Collar Drag

What it is

The collar drag is a standing takedown and back take where you grip their collar, or use a collar tie in no-gi, step off to the side and pull their head down and past your hip. As they stumble forward, you go behind them for the back. If they square up in time, their weight is forward and the single leg is right there.

When to use it

• They push forward into you with their head low.
• You have a collar grip or a collar tie and they are leaning on it.
• From a seated guard, when they reach for you and their head comes forward.

How to do it

1. Grip their collar at the side of the neck in the gi, or take a collar tie in no-gi.
2. Step your foot on the grip side off the line, to the side and slightly back.
3. Pull their head down and across, past your hip, as you move.
4. As their head passes you, step behind them and wrap their waist or take a seatbelt.
5. Take the back standing, or bring them down from behind with control.
6. If they square back up, change level and shoot the single leg on the near leg.

Key details

• Move your body, not just the arm. The step off the line is what makes them fall forward into space.
• Pull down and across, past your hip, not straight toward you.
• Go behind the moment the head passes. A second later they recover their stance.
• Use their push. The drag works best when they are already leaning into you.
• Bring them down from the back with control. Never lift them from behind and drop them; that is a slam.

Common mistakes

• Mistake: dragging while standing in front of them. They step in and you end up face to face again.
• Mistake: pulling straight toward you. They come forward into you and drive you backward.
• Mistake: slow follow-up. They turn back in and the chance is gone.

What they will try

• They turn with the drag and square up before you get behind them.
• They post a hand on your chest or hip and pull their head out.

Gi and no-gi

In the gi the collar grip is strong and hard to break. In no-gi the collar tie on the head does the same job but slips more, so the step and timing matter even more.