Best takedown against much larger opponents?

By asking for the best takedown against someone Much Larger than yourself you are essentially asking about grappling advice against a much larger person. I think this is a very bad idea. If this guy is even halfway knowledgeable or decent at sprawling then you can find yourself in a really messed up predicament, especially when you consider how adrenaline and the heat of the fight can make some people misjudge and mistime things.

I think you are better off learning Judo or Sambo and focus your training on non competitive applications if possible. Learn to recognize shifts in people's weight distribution so you can determine if they are pushing or pulling and use their own momentum against them. This is the advice I would offer IF your mind is made up that you would want to employ any kind of grappling tactics against someone who has the size advantages that you described.
 
What would an alternative be then? Would it not be even more dangerous to strike with a bigger guy?
 
There are weight classes for a reason. With all things being equal a bigger guy will always have an advantage, if you can avoid it than I recommend that. If you can not avoid it, I would recommend hand fighting, and control ties so you have two hands against his one and you can creat an angle. I would recommend that you attack the waist through duck unders or hand fighting (Do not attack the hips of a bigger guy). If you are going to shoot, which in my opinion is very risky, shoot in at an angle such as low sweep singles, high crotch while wind shield wiping the leg. Jon W. Smith could take down anybody in the world with his low single, however he is among only a handful of people who can do it. If you shoot straight in and the guy sprawls and has 75 pounds on you, you are going to be in a world of hurt.
 
Striking with a bigger guy I imagine would be even worse, they have more reach and weight behind the punches.
 
What would an alternative be then? Would it not be even more dangerous to strike with a bigger guy?

Striking with a bigger guy I imagine would be even worse, they have more reach and weight behind the punches.

This is not an easy thing to tackle no matter how we slice it. As Daniel Fox already pointed out, there are weight classes in combat sports for a reason.

As far as the alternative TS asked, there is a saying I've learned from Tony Blauer a few years ago; "Most, if not all, fights happen within the space of an elevator."

When the shit hits the fan and the exchange between two people are completely primal, dancing around, sticking and moving and trying to keep the fight long distance usually does not work out. Unfortunately you do have to go in and clash, but not to grapple but to implement pugilistic attacks with hands, knees and elbows.

D. Fox mentioned CONTROLLING him somehow and attacking him from ANGLES OF SAFETY. I completely agree. As my username suggests I'm a huge fan of the late Hideyuki Ashihara who is regarded as the Father of the Sabaki Movement in modern Bare Knuckle Karate. Sabaki is a technique in which footwork, parries, body positioning and grabs are used to get an angle on your opponent and get into what we call the "blind spot" position; either at his side or completely behind him. The advantages of such positioning are the ability to exercise more control of your opponent (instead of the other way around), removing yourself from his direct line of attack and making it very difficult (if not impossible) for him to see what you are about to attack him with and where; hence, the Blind Spot position.

Because this a grappling thread (in the grappling forum) I don't want to derail it into an unrelated direction. I'll just post the link to the thread I've started in which this strategy can be explored more closely and discussed if you so wish.

http://forums.sherdog.com/threads/ashihara-karate-and-the-sabaki-technique.3431703/
 
Striking with a bigger guy I imagine would be even worse, they have more reach and weight behind the punches.

Also, I want to add that keeping distance is worse against a big guy because they can really load up on you. To seek safety one must go into the heart of danger. In other words, go into the eye of the hurricane in order to subdue it.
 
This is not an easy thing to tackle no matter how we slice it. As Daniel Fox already pointed out, there are weight classes in combat sports for a reason.

As far as the alternative TS asked, there is a saying I've learned from Tony Blauer a few years ago; "Most, if not all, fights happen within the space of an elevator."

When the shit hits the fan and the exchange between two people are completely primal, dancing around, sticking and moving and trying to keep the fight long distance usually does not work out. Unfortunately you do have to go in and clash, but not to grapple but to implement pugilistic attacks with hands, knees and elbows.

D. Fox mentioned CONTROLLING him somehow and attacking him from ANGLES OF SAFETY. I completely agree. As my username suggests I'm a huge fan of the late Hideyuki Ashihara who is regarded as the Father of the Sabaki Movement in modern Bare Knuckle Karate. Sabaki is a technique in which footwork, parries, body positioning and grabs are used to get an angle on your opponent and get into what we call the "blind spot" position; either at his side or completely behind him. The advantages of such positioning are the ability to exercise more control of your opponent (instead of the other way around), removing yourself from his direct line of attack and making it very difficult (if not impossible) for him to see what you are about to attack him with and where; hence, the Blind Spot position.

Because this a grappling thread (in the grappling forum) I don't want to derail it into an unrelated direction. I'll just post the link to the thread I've started in which this strategy can be explored more closely and discussed if you so wish.

http://forums.sherdog.com/threads/ashihara-karate-and-the-sabaki-technique.3431703/

There are weight classes for a reason. With all things being equal a bigger guy will always have an advantage, if you can avoid it than I recommend that. If you can not avoid it, I would recommend hand fighting, and control ties so you have two hands against his one and you can creat an angle. I would recommend that you attack the waist through duck unders or hand fighting (Do not attack the hips of a bigger guy). If you are going to shoot, which in my opinion is very risky, shoot in at an angle such as low sweep singles, high crotch while wind shield wiping the leg. Jon W. Smith could take down anybody in the world with his low single, however he is among only a handful of people who can do it. If you shoot straight in and the guy sprawls and has 75 pounds on you, you are going to be in a world of hurt.

I have never seen anyone sprawl a takedown well in a street fight, I doubt a surprise takedown would be easily sprawled if I do it suddenly, especially against an untrained opponent despite the fact he was much larger.
And imo from previous ma experience against untrained opponents they all do 1 predictable thing - headlock. I guarantee if I tried to throw strikes at him, especially considering he is a meathead, he would have gone for a headlock and tried to muscle me to the ground. Striking against a much taller opponent in the pocket would most likely end in grappling, so would it not be best to just initiate the takedown from the outset? Thanks for the responses
 
TBH, your best bet no matter what is to Hit First, Hit Hard and Hit Often until the threat no longer exists. Preemption may be your best or only hope. For this you need to be good at distraction and deception. And you also need to have KO power in your punches.

But I want to say that striking against a much taller opponent in the pocket doesn't mean it will always end in a grappling situation. It all depends on how good you are at what you train in. And if it does seem like it can end in a grappling situation I reiterate what I said earlier about getting good at either Sambo or Judo and focus your training practical applications in a street fight as opposed to sport emphases.
 
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