Side control high percentage recovery

I don't think there is such a thing as a high percentage side control escape against someone on your level or higher. Especially if they're bigger than your and/or only trying to hold you down. That doesn't mean it can't be done, but if you're in side control bottom you screwed up 5 steps ago.

I wanted to point that out as well but you beat me to it. The suggestions in this thread are valid for the most part, but let's just push back against the notion that any option from a bad position is going to be "high percentage." Most of your attempts will fail. You have to be persistent, aggressive, technical, and not dig yourself into a deeper hole in the process, and of course it can be done and is done regularly.

But generally, let's be clear. There is no "high percentage" RNC escape, counter to a double when he's in deep on your legs, way of getting out of a locked-in triangle, or a body lock when your feet are off the ground. There are valid techniques from those spots, maybe even techniques that certain high level guys have hit a lot of times, but they are not high percentage. They are last resorts, and most attempts will result in failure. Once you accept that, you can train these techniques without getting discouraged when they don't work and looking for new options. It's hard to escape a good pin, and side control is a pin.
 
I use One arm on their throat, one on the hip. I don't bridge unless they are heavy. Instead I throw my feet away to the non blocked side, and do a power lateral hip escape, then I jam a knee in with the space, etc etc. I find really throwing your feet away gives your hip escape a lot of power.

I'm not sure how I feel about bridging. It uses a lot of energy, but it works for some people. I still find that if my partner has good top pressure and really settles in, then escaping uses more energy than it's worth. Instead I wait for him/her to start a transition and then I make my move. I know it's kinda lazy, but after escaping bottom side my stamina is already drained.

This is what I do except I do a small bridge to get my knee in. Moving the feet away made a huge difference for me. Before I used to just try to bridge without moving my feet away.
 
I don't think there is such a thing as a high percentage side control escape against someone on your level or higher. Especially if they're bigger than your and/or only trying to hold you down. That doesn't mean it can't be done, but if you're in side control bottom you screwed up 5 steps ago.

Block the cross face and the back lapel grip as best you can. Then you can work Marcelo's elbow push escapes or you can bridge + hip escape. Rafa Mendes also does a nice side control escape where instead of trying to get the nearside knee in he reverse shrimps and gets the farside knee in.

Yea Kirk (forget his last name) had a great side control escape video and he starts off by saying you fucked up a long time ago but here's some stuff you can try.
 
I learned from Adem Redzovic. I always try to stop the cross face and get the underhook. There's a reason why Joe Rogan is always pointing out that to get up, the bottom guy needs an underhook.

Once you have the underhook, you can come in with the traditional reguard like Adem shows or come up on the elbow to dog fight and knee tap sweep or reguard from there.

At least with whites and plenty of blues, 9 times out of ten, your training partner will get frustrated quickly and bring the cross face arm over allowing you to go to the elbow push escape. To fight this off, your training partner will probably switch his hips to kesa gatame and you've got your various escapes from there.



If I'm late, I'll work hard to get back to Adem's starting position.
 
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