with all the various collar chokes from the side (i.e. Brabo, Ninja, and all variations of using one's own lapel) that is coming into vogue nowadays, who here still attempts to go the mount?
In competition nowadays I realize very few people do. I can only think of Roger, Rener, and the other Rorion gracie boys go for the mount.
I do, even though it is not my strongest offensive position. I want to ba able to finish people from everywhere, not just learn to pin my opponent down in sidemount.
JJ Machado said that the guard and the mount are the two most important positions for BJJ in his book "Black Belt Techniques." Helio Soneca said that it is alot easier to grapple a guy who is bigger and stronger than you when you get the top position. Those two people promoting the mount position is enough for me to try to make it major part of my BJJ game.
The importance of the mount is only augmented when you think about reality fight situations. There is no question that the mount is the most important position in a reality fight. If we train ourselves to mount our opponents in BJJ, then we will naturally and more effective find the mount in a reality fight.
Its kinda funny......when BJJ first became popular, EVRYONE went for the mount....but as the levels increased and everyone started to get to Blue, Purple and started to become very good at escaping the mount, then side mount became the new mount!! Also, I think no gi tournys like UFC made mount look like it maybe wasnt the best position anymore. Mainly because if you get reversed from mount you usually end up on your back again, whereas from side everyone felt they could go for their subs with much less chance of losing position.
Now everyone is watching the top guys and realizing that mount is actually still the king of positions for BJJ. Roger is my instructor, and I can assure you, once he mounts you, you're fucked. Well, obviously you're fucked from any position with him....lol....but his mount is especially horrible.
that said, my mount is very weak and I really need to work on it. I use side way too much.
I used to really suck at the mount. My attacks were crap and everyone would either upa me or regain guard. As a result I would usually try to keep side mount and setup my subs from there. As my game keeps evolving I find that I'm going for the mount a lot more often. It seems to really open a lot more opportunities to attack and at the least seems to tire the guy out. One of the things that I have gotten a little better at is really controlling my opponents arms from the mount. I either try to dig them with my elbows and forearms if I'm trying to attack a key lock or I drive them up or to the side with my hip.
I like the mount and will normaly transition to knee ride if they are trying to hip escape, that being said I dont get many subs from the mount but it does open them up more then wear then down especialy switching to knee ride.