In today’s world of mixed martial arts most martial arts practitioners have either trained in or have looked into the grappling arts to some extent. With that being said, most of the practitioners of the grappling arts do not train their grappling from the street fighters view point. By this I mean that most of the grappling they do is better suited for the ring and not for the street.

Now, I am not saying that they are not good at what they do, nor am I saying that the techniques they do are bad. There are a lot of techniques that are great for the ring but if you were to do them on the street with out modifying them then you would be open for an attack by a weapon or possibly by another person. When we are in class training our ground fighting it is up to us as martial artist to learn the techniques, to dissect them, to analyze them and find how to make them work on the street.

Now let us look at a few techniques and positions and see how we can modify them to work on the street.

The first one I want to look at is the guard position. A lot of schools are teaching their students to go to this position every chance they get. When we do this it becomes almost a security blanket for us. We have to remember that the guard is a position; it is not something you should be in the habit of going to every time you have the chance. In the ring this may work for you, but on the street you will have to constantly maintain control of your opponent’s hands in case he has a weapon. Remember the street has no rules and no referees. Also when putting someone in the guard on the street you are vulnerable for outside attacks by friends or on lookers. If you do end up going to the guard you should work on getting a submission very quickly instead of using it as a time hold. When you have someone in your guard you should work on rolling into top mount so you can keep a better eye on your surroundings and get back to you feet if you need to.

Another technique that is great for the ring is the straight arm bar. The problem with this technique being used on the street is that once again you are on your back and are vulnerable to outside attacks. Now you may be able to break the guys arm with no problems but in the process you may also get jumped by your opponent’s friends. You should try and modify the arm bar so instead of being on your back with the arm going between your legs and across your hips you are on a knee or better yet standing. You can use your shin, knee or thigh as the leverage point. You will also be in a position where you can move to deal with another attack if need be.

The next one is the Achilles lock most people apply this lock while on the ground.  You can modify this locking series very easily. The same Achilles locks you do while on the ground can also be done while standing. Let’s say you shoot in and take the guy down with a single leg, instead of capturing the foot and staying on the ground you get back to your feet. This way you can step on his free leg keeping him from trying to kick you while applying the lock. Again you will be able to move around his body and watch for outside attacks in the event they should happen. While standing you can apply the standard Achilles lock then if he is moving you can go right into the bicep pull Achilles lock, then into the heel toe hold, then into a heel hook.  If you have to you can even step over him forcing him to his stomach and you will have a Half Boston crab. This is just one lock flow that you can do very easily from standing.  

The next is the knee bar.  Again, instead of going to the ground to apply the knee bar you can stay standing and apply the same lock and cause just as much pain.

The other position I want to talk about is the side body or “kesagatami”. This is a very good position for the ring; you can trap your opponent’s hands and hit or go directly to a quick submission. If you do this one on the street be sure to control both arms to prevent him from pulling a weapon from your back side. This is another position that you will want to get a very quick submission and get right back to your feet. You can use the side body position or kesagatami as a transition point instead of a time hold. Example, if you end up in side body instead of staying here you can force the guy to his side as you go into the “branch up” or “branch down” series where you are on one knee locking his arm out. This way you will be able to look around and watch your surroundings for outside attacks.

In closing let me say that I do not believe there is anything wrong with people training the grappling arts or any arts for that matter from a tournament aspect. I do feel, however, that everyone needs to realize how they are training. I believe it is our personal responsibility as individual martial artist to ask questions of the techniques we are training so hard. We need to be aware of what techniques are for the ring and which ones are for the street. It is up to us to modify these techniques and find a way if possible to make them work on the street.