The Kimura is one of the most devastating high percentage submissions that we see in high level BJJ. Fighters like Rafael Lovato have perfected its art and we too can strive to excel our game with this technique. You can actually learn more about the kimura Lovato uses in this video! The variation you will see today comes from Sergio Gasparelli’s course “Babu: BJJ Mastermind Series”. I recently got my hands on this course and this is one of my favorite techniques shown. It can be found in the fifth DVD titled “Side Control Specialist”. You can learn about another technique he teaches here in this article on BJJ Addict.com!
The North South Setup
Odds are if you play a side control game you are already very proficient in shoulder lock techniques like the Americana and the Kimura. You also probably have the ability to be extremely heavy and suck the life out of your opponents. The thing most side control addicts are sometimes lacking is a solid north south game. The benefits of the north south are immense. You can transition to the north south when your opponent is trying to escape your side control and you will maintain a dominate position with little effort on your part. Also many chokes, arm locks, and shoulder locks present themselves in the north south. In this particular set up we are going to look at the transition, how to finish with a kimura, and how to finish with an armbar:
- Start in a solid side control and Babu throws in the detail of gripping our opponent’s bicep in No Gi and gripping their sleeve in Gi.
- He transitions to the north south by sitting his hips out towards the head and coming up with his stomach on the opponent’s face. In the sit out your legs should bring your opponent’s arm to their face so you can set up your attack. Also their arms should be stuck underneath your stomach
- Once you are in position set up your kimura grips and cranks to the finish. He adds the detail that you don’t have to posture up for the finish. Instead we should stay low and just adjust the arm so our weight is still crushing our opponent
- The armbar from that north south position is also a viable option where you pick an arm and spin off to the side for the armbar finish.
I particularly like how he went into the concept of chaining submissions together. If you’re reading this article I can almost guarantee that you are very familiar with this concept but many people don’t look into this concept outside of the guard. Babu goes over different attacks, how to chain together your attacks, and how to maintain your side control in this DVD. If you liked this technique you can learn more Babu arm locks in my article on BJJ.org! If you’re big on playing this type of game you have to check this course out!
Dan Faggella
