Takedowns off the Wall (diary entry)

09.06.20 Tonight's teacher training picked up from last week's session, focusing on cornering and setting up takedowns off the wall.

We began with footwork and cornering drills, moving into more resistance-based work. My client and her training partner built up a series of specific sparring exercises where I layered in footwork, head movement, feints, body shots and switching levels for takedowns. We also used takedown contingency plans, using the the calf-kick on low stance (as when an opponent drops their level to prevent a takedown). Once again, this is all about timing and set-ups. Head movement prevent a cornered opponent from jabbing their way out. Feints fool them into being cornered. Rather than going after the head, the fighter sends strikes into the body that help pin the opponent down as the cornering trap closes. The fighter drops levels to execute a low level takedown, such as a double-leg takedown, and uses it to push their opponent into the wall. If the opponent also drops levels then the fighter can switch again and transition into a calf-kick. From here they might push for the low level takedown again.

Going to the wall, we went back through the under-hook/shoulder-bump/spear knee/slashing elbow/re-pummel drill with the reversal. From here we looked at using the knee-bump to set up a takedown on the wall. The technique involves bumping one knee and then hooking the other leg, driving the opponent into the mat. From here we began the Khabib pin. We will spend more time on this next lesson.