The Most Dangerous Takedown in Judo & BJJ

[justsomeguywithtattoos]

Worked perfectly! My grandmother is so impressed she's still laying on the floor

[onegaisti]

My sensai Scorpion taught me this back in the mid 90s. Very effective.

[adastra]

"hey, grab my wrist! no, my other wrist!"

[kiekert]

I will practice this on my mother in law.

[MarcusPovey]

Great video!

Thought I'd offer my perspective.. I train Capoeira, where we use this takedown all the time (on concrete floors... ouch! :/). Ok, so the goals in Capoeira are different, but there are a few tricks I've found to make training it safer:

First, if you reach your arm over and grab their far shoulder (as if you were grabbing your buddy for a photo). This locks your partner in so they can't run away, forces you to be more side on and also gives you much more support so that even a fairly small partner can support a larger partner's weight.

Second, on entry we tend to break the move into three parts 1) reach the back leg behind the partner first, 2) Land the front leg on the hips and then 3) do the hop. The scissor becomes less aggressive and more controlled - more of a sweep/structure break, rather than a shock load, and means it's easy to bail if your partner is in the wrong position.

Thirdly, the safest way to fall from this move seems to be to just sit down rather than to try a twist or role. Again, allows for more control. (in capoeira we do train some nice escapes / reversals for this technique, but they're "advanced" moves and carry some injury risks of their own)

Just some thoughts :)

[Freakschwimmer]

0:45 "Grab my wrist, no my other wrist." Totally sounds like Aikido to me ^^

[gilianjansen]

A year or 2 back we had two beginners sparring, from standing. It was a normal wrestling/no gi class. The one guy jumped this and broke the other guys ankel. He needed surgery and came back to try the warming up and maybe some ground techniques after 8 months. The guy who jumped it had seen the takedown on youtube and didnt knew how dangerous it was. Good of you to make this video Stephan! I always really enjoy ur vids!

[mrm]

That's when you know you're listening to a true master. No ego. Keep posting your videos please. We learn so much with you.

[Seegie]

Joe Lauzon used to pull this move off a ton in local grappling tournies back in the day. I remember he got so good at it that we used to train the defense against it in tourny classes.

[bws]

This is a scissor takedown that is taught in karate, I learned it about 28 yrs ago in shotokan karate.

[mikesharkey]

Doing this in class once, and I actually broke the other guy's ankle.  When he was rolling backward we all heard a loud crunch.  This technique is dangerous in more ways than I realized.  I LIKE IT!!

[MrBooboothebear]

As an old school JJJ guy, I laughed at the "other wrist" comment. So true (at least for the white belts).

[RamseyDewey]

I use this one all the time in sparring. Like any takedown, to avoid injury while training, you have to use control. The worst training injury I ever had was from getting thrown with an uchi mata. I had 3 displaced vertebrae in my neck, almost paralyzed. That would have been way worse than a broken ankle. On a side note, this isn't a legal scoring technique in sanda (san shou), you don't score from any takedown where you follow your opponent to the ground, the fighter initiating the throw must remain standing. You can do it, but then the ref will tell you to stand up and stay off the mat. That's how sanda is here in China anyway.

[Taawak]

I learned this while I was training Taekwondo and it has since been one of my favorite throws. We also had one version where you put your leg on the back of your opponents neck and the other on the chest and twist forward which I feel is far more dangerous.

[dingoleh]

A Nigerian did that to me the opposite way when I was playing soccer and my left knee has never been the same since.

[DamienZshadow]

I used to do this technique all the time but I definitely see the risk involved and only use it against other equally experienced fighters and even then I do it very rarely. Still, I may appreciate this more as a self defense technique, in a real life threatening situation if I am likely to do so much damage. lol Seriously though, I didn't know about that leg lock, usually I find the move clumsy because I can't think of much else to do other than an ankle lock or heel hook. Thank you so much for this breakdown!

[KingExituS]

I need a grappling dummy to master this technique!

[systemhexe]

We did this throw yesterday in our JJ training, so I searched it :). I like your explanations and BJJ-Lock techniques. We use almost the same. Thank you!

[Brasileiro]

As a capoeira practitioner and teacher; I have grown doing this take down. Like you say good training and supervision makes all the difference. It's very hard to explain, but from a Judo or Jiu-jitsu point of view, the way this technique is applied can be compared to a truck running you over. Practitioners don't know how to jump or get enough impulse to apply the take down. That's why heavier practitioners tend to hurt their partners or opponents. In capoeira we tend to go from the ground up, this helps because the hand it's already on the ground, thus helping keep the legs on the right position. Great video. Oss.

[BW]

We learned it in judo back when it was still legal. They banned it in tournaments maybe five year after I started. It was effective. However, the programs in judo (in tournaments) were... people in tournaments are doing everything possible to not be thrown or not land solidly on their back. People twist, try falling forward, try dropping to their knees, etc. Against less experience judoka... people often would twist and put their free arm backwards to try to avoid being thrown full point. Even with experience opponents, many standing grips could end up with the far arm not free -- either double holds, reaching across, or just caught up from a previous attempt. In such cases, there is no possibility of a break fall and one can easily be thrown straight on your head.Doing this on a 'friend' on concrete... pretty stupid. Lots of other safer throws to impress friends and there are lawns or fields in most places.