Position #1 right here shows Shaolin in a half guard. First, notice that he has the underhook. Not only does he have the underhook, he has a DEEP underhook. When you have this underhook, you want to act like you trying to reach for your opponents trap muscle! So often, you see people get lazy with that underhook and settle with being able to reach the middle of your opponents back or reaching for that muscle right below their armpit. I'm not saying that won't work and that is isn't effectgive, but reaching for the trap muscle is key. Being lazy with an underhook gives your opponent a chance to use his whizzer more effectively.
In this picture, Shaolin is all the way hipped out to his side, so not only does he have a deep underhook at the time being, but he is always feeling very little of Nagata's weight on him. If he didn't hip out so far, Nagata would be able to use his weight better and Shaolin would be force to carry much more of Nagata's weight. In this photo, I promise you that Shaolin is extremely comfortable and has a big advantage at this point. Sure Nagata can punch him on the top of the head, but Shaolins face is well protected here.
#2) Here is the next position which takes place just a split second after the previous picture. Shaolin swings his left leg up to get leverage. This is basically the same kind of motion that you use when you do the basic flower sweep. If you don't know what the flower sweep is, you probably suck and have no business reading my blog = ) Shaolin has several options from here. You might be wondering why Shaolins right hand is near Nagata's crotch in this photo....For one, it gives him leverage to hip out and swing his leg out. It also gives him a chance to sweep here (there is a flower sweep variation that is possible here). Let's go ahead and move onto the next position. I can already tell that I am starting to over analyze things!
#3) Because Nagata doesn't have the underhook (remember Shaolin got the DEEP underhook reaching for Nagata's trap muscle) he isn't able to keep Shaolin flat on his back. This is serious danger for Nagata as Shaolin is able to come out the back door just enough to post his right hand down on the mat. As is the case in many positions, Shaolin posts his elbow first, even though the goal is the post the hand. You'll often see this when people attempt the hip bump sweep or even the kimura from guard. It's not really the preference, but you've gotta do what ya gotta do! Nagata still has a tiny bit of a whizzer, but it's basically useless at this point. Shaolin already has way too much of his body out from under Nagata. He's not carrying any of Nagata's weight and the fight is about to be all his.
#4) Here is another image just a split second later. You can see that Shaolin is able to fully post his right hand on the mat which stabilizes his ability to stay on top. He only use the elbow on the mat for a quick moment. Now that he has the space, he posts the hand which is far more stable. Nagata is still trying to hang on to the very last bit of his whizzer, but Shaolin can easily take his back at this point. Notice how his left foot is already being inserted as a hook. Nagata is in a whole lot of danger!
#5) Nagata decided to "bail out" and fall to his back instead of giving Shaolin his back. Not a bad strategy by Nagata at the time because he'd be happy to end up with a half guard at this point. If I had Shaolin on me I would have done the same. Notice how Shaolin uses his right hand to post on the mat to make sure he ends up on top. Shaolin is driving his hips down hard at this moment. It's one of those things that you need to do to understand, but the whole "race to the top position" is decided by Shaolin's hips. I've seen many scrambles from this positon and if Shaolin doesn't use that right arm to post, it isn't out of the question for Nagata to overpower Shaolin and end up on top again.
#6) The sequence ends with Shaolin on top in Nagata's half guard. So to recap, Shaolin went from the bottom of the half guard to using this sweep to ending up on top of Nagata in half mount. Such a slick move! Chances are, 99% of the people reading this will never be as good as Shaolin, but that doesn't mean that you can't pull this move off. I've seen black belts who were purple belts at certain techniques and positions, and I've seen purple belts who were straight up black belts when it came to certain moves. It's all about how you train and develop them.
Hopefully this blog entry has been of help to some of you. Please leave comments for me. Also, feel free to send an e-mail to freddyfatlas@hotmail.com if you want to hate on me or show me some love. I got no sponsors to thank at this point so all I got to say is...Train hard, stay healthy and take care of yours!
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