It is a funny time to be involved in martial arts. We’ve been locked down for more than a couple of months now, with no training, no competing, and only BJJ DVDs to keep us company. Luckily, things seem to be improving, or our impatience is getting the better of us. Whichever the case, martial arts competitions are coming back to life. Some, like Submission Underground, or the UFC, never really went away. Others, like Fihgt2Win, are slowly restarting under different formats (at least when it comes to hygiene and safety). In the midst of it all, we saw crazy upsets, some broken bones, and moves that are not supposed to actually work. We saw an actual dragon sleeper hold performed live and ending with a tap.
There are certain moves that we see in pro-wrestling that are supposed to be nothing more than fight choreography. Well, maybe Steven Seagal would be able to pull them off, or tech them to Anderson Silva, but nobody else. Some of these moves are completely out of order and have no chance of ever working. But every now and then, an innovative fighter or grappler comes by, throwing caution to the wind and giving a nutty move a try. We’ve seen it with the Boston Crab before. Well, we can now add the dragon sleeper hold to that list. Brace yourselves for some nasty neck cranking once we’re back on the mats!
Wrestling Moves That Aren’t Supposed to Work
The thing with pro-wrestling is that it is fake. Right? Come on, we all know those guys and girls don’t really fight each other. Remember when Brock Lesnar came back from his UFC stint and took things a bit too realistically, breaking his WWE “opponent’s” arm with a Kimura? Well, as it turns out, it’s not just legit moves that work in pro-wrestling, but also the other way around. Although extremely rarely.
Actually, when I come to think about it, stuff like the figure four leg lock and the Texas Cloverleaf are now staples of BJ (albeit modified) despite once being seen as nothing but pro-wrestling moves “for the show”. So, there’s the odd move or two that really do end up having an application. The Dragon Sleeper Hold is just the last one in a line of moves people have decided to use, pull off and now have bragging rights about. In all fairness, though, it does have its roots in actual catch wrestling.
That said, to be honest, pro-wrestlers really do undergo hard preparations. Despite all matches being nothing more than choreography, it still takes knowledge to pull things off. In fact, some of them are also ex-wrestlers, and good ones at that. Moreover, some of the moves they drill and perform end up looking so cool or even effective that BJJ folks or MMA fighters sometimes pick them up. The rest is history…
What Is The Dragon Sleeper Hold?
So, what exactly is this Dragon Sleeper Hold? IN short, I guess you could call it a reverse guillotine neck crank, but that’s putting it bluntly. A notion of caution before we go into it, though. This move is potentially debilitating and not one you should try unsupervised. Also, consider this to be the definition of illegal moves when it comes to IBJJF Gi BJJ rules. That said, a legit submission is a legit submission, and, I foresee quite a few attempts at the Dragon Sleeper Hold in the near future.
The Dragon Sleeper Hold works from the back. But it works like a north-south choke / gu8illotine choke from the back. That right there should be the first thing scaring you into being careful with this one. Now, there is a more “PG” version, where you can set the move up from North-south. When first attempting and learning it, I’d suggest doing it from there. What you want it to set up for a North-South choke – the configuration of your arms is identical. However, instead of trying to find the sweet spot and strangle, you want to make life miserable for your opponent.
The first step is to sit down, while still holding on tightly to the neck. Once you achieve that, you slowly and methodically transition to the back of the opponent. Only after you’ve established bot hooks will you think about finishing the move (if they don’t tap form discomfort up until then). How to finish? Imagine you’re in full guard and you’re trying to do a Guillotine choke. Just don’t snap backward too fast!
Of course, you could make the setup much easier by simply getting the submission directly from back control.
Real-Life Dragon Sleeper Examples
The reason I’m talking about the Dragon Sleeper hold now, is that a grappler named Michael Salazar, a BJJ brown belt pulled off what might be the most brutal submission in Fight2Win history. He managed to get a modified Dragon Sleeper hold, something known as the “Executioner” in 10th Planet on his opponent Tony Oviedo. He set the move up after passing the guard with a leg drag, but finished with just one hook, as he had it sunk in really deep.
There are also several instances in MMA where people have pulled off the Dragon Sleeper hold. On instance is from china, where a fighter pulled off a picture-perfect Dragon Sleeper. There’s another one as well, where you can actually see how dangerous the move is, from the reaction of both the referee and the fighter that tapped out as a result of the submission. While we still haven’t seen it at the biggest stages the likes of UFC, ONE FC, and Bellator, the move is certainly to wiggle its way there soon.
In Summary
Pulling off Berimbolos, flying armbars, and the likes is cool. But, have you ever pulled off a Boston Crab or a Dragon Sleeper Hold? DO it safely, and it will become the stuff of legends, particularly if you can do it in an actual match. Guess some pro-wrestling submissions do deserve more credit than we give them.
Finally, let’s not forget a group of small grapplers that’s perhaps the most important one. These are the Juveniles. They’re not quite kids, but far from adults too. They are also in growth, meaning they might not end up being small grapplers. However, learning like one is only going to raise their technical levels to unimaginable heights. And that’s before they’re even old enough to sign up for the adult division.
First up, we go back to using the right tools for the job. That means, going into catch wrestling, sambo, etc waters to fish out some 
Let’s just be honest about things – you either win or you lose. And, in both instances, there’s a lesson to be learned. It is the manner of learning that is different – in one, you’re ecstatic, in the other, you’re disappointed. The lesson is still going to be there, as is the outcome. If there was no loss, then all that records would show in any competitive martial art or sport would be wins, perhaps draws, and a column for lessons. Sounds dumb, I know, so let’s not sugar coat it when we’re actually competing. Just accept the result, learn your lesson, and go on.
Most people want to survive, escape, submit, control, stay on top or something along those lines. However, you’ll rarely hear that someone rolls with the intention of actually losing. Now, that doesn’t mean rolling with no resistance. It just means that tapping out, as the ultimate form of losing in BJJ, is your goal. And, the fewer times you achieve that goal, the better you’ll become. Moreover, your mindset and attitude are completely going to change.
Let’s clarify a few terms first, just for the sake of argument. Vegans are people that do not like to eat anything that comes from animal origin. that includes honey and eggs and the likes. In other words, only fruit, vegetables, seeds, and things like that are on their menu. Vegetarians are the folks that usually skip only meat. All other animal products, and oftentimes fish, are ok. Then we have the omnivore, that’s your “normal way of eating” everything. Finally, on the far end of the spectrum, is 
Luckily, for people on a plant-based diet, this is not hard. Milk-derived products, like cheese, cream, and greek yogurt, along with eggs will make sure you’re not missing out on any essential nutrients. Some essential amino acids, along with useful non-essentials ones are only found in animal products. Moreover, if you’re flexible enough to not exclude meat completely, apart from the occasional fish, grab a liver or spleen. Internal organs once every month or so wil help you get a real nutrient-dense bomb of things you might not be getting regularly on a plant-based diet.
The dynamic nature of side control is what makes escaping so hard. People тhat hold you in side control rarely just try to do a wrestling-style pin. Pinning can work, and it has its merits when it comes to collection points. However, most experienced top game players will constantly move and re-adjust, shifting their weight and making you bear their weight. Not fun at all if you’re on the bottom with no idea how to escape side control.
The move is a transitional move. As such, it relies a lot on timing. The basic Hotdog Roll is actually a move that deals with the seatbelt when you’re in turtle, rather than as a means to escape side control. The first step is trapping the hand that’s on the “under” side. This is crucial. From there, the goal is to lie on your belly and simply do a roll to the side. Because of the seatbelt, the opponent will go flying over, and you end up on top. If you play your cards right in terms of positioning, the seatbelt won’t mean a thing and you’ll actually be in Twister side control, which gives you a great advantage.
In terms of escaping side control, the Hotdog Roll is the perfect trap. When you realize that your guard will get passed, you simply roll away, heading 
Grappling dummies have the advantage of not resisting you. Moreover, they come in several 
What Danaher had right (as usual) was that the bow and arrow choke is powerful. Whether it is the most powerful one will always be open to debate. Personally, I agree. The bow and arrow is a collar choke that exploits all of the fundamental attacking BJJ concepts. First of all, to get it, you need to have the back, which is universally considered to be the best attacking position in the sport.
The way Kurt sets it up is by establishing grips first. From side control, the arm that is under the head will go in the far side lapel, with a thumb-in grip. Your other arm should do the same, gripping with the same thumb-in grip and on the same far side collar, just a bit lower. This is actually the choking grip that you set up really early on.
The manner in which you get to the back is highly unusual and is why this setup really works. Instead of slowly looking to go on top of your opponent, or make them roll, you actually pick your opponent up. However, there’s a trick to making this work – you have to stay tight. In other words, use the grips you have to pull the opponent as close as you can towards your chest while raising your own torso up. When you get them in a sitting position, simply switch them to your other side and you can easily get behind them.
Flow rolling is one way of trying to teach people how to roll relaxed. Unfortunately, it is also the hardest thing to teach anyone, mostly because of people actually need to teach themselves. All that talk about going 30% or some stupid arbitrary number like that is only good as long as the other person is also relaxed. The moment one rolling partner amps up intensity, all those percentages and numbers mean nothing. And still, every time you roll relaxed, flowing, you end up feeling much happier and fulfilled at the end, as opposed to going hard as your life depends on it. Not to mention that things just seem to stop working the harder you try to get them.
It sounds like another one of those memes self-help sites post. It is not. This is actually a really good way to hack 
When it comes to Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu basic moves, nothing is more fundamental than submissions. And yes, I do mean all submissions. Granted, you won’t be showing Gogoplatas (Eddie Bravo fans look away) and other crazy stuff off the bat to 
We all know the hips are one a crucial body part in BJJ, you want to move your own in a very specific manner while controlling the other person’s hips at the same time. When it comes to moving your hips, the hip escape is 
The same holds true for top positions.