There’s many a closed guard escape out there. The most common one is the frame and hip out. This video in particular sees Mr. Keenan Cornelius, a renowned guardist and BJJ competitor teach a less common and maybe even a bit non-conventional escape. Well, it’s not really that non-conventional. By convention we mean that most of the black belt instructors in the world agree that something works and anything that doesn’t adhere to the standard is wrong. Personally, I’m starting to feel that anything that works isn’t wrong. And there are a lot of things that work, sometimes even stupid ones. Well, I’m not calling anything stupid myself. It’s just that there are some Don’t-Ever-Do-This scenarios in BJJ that aren’t necessarily an axiom. For example, if your opponent doesn’t know how to take the back, you could easily americana them from closed guard.And even if Keenan says that you can’t choke anyone from top-position in closed guard, you can. There’s a match video of the ezekiel choke done from top-closed-guard, for example.
Alright, enough philosophy, let’s get to the actual technique. Mr. Cornelius demonstrates an escape that essentially uses the same principles that we were taught in other basic closed-guard escapes. You’ve got to frame the upper body and get rid of the knot around your hips. Instead of just framing the hip and working the knot with your hip, Mr. Cornelius pins down the upper body, the shoulders, with his hands. With their shoulders pinned down, your opponent can’t go into breaking your posture. The good thing about this is that you’ve won the grip fight, with your opponent unaware that he’s lost. Grab lapels. Post into armpits. Stand up. Work from there. Be aware of the usual sweeps that happen from this position, however. Keep your heels safe, and your hips free from your opponent’s hooks. Maybe look into the double-under and over-under passes to complement this technique; Good luck.
