Back Control

What it is

Back control is the position where your chest is glued to your opponent's back, with a seatbelt grip around their chest and your heels hooked inside their thighs. It is the best position in the sport: you can attack everything, they can attack almost nothing, and they cannot even see you. It scores 4 points once both hooks are in.

What you want from here

• On top: you have taken the back from turtle, from a sweep, or when they turned away under mount or side control.
• On top: keep the chest connection, hand fight for the neck, and finish with the rear naked choke or the bow and arrow.
• On bottom: protect your neck first, then win the fight over the hooks and get your back to the mat.
• On bottom: escape toward the side of their under arm, away from the over arm, which is the choking arm.

Key details

• Priority order: chest connection first, seatbelt second, hooks third. Hooks can be rebuilt; the connection cannot.
• Seatbelt: one arm over the shoulder, one under the armpit, hands joined and hidden on the chest.
• Hooks inside the thighs, not crossed. Crossing your feet gives them an ankle lock.
• Stay behind their shoulders, head tight to theirs on the side of the choking arm.
• Hand fight patiently. Two of your hands against one of theirs wins the neck in time.

Common mistakes

• Mistake: crossing your feet. They lock your ankles and you are tapping instead of attacking.
• Mistake: chasing the choke with your chest off their back. They turn in and you are in their guard.
• Mistake: on the bottom, grabbing the choking arm with both hands and ignoring the hooks. They rebuild and you are back where you started.
• Mistake: on the bottom, turning toward the over arm. You turn straight into the choke.

How it is escaped or passed

• Chin down, hands on the choking arm, shoulders to the mat on the under arm side, then clear the top hook and slide the hips over their bottom leg.
• Controlling the choking hand and sliding down to put the shoulders on the mat.
• Standing up when the top player has a seatbelt but no hooks.

Gi and no-gi

Without the gi the main finish is the rear naked choke. In the gi the collar adds the bow and arrow and the sliding collar choke, so the bottom player has to defend the lapel as well as the arm.