Denis Kang shows Stephan Kesting a unique sidemount escape. This escape can be very useful when you are a smaller BJJ guy and are being pinned down against an opponent.
Usually, when you are sidemounted, most people will turn into their opponent. This one is the opposite, you turn away. If your opponent is familiar with the twister, then turning into them is not a great idea, so this escape works quite well.
If you are on the bottom and are pinned down, it’s important that your hands are placed correctly. You want your right hand and arm placed on your opponents hip. This helps keep them away and also prevents them from going north south on you.
Your other hand is a bit trickier, because the truth of the matter is that there is really no safe place, because if your opponent is good, they can threaten several moves – from kimura attacks to straight arm locks. So it’s always a good idea to move that arm and try to anticipate what your opponent is going to do.
In this video, Denis places his left arm on his opponents jaw bone, which is a great place, because he’s trying to create space in order to bring both of his hands in.
His next step, is he’s trying to create a scramble situation, and he does this by turning away. Now be careful, because if you don’t do this correctly, then you are exposing your back and your opponent could quickly jump on that opening.
From here, Denis goes right into a granby roll and flares his leg very wide, ending up in the guard. This roll, needs to be done correctly and does take a lot of practice to get used to. But if you do perfect this, it’s something that will frustrate your opponent.
