7 Ways to Take the Back with Matt Baker

Before he was winning double-gold at the San Francisco Open Matt Baker was showing us some sweet back takes and finishes from his new DVD “30 Ways To Take The Back” available at www.jiujitsulabdvd.com. One that we really like was this slick back take from knee on belly, which can also be used from side control.

Knee on Belly To Back With Finish
During the entire interview with Matt this one was probably the technique I thought I could incorporate into my game immediately. In fact the next morning I got this finish during sparring with a pretty good purple belt. It’s simple, effective and gives you some options during a tournament.

1. Matt starts in a good spot with knee on belly. He grabs his opponent’s nearside lapel with both hands.

2. Matt wants his opponent to turn away a bit so he’ll pressure with his hips to drive him away.

3. At this point Matt can put a tremendous amount of pressure down on his opponent and it’s not completely obvious what he’s going for. This causes the opponent to keep his arms in tight.

4. Matt drops his right arm down to “loop” his arm over and around his opponent’s head. As he begins this process he brings his right knee behind Dale’s head.

5. With his knee behind his opponent’s head and the arm more than half way over, Matt switches the grip of his right hand from thumb down to thumb up on Dale’s left side lapel.

6. With the new grip in place Matt secures the hold by getting his right bicep behind Dale’s head to keep everything tight.

7. Matt brings his left knee up against his opponent’s left side while reaching over for the left knee.

8. Ideally, Matt wants to underhook the left knee, but a firm grasp of the pant leg at the knee will also do. With a hold of the knee, Matt leans back to his right, pulls on the right grip while pinching his knees and pushes forward with his hips for the bow and arrow finish.

Key Points

• With any new technique it’s a good idea to drill with a partner. For this one the most difficult part is going to be maintaining a hold of the collar while being able to switch your grip from thumb down to thumb up. So get with a partner and practice this technique and see what adjustments you can make to make it easier on yourself.

• After Step 6 Matt has two choices. If he’s down on points and it’s near the end of a match he can go for the back. He would do this by bringing his left leg over Dale, sitting back, pulling Dale with him, and bringing the other leg over, getting the hooks in place for the points. He still has a solid grip of the collar and can go for a different finish from there. Otherwise he can proceed to step 7 and go for the finish.