s a hell of a move.

I hope you survived that. Enjoy.

Assuming you can sweep and pass the guard, for a moment…

My best finish on the much larger is a collar choke from North/South. I find I get pushed around too easy in side control, and trying to mount often leads to getting bridged off and having to start all over again.

So, you’re in N/S. Under hook one arm (using your right arm, say) and reach as deep as you can to their collar behind their head. Grip it with palm-up/four fingers inside. Now put your other (left) forearm across their throat and grip the collar on the far side of their head with your thumb inside. Circle a bit towards your right and switch your hips so that your left knee is against their hip, as if you wanted twister side control. Lean your weight towards them and push your left elbow towards the floor.

It’s low commitment, generally only involves fighting one of their hands and most people don’t suspect anything when you put the first grip in.

Well a POV from the large guy end of the spectrum. I can get away with using shear size to dominate a guy ONLY if he has no clue WTF he is doing. I roll with plenty of smaller guys in my club just for the fact that they are so damned good at getting back into guard with the tiniest of openings. Size has it’s advantages though, and coupled with experience it can pay off against smaller opponents. But a win through brute weight isn’t very tasty in my opinion. I’d rather beat a guy with technique, in the gym that is.

On the smaller guy end of the spectrum I have issues as well. We have one guy in our club who is 340 pounds. The only guy bigger than me. Rolling with him has made me very mindful of what I do with smaller guys. I like rolling with the cat cuz it is one hell of a work out. That and he has a anaconda like ability to suck up a RNC and I it’s good D practice for me. But he has landed on me more than once and even thrown himself onto me full force/weight and it hurts. Hurts bad enough to crack ribs (which I am just starting to get over less that a month after getting over broke ribs on the other side @$#^^#$$$@^^#$@&!((!^#@%$!!!). But rolling with him in no way compares to rolling with guys my size or smaller. Other than the fact that it is grappling. Yes he’s bigger and it conditions me to moving a heavier weight around. But he isn’t as quick or as experiences and most of the smaller dudes in our club. Bottom line is that if you want to get better, IMO, roll with a guy better than you, bigger or smaller. That and find a guy who’s willing to help you and not just dominate you. Good, experienced and pacient partners are the best learning tool.

Im 145lb and 5’6" and although size can help allot! i dont think its a decideing factor. i think one of the reasons i train BJJ is that ive been monstered by midgets.

I think it can be frustrateing when you start putting submissions onto a limb and they just power out but this is the time when you should be transitioning to other submissions or sweeps. im really bumbing armbar - gogoplata right now aslong as you switch your hips you dont need to be too flexible either. id say look for chokse primarily against bigger oponents cause they can only be defended with technique not strength And dont bothere trying to force anything cause the bottom line is youll lose just let there momentum carry you through itll get you caught allot to begin but at the gym focus on developement not ranking.

I think in allot of ways its harder for the larger guys to develope technique as there arnt as many people there size to propperly challenge them.

Small guys who develop good technique and then put on some muscle are a very difficult opponent for anyone. Something to think about.

In this same vein I spent 5 minutes monday night with a 175lb college wrestler sitting in my guard switching between “skull on face” and POWER KIMURA!!1!1! Was incredibly boring for me, but never any danger of him achieving anything. Had a hell of a scramble though, I swept him and got side control for like half a second before he just tightened up and pulled me over his body and I had to shrimp back to full guard. Super super boring but reinforced for me that while a 45lb weight advantage might help him not get submitted it doesn’t help him submit me either really.

Re: Yrkoon9

Yeah they are! The skinny guy never believe that though. For that matter so are fat bastards who slim down – they keep the strength but gain mobility and speed.

Train like hell…when you feel tired, train some more…buy sleep tapes and train in your dreams. And lift weights and develop a mad cardio.

It also helps to train the basics like a mantra, how to weigh on someone (side control, shoulder control, etc), cramp their style by sticking to them like glue and be mobile. Be REALLY MOBILE and don’t try to pull stupid stunts on someone. Be MEAN and learn to end the fight fast.

One of the main premises I have found important in not getting schooled by bigger guys is not letting them mount. In any control other than mount, even if you are totally outweighted and overpowered you have a bit more options. This is speaking only of moderately experienced people who have some concept of holding it.

The way to accomplish this, in addition to a generally good overall strategy is to get incredibly good/faster/efficient at hipscape. Do it constantly in conjunction with bridging. Do not waste energy and bridge overly hard, worry more about the efficient threat. Take some of the offense out of their game since as you get better at it they will have to worry about this rather than continuing the positional domination. Replace guard constantly, to the level that it becomes frustrating. It can be hard to find the motivation to work your cardio to that level, and it will be a challenge, but i don’t beat anyone who weights 60+ pounds more than me without constantly trying to roll into a more neutral position.

Because I am smaller than most, but big enough to put up a decent resistance (155 lbs), flexible, and lanky - the amount of space required to spin to guard under half control is very small.

As for top game : Once you pass their guard I have a hard time holding a mount or side control. This is because ANY mistake that you make (and oh, there are so many) in weight distribution will mean your going to lose it. The ease in which they can do it makes it rather natural. But I can hold some positions with speed a lot better than I can hold others with weight.

I think another poster mentioned north south and knee on belly. The key for me from n/s is to constantly spin to various sides. It’s more about threat and disorientation. You also need to regulate that if they decide NOT to honor the threat, that you sink various submissions from that position.

Knee on belly is great for the same reason…it’s a means of controlling them while remaining distinctly faster than them. You will need to use the side control / mount / etc. depending on how actively they defend and what they are doing. But in general you have to put your strengths against their weaknesses.

I hope the names I know will make sense… but if it helps the most common subs that I can pull on heavier guys are : scarfhold (with your own gi thrown over their face, a great threat if they know your good with it)…armbars from sidecontrol…anaconda…guilloteen from north/south WITH arm in (the transition from anaconda where they reach deeply and you use a leg to block the arm and then slide to guard/butterfly/whatever)…RNC or rear-gi chokes.

The scarfhold, armbars, anaconda, and transition into guil are all achieved from a flurry of activity in N/S and side control.

The best way to hold side control I’ve found is with their own gi under their arm, and then the other lapel across their face (Which can actually be turned into a finish). It requires some form of trickeration to get that in though.

I can’t hold mount well on anyone that big, but I believe that to be a personal problem. It’s why I’ve developed ways to work around it.

How about that you start developing leverage? I don’t see anybody mention it. Isn’t that the basis of BJJ?

PS. If I have just said something extremely idiotic then I’m a dumb retarded n00b!

Good stuff, Aero. On side control you can keep weight on your toes and your hips below their center of gravity - that will make you real heavy in spite of a weight differential. Scarf hold is good there too. Play around with some of that as opposed to the standard knees and elbows 4 point posture.

On mount, it’s a real good exercise to work with someone where you’re in mount using no hands and they try to sweep you. That helps you develop your ride and the skills and sensation to shift your weight to compensate for their squirming around to escape.