On the mat get your dick in the dirt (that's what I've heard a wrestling coach calling a good sprawl). Don't be a feared to kick your legs out and drop your hips to the mat.
that is the wrong way to sprawl.
dick to dirt will get you hurt. there's a right way to do it.
i stand with my right leg forward. this tells me that my right leg is the leg you will be going for on a takedown. the only time my left leg will be a target is if he sets me up with a pull/push or circle step which will make me step and try to bring my left leg forward. in that case, my left leg is the front leg and that is the target. front leg = target. there is no fucking way someone can shoot and get your back leg if you have a pulse.
since my right leg is the target, that's how i will sprawl. i will throw my right leg back and slam my right hip into the ground. my quad and lower leg should make a nice sound like a kick on a thai pad. this does not hurt because it's more like my outer thigh hitting the ground and not like the bone directly on the ground.
if someone is deep and under my hips, i will throw the hip bone down and this will rip their shoulder off of you and smash them into the ground. for this, they will end up prone under your body.
if they stay erect and you cant break them down, if you throw a hip into their chest/clavicle, you can "hip check" them and "lat whip" (reaching over their back and grabbing their lat on the side you're checking and flip them over while i turn my torso to my left).
for the first sprawl i described, your left hip should actually be up in the air with your hips turned to the side because your right hip is down. also, once your face people who "turn the corner" on a shot you will learn to counter turn the corner on your shot.
if someone is shooting for my right leg, he wants to take it and turn the corner to come around my side (my right). if i sprawl my legs back, he drives me sideways and i will fall. knowing this, i will sprawl and turn right in the air and end up facing him square on.
also, on the sprawl, shoot back 2-3 feet in the air from the point you start. ideally i want my upper body between him and my legs.
more on that, i have many lines of defense to the takedown.
1 distance. if he cannot reach out and touch me, he should not be able to take me down. we forfeit this to get into fighting range, but if you're so tired and gassed and up by points, this might be your only way to stall out and win if you have to. this is the ghey "running away" tactic basically. it has its uses.
2 your hands. you can stop a lot of takedowns with a simple football stiff arm. stuff someone's crappy TD and counter it/
3 your elbows. if someone tries to get under your arms, you can make a frame and block them wiht your elbows on their clavicles usually.
4 your head. another way to block and keep distance from them and your legs.
5 your hips. you can smash people when you learn to use your hips and a low center of gravity. watch matt hammel and mike bisping in that TUF show when matt was blocking mike's shot with hands behind his back. this drill is awesome. just keep the hips square and low and drive into him. you can come out on top of a TD war with only hips.
6 legs. just fucking kick them powerful car jacks back. keep then away and he has to reach for your legs. in this case he is now a weak bitch and is fucked.
add in some crossfaces and some head control (jamming the head) and no one should take you down.
the rule on head control is that if their head is high on your body, get a "whizzer" and/or cross face. kick the target leg back and jack them up your body at the same time, then body lokc and throw.
if they are lower on your body, sprawl and jam their head into the ground. also, hand control is awesome. no one should take you down with one hand so a way to stuff someone is to just grab one of their hands and pull it off. see what they cant do now. keep hips square and you should be fine.
gotta run.