Ambush Armbar from Modified Scarf Hold 

Gotta love all the internet Jiujitsu masters telling Emily Kwok (a black belt BJJ champion) that this arm bar wouldn't work.

I was a bit sceptic at first, but when they performed the move in a more realistic speed and Stephan put up visible resistence it seemed surprisingly effective

your videos are getting better & better keep going

I'm directing my 10 year old daughter to all of these Emily videos. what a Rock star!

I love how all these white and blue belts are questioning the effectiveness of a technique being demonstrated by very legit black belts.

10 years later you look great... I use your techniques from long time ago!

OUTSTANDING, thanks for showing us this move.

badass. I love it. Been training bjj for ten years and never seen this. So many techniques out there that are new to me are impractcal or have a lot of room for counter or defense. this is so basic and practical. I am going to dedicate a whole class to this technique. Very sneaky Thanks

It's funny to see comments like "this doesn't look like it should work". If you have a grappling practice, you can just try it, a lot, and see it it works nor not. You don't have to rely on anyones "word" to see it it works, give it a try. This is the great thing about having sparring/grappling practice.

great details, i like how Emily describes what the opponent is going through or how the opponent will react. thanks

Wow this is a really sneaky armbar! Thank you so much!

Absolutely brilliant would have never thought of that from scarf because im always looking for the arm on the other side to keylock. never even appeared in my field of vision as an option. Thank you for opening my eyes :)

My coach recently taught us this move. In my school, he calls it the lawnmower armbar lol. We were also taught that if they defend the armbar by locking their lands together once you have their arm trapped, you can transition to attacking the other arm for keylocks or kimuras. I'm 6"1 220lbs and have hit this on guys that weigh more than me.

I use this modified scarf all the time, Its actually a really strong heavy position, It nullifies the hip bump really well, and as the weight is quite far forward its really hard to sit up. I taught this position to my girlfriend (shes 50kg im 85) and she can control me pretty well with it. When they shrimp you bail on the arm and just follow them with your hips. I prefer the shin on arm control, but will try this next week. Thanks guys, awsome viedeo as per usual

I never seen this type of armbar before, looks good.

sounds like the majority of these youtubers are "SEAT-BOXING, ARM-CHAIR DEBATING EXPERTS". love the video guys.. it did work on certain people at certain times in our gym. IF YOU DRILL IT CORRECTLY; it IS practical.. love new approaches to techniques. would be nice to catch someone in this in our next tourney.. Keep the vids coming. thanks

Yes, exactly. "Let's test it out" should be the default response to any (reasonable) proposed technique.

There are a couple of control aspects taking place in the scarf hold: First, Emily's torso is on his lower ribcage and her left arm is based on the elbow and controlling his shoulder. Second, her right arm is elevating his left arm and shoulder. These two factors help to reduce the shrimping opportunities. She uses her hips and right leg to counter his attempts to sit up. That being said, Stephan ought to be on is left hip with his left elbow down and tightly in to his side.

Sorry, having that arm isolated in that position is called kuzure kesa gatame and it's a control/pinning position so you're completely off. If you're talking about when she plants his elbow on the ground to pin his hand there's bound to be openings there, she's setting up a submission. Transitioning to submissions (or even other positions) always have openings, it's a matter of whether you can beat your opponent to the move.

fantastic! I can't wait to try it!

This is beautiful and I aim to make it the focal point of my attacks from this position for the foreseeable future. There are going to be a lot of folks hating you, Emily. :P

She's a really good teacher. It's great when someone can combine two talents like this.

She’s an awesome teacher!!!

Yes, that is a valid concern outside of sports jiu jitsu. In MMA and ground fighting, you can often see the kesa gatame used as a quick transition to a mounted crucifix. Not maintaining proper control of the arms is an invitation for getting blasted in the face or temple, through punches or hammerfists. I have seen the far arm underhooked and isolated (think 'answer the phone' position) at the elbow. It is a more active position when striking is involved.

I think that the key to this is the quality of your kesa gatame. I've started focusing on that position recently, under a friend who received his Judo BB a couple of years before his BJJ BB. He is a bit smaller than I am (by 50 lbs) and his kesa is very controlling. It has to do with his adjustments to my escape attempts. Properly controlling the upper arms, shoulders and chest pressure significantly reduces the shrimping attempt. He then adjusts back into position as needed.

I usually just put my weight on the uke's arm and then apply a Kesa Garami. But i liked your idea. Gonna try it.

Love it! I would change the final leg position to trap the head like a Machado style armbar. Near leg shin against face, far leg over face.

Keep it going kesting great technique

This. I'm definitely gonna try this tomorrow.

Very sweet,(technical setup). I´m going to play with this one.

Flat out nasty.... I'll remember this variation for sure. As a Pesadissimo I'm always looking for attacks from side control and this is a good tool to add to the collection. Thanks for the vid!

I agree with you 100%. Granted I have years of work to do still on my BJJ game, one thing I could definitely work on more than the others is proper control like you say.

great demonstration,

She trains with Marcelo Garcia, that is one of his favorite techniques. I can tell you first hand that Garcia hits this armbar on world class top notch BJJ black belts. And he can do it with his eyes closed.

Good Job EMILY!

Very nice!

I love Stephan but Emily's teaching style resonates with me a little better. Both are great teachers ofcourse.

Great opinion! I'm not gonna bother learning this now!

i like it a lot! so dont call me one of those doubters... but i was always taught to question anything... once you get that leg through are you open for a sweep to your back? of course, everything has its downfalls and sometimes you just gotta go for it.. if you lean really far forward and keep it there, idk what im saying i havent tried it yet.. lol gotta wait and see!

amazing move

Good one Em! I'll give it a try

Did this for the first time this evening :D Thanks Emily and Stephan!

That was really interesting!

Its a modified top crucifix off scarf hold. You can get to the very similar position from side control by taking your head side knee and using it to trap their near side arm. From there strikes to the head or near side arm bar similar to what was just shown. v=W_IjCFqPyNk

I totally agree with you. The same thing was going through my mind this entire video. I guess with a great enough agility, your opponent might not be able to notice how unstable you are, but that's called a gamble on how inattentive your opponent is.

okay, I agree that the position can be, or seems unstable, but the scarf hold is one of my favourite positions and I always attack the arm from there, the thing is; when doing it in practice, ideally you only ever want to be on one of your feet, that foot being the furthest one away from your opponent, and the other foot and your ass off the ground, so all your weight rests on the guy's chest, if you're too far over/on him/her then you're gonna get swept

There's also a much higher probability that they don't have anywhere to go with said shrimp as the kuzure kesa gatame is designed to prevent an uke from turning. The other arm isn't an option either when it's hoisted up between the legs as shown in video the video with great control ;)

Marcelo and Robson Moura have done this armbar on multiple occasions aswell

This is awesome! Would it be an ok idea if you were to triangle the legs, and just end up throwing your outside leg over their head?

Nice near-side armbar, but what prevents Stephan from blocking the legs from swinging over his head with his free arm?

Concern is that the best defenses/escapes rely on getting that elbow to the mat and the attacker is voluntarily placing the elbow on the mat.

I was thinking exactly this as well. I suppose that if you find yourself being pushed onto your back you could hold onto the arm, swing your hips to the left, and transpose to an omoplata...

I love you Emily !!

Looks kite you cam also set up the triangle well from there also .

awesome move

which way are you guys thinking of sweeping? play around with this position a little bit and get a feel for it. when you have the arm pinched under your armpit like that its REALLY tight. If you turn towards her you are basically racing against her hip. She will finish the armbar before you can complete the sweep. If you sweep the other way, you are making her hips go down HARD on your arm and you will probably get hurt

I liked this technique a lot... Being Emily a black belt herself, I'm sure she knows a lot about balance, I've tried this and it works...

Remember guys, great jits is anticipating your opponent's next move and having an answer. The answer here would be to have an attack or trap waiting when you feel the sweep or sit-up about to happen. Great move, I plan on working it in my arsenal. If I get swept, I'll have a surprise waiting! ;-)

If you watch the whole video, you'll see that finalizing the technique actually counts on your opponent doing just that. It at some point during the set up, you begin to lose control, just base out and take it back.

I don't like having my face open to his right arm mid submission :/ but it is a really sneaky move that you could probably just stop once you have the arm and just do a wrist lock, but I'd prefer straight arm locks from scarf.. and if they know what their doing i'm sure they would hip out after their elbow hit the ground. But it is sneaky.

This is nice af

Worth playing with but from what I see with the elbow trapped high it is hard to take advantage of strength. Can't get full leverage to lift her over the top and can't get elbow to ground to go out the back door. I'll try it out.

Gokor's leglock DVD's have the same soundtrack, I like it

and to those that say its unstable, if you dont practice riding in kesagatame, then it will be unstable. but try the position out, you will see how versatile it is.

very nice...thanks for sharing :)

World Champ enough said...

It is not an unstable position, My only suggestion is to apply the arm bar from the top position instead laying back. Erik Paulson has a better arm bar flow for Kesa-Gatame

too good

Amazing

Emily rules!

At 2:20 that control position looks a little bit unstable to me. Considering I'm smaller and weaker, a simple push to the body while holding the partners leg would result in an easy sweep. I see this working if done really quickly or if yours partner is inexperienced (like me - white belt =P). Please, tell me if my thoughts are right or if I'm missing the point. Thank you very much Stephan and Emily. OSS

I am a fellow white belt and have been doing BJJ for a couple of months only, so sorry if my post if full of BS. I think at 2:20 Stephan's left arm is trapped so he can't use it, if he tries to push her away with his right arm, she will grab onto him with her underhook and resist, so it will be her core muscles vs his triceps (or whatever is used there to push). Her core muscles are stronger than his arm, so she will maintain the position. Please, tell me if I'm missing the point, peace! (:

This lesson makes a general strategic principle very graphically, about anything from martial arts to football to war and it’s especially germane when talking about inter gender wrestling. There are some girls who do very well in high school wrestling on what are almost completely boys’ teams, to the point where a few girls have actually been state championship at their weight class. This happened a decade ago in Alaska and within the last year or two in North Carolina and Arkansas. A lot of people are utterly shocked by this - aren’t the boys stronger? (Not always and not everywhere.) The principle that this particular demonstration makes so graphically clear is that what strategy is really all about is managing mismatches. What do you do when your partner’s (or opponent’s) arm is way stronger than yours? Step on his wrist. You’re not just outthinking him, you’re literally overpowering him. It’s really what you’re doing all the time but this move makes it particularly obvious.

this is the correct answer, always have a way out,

When you practice moves and master them you are able to do tough things that seem not possible

I like it. I love operating from scarfhold in SC. I have hit variations of this in sparring, but has been on the fly. Nice to see it broken down this way. There's a nice transition to far side armbar from the same position.

Nice!

There are literally dozens of instances of marcelo hitting this live in free rolling.

not that experienced myself but if he does sit up toward his left knee, the armbar's already set up anw i think? she just has to scoot her hips a little and put her legs over his head and torso

stepping on his wrist wow very smart you might as well ask him nicely ...

yeah i now thats what i was saying, glad you agree with e fella

Thanks for the advice. =D

Wow Thank-you

Its not a 100% move agreed, yet it can work when not expected by either an experienced or non-experienced training partner. I personally do not step on the wrist as its to weak a link. I drive the knee over the bicep like a cutter, high pain move and then drop back for the armbar with the wrist under the armpit. The tap comes before I even fall back. You can always adjust these moves as its just a guide not a rule. Play around with it honestly.

Considering Stephan and Emily's background, I think if it wouldn't work against a "trained opponent" it wouldn't be there.When she isolates the arm, her weight is on his left shoulder and she is pulling his left arm tight into her body. It would be very difficult to shrimp and damn near impossible to sit up. His arms can't be used to post, so he would have to use leg momentum to sit up which she would notice and be able to abandon the technique if needed.

Ive never been able to make these 10 step moves work during hard sparring unless somehow I accidentally ended up at step 7 or 8.

even if lets say she missed the armbar she is in a good position for omoplata?

i feel that this is a good move, if she adds her weight high and i am sure she has a post or another move ready if he shrimps or trys to set up.. i feel that maybe you guys are not seeing the whole picture. instead of complaining try it and perfect it. just saying

at 2:55 she says when they start trying to pull the arm in or sit up/ shrimp is when you switch to the armbar. Nothing in jiujitsu is full proof. You merely limit options.

Nice

Seems a bit complex, but at their level I'm sure that's a walk in the park.

you're talking abt 2:01? i see your point but if she's high enough on the chest, i don't think an average person could sit up with an extra 40kg+ load

It seems those type os tecniches that dont work two times in the same person

Usually I don't agree with posts like this but in this case I completely agree, putting your bottom leg over his upper body like that is a pretty bad idea for anyone with an even basic understanding of shrimping/bridging.

She has a pretty good kuzure kesa gatame so I wouldn't go so far as to say she isn't controlling him. And I'm sure she'd make adjustments as required. Everything works in the place and time and nothing works if it isn't done right.

Nice technique but definitely too advanced for me at the moment. I'll stick with gaining someone's back from side mount for now.

you ever been in a street fight? a lot of the time it ends up on the floor. but even so i wasnt talking about street fights on this occassion just competitions and rolling.

He has alot of hip range, easy to wiggle out or roll if flexible.

It looks like you should be able to finish the arm bar even if they push you backwards.

3:58 step on his wrist, bend his fingers and force him to say "Pleaseee! That's enough okay pleaseeee I give up! You're my master pleaseee!!!" 😝💪💪