The Running Escape from Knee on Belly

I think I’m right to say that my best defense against the knee on belly position is to fight harder and more effectively when I’m in side control so that I don’t end up in knee on belly in the first place. Unfortunately, I’ve done an especially poor job of escaping side control lately, both regular side control and scarf hold. In fact, I’ve done so poorly that I want to post a few reminders before getting into the running escape from knee on belly.

Side control: The most important thing is the swim with the south-most arm. The whole sequence of THROAT-SWIM-WALK-FLAT-PULL-BOOM remains valid. But the key is the swim. When you underhook the guy’s arm that is grabbing your leg, you get the leverage to turn into him with an elbow escape OR to do the WALK part of the six-step sequence above. So don’t just sit there. Underhook/SWIM and escape your hips away from the guy.

Scarf hold: Remember the new detail: get your hips close to his hips and THEN bump or upa. You don’t want to try and pull the guy all the way over you. By bumping, you can get your hips under his (or close to it), before pulling the guy over with the body lock. So, to escape, bump, turning into the guy somewhat, then reverse and bodylock the guy over the other way.

Okay, now about that knee on belly escape …

Saulo calls it the running escape because it looks like you are running away from the guy when you do it. It is a key technique for dealing with the knee on belly when the guy has your collar and your leg. You can’t turn into him because of the leg grip mostly—though the collar grip also makes turning into the guy tough.

So you go the only direction you can go: away from the guy.

What you do is bump/upa up, and then take your inside leg (the one he’s got a grip on) and swing it over to the other side, to the outside. As you do this, you also turn with your shoulder away from the guy, bringing your elbow in tight and keeping your head low. Keeping your head low to the mat is important because it will (a) help protect you against chokes and (b) make it easier to complete the escape.


Once you do this move, you should be in the running position: on your side, elbows in tight, and your formerly-inside leg thrown over the other leg. Again, you look like you are running. In order to complete the escape, you are going to keep moving in that direction and do a roll, bringing your formerly-inside shoulder over. Really, all you are doing is going from the running position to an all-fours position (leading with the lead “running” leg) and then from an all-fours position either (a) taking the guy over and moving into top side control position or (b) pulling the guy into your guard.