Here's some stuff I just learned about the reverse mount. I predict this position will be popular soon.
You are on top, straddling your opponent but facing his legs. From here you can punch him in the groin in street, in nhb you can punch or elbow him in the thighs, which really hurts and starts a 'dead leg' effect. You can also go for a ton of leg submissions. He can punch you in the kidneys and if he escapes he will probably have your back, so you must act fast.
An entry to this position is when you have side control and he gets posture and starts shrimping away. Put your hands on his chest and stomach, put all your weight on them as you whip your leg over his head and take the reverse mount.
It's important to put a lot of weight on him. Don't be on your knees, post your feet in front of you. This puts a lot of pressure on his stomach, which makes his legs go up instinctively. The best thing for him to do as far as avoiding leglocks is to put his legs flat on the ground. So you want his legs up off the ground. Also with his legs off the ground and lots of weight on his stomach, he can't sit up and try to choke you.
The first thing you want to do is grab his right ankle and put it under his left knee, so his legs are figure foured. Now put your left knee under his right ankle. Your left foot is posted on the ground. This keeps the whole assembly in the air, and makes it hard for him to put his hands on your back and elbow escape. If he is not that good, he would use the figure four as a defense to many leglocks. He can figure four the attacked leg under the other leg. So you do it for him, hold him there, and attack the top leg. You hold him in the figure four by pinching his right ankle between your knee and your elbow.
Sample attack:
Start off by going for a toehold on his left foot. He will probably kick his leg straight and flex his ankle. Sit off outside his left leg, laying on your right side. As you fall to your side, use your left leg to slide under his left leg and kick his right leg and create space to insert your right foot between his legs. Take a reverse heelhook on his left leg. Your feet are tucked under his right leg.
If he tries to roll out of it, block his right leg from coming over. You can straight ankle lock it, or cross it over his left ankle and do a crossed ankle deathlock.
There is a lot more hard to describe stuff to say about the positioning as you take the heelhook, but if you try it you will figure it out. I don't like to take a kneebar from there because it's hard to isolate a leg at the angle for a kneebar. You start with both your legs outside both his legs. If he keeps his legs together, which is prudent, getting one of your legs between his is difficult without sliding one of your legs under his to the heelhook position.
Your thoughts, comments, corrections?
I got stuck on bottom of this the other night and I was like, "Dude, tap me already, this sucks!"
Andrew - where did you learn this? Was it from Erik Paulson?
Stephan
I like to do leg locks a lot and will probally go back to them now that the arnold is over. I've used the position before and it's alright. When you have their legs tied up and up in the air, it's not that easy for them to buck you off.(this is all easier to work in no gi obviously, but workable in gi). I like to only work leg locks I deem high percentage, so the only correction I could see to make in that series is that when you fall to your side and try to pry their legs open to slip your foot in and hide your toes... that's a tough transition, and you could end up just being in double jeopardy if they grab your foot while you're trying this. Everything else all is good stuff I like to use myself. Your "crossed ankle deathlock" is a favorite technique of mine, never heard it refered to as that, but I'm going to start calling it that anyhow, hehe. I like to use it in conjunction with failed kneebar attempts too. Sometimes they'll cross their legs for you and all but give it to you.
Not extremely easy, it's just like a high mount but your facing the other way.
an easier transition to the position you're working is a reverse knee on stomach. Start in regular knee on stomach, controlling their top and a leg preferably, and switch knees so you're facing toward their legs. You can try toe holds from here(doing it without leaving the position has nearly no risk at all, or you can do the Sato type of stepping between their leg and cranking), or drop into knee bars(although risky). Or use it as an entry to reverse mount: gather their legs up together and up in the air and slide into reverse mount. You can sometimes even already figure four their legs before you transition.
Stephan, I learned it from Jeremy at Jeremy's Self Defense in Wilbraham, MA. He watches a lot of tapes so he might have gotten it from Paulson, I don't know.
Troy, if you have their legs in the air, they can't bridge period.
i've been doing it for years - espeacially useful when your passing guard and someone is pushing on your head and shoulders to stop you from passing. if i'm passing to his right , i throw my left leg over his legs to reverse straddle. much easier that way than going over his head. perfect step up for a fig 4 foot lock. - works everytime.
Andrew, you are the man!
Thanks for the answer, Andrew!
I have used this position in competition and in training. One of my favorite setups for the kneebar from this position comes from Erik Paulson. You have both his legs hooked with your forearms. Attack his left leg with a knee crush (cross both your ankles over his right instep) - when he kicks out of this relatively weak attack you can quickly switch to a kneebar.
Stephan Kesting
www.grapplearts.com
Stephan, that sounds like a very good move, I'm going to try that.
I just got back from toeholding some of my latest victims. One thing about this position, a lot of people have no idea what to do from there, so it's relatively more effective the first few times. It's still good later, but the first few times, it's like butter.
ttt
"Attack his left leg with a knee crush (cross both your ankles over his right instep) - when he kicks out of this relatively weak attack you can quickly switch to a kneebar. "
This can work the other way around too, if you go for a knee bar and they bend their leg in to avoid it, hit them with the knee crusher. The knee crusher isn't that weak of a move on it's own either. Instead of crossing your ankles over the instep, throw the inside leg over the instep, and figure four your legs(triangle). This will allow you apply a lot of pressure to the hold.
I like to work kneebars to set other stuff up myself, which can work well too. Go for a knee bar, if they fold their leg in, knee crusher. If they cross their legs, ankle lock on other leg or the "crossed ankle death lock", or switch to inside heel hook. Or even if they throw their leg over, knee bar with them facing down. Just figure four your legs, with the bent leg pointing outwards, and tuck their leg under your same side armpit.
Now, to escape it. What you will want to do is to get your legs flat on the ground, touching each other, without ankles crossed. So if he's grabbing your legs, kick them straight and get them on the ground together. Most often at this point he will try to bail out and get side control, and you can escape in transition. But, if he still tries to hold on to the reverse mount, you can escape without too much trouble.
Once your legs are flat on the ground he can't get the toehold because your feet are too far away and he can't slide his knee under for the heelhook, and he can't put as much weight on you. He can't do the kneebar if your legs are tight together, and the double kneebar is low percentage. Throughout the escape as much as possible you want your legs together and straight and on the ground.
You don't want to bridge or do the standard elbow escape because both of those require posting your foot or feet on the ground, which will give him a chance to do a leg lock. Post your right elbow on the ground, and turn your body so your upper body is facing right, and use the space that makes to turn your hips and legs facing right, with your legs straight the whole time. Now shrimp your hips back and to the left, and when your legs clear his legs, put your feet behind his knees and grab his waist. Pull his waist towards you as you kick out with your legs, so he falls on his butt in front of you, and put your hooks in and now you have his back.