The Best Traps in Martial Arts and Combat Sports 

If we're the Avengers of Martial Arts RU-vid - Mike is Nick Fury - who is everyone else?

Shane hit me with that exact knee like 2818263 times.

Thanks for having me on, sir! Sorry for my lack of focus -- you caught me when I was checking into my flight 😖 #flighttips

Gabriel Varga seems so insanely strong, knowledgeable and fits in so well with you guys. Hope to see him in more often!

I love how the concept of trapping spreads across just about every martial arts discipline, but each with their own version. Great video

This is like Kung fu Panda discovering the furious five. Incredible information here.

That first trap Mike did us straight out of shaolin. Leave an opening. Double tap and backfist. Pure traditional kung fu.

THIS is true martial arts learning! Different bodies types, different disciplines, freely sharing what they all know/do/practice best! Thank you all!

Mike actually really surprises me with how nice his techniques look

I love these collabs with Gabriel Varga, Icy Mike, , Sensei Seth, Shane and Kevin-some of my favorite RU-vidrs all together! Any chance of Getting Jeff Chan in on the action?

I enjoy the psychological side of traps, conditioning folks to respond a certain way then exploiting it (kick low 2-3X, then feint+punch, etc.). Lures and counter by drawing. Create an expectation or the appearance of weakness, wait for the overcommitment, then take advantage. But generally, my approach is "aggressive counter-fighting." Basically, I stay offensive and pepper out shots, they don't need to be particularly threatening, just enough to push and overwhelm someone for a sec, then create short beats where I stop. People then naturally try to answer back immediately. You bang-bang-bang....wait...then bang (usually with a slip, parry, etc. - I dig split entry especially). It sounds funny, but there's a great playful side to this in sparring and such, too. I really enjoy doing goofy stuff or feigning that I'm more tired or beat up than I am - then resuming regular intensity after they've dropped their guard a bit or come a' hunting.

Ed you're a genius. We can just steal all their best fakes

This is why I love mixed martial arts, sharing info is the path to great fighting

I'm definitely adding these to my Kadena de Mano and wrestling! I'd argue that trapping is supposed to be approached with an attitude like what we see here.

Almost everybody: catching the glove, baiting, moving the opponent around Seth: *Listening*

Look at how Kamaru Usman knocked out Jorge Masvidal, he used a handtrap to straight right. In Bruce's writings, his handtraps were a quick moment in time; much like how handtraps are used in MMA

Good for Varga too since striking in the clinch is illegal in Karate Combat unless it's on the break. But striking while trapping/controlling the arms is legal in Karate Combat.

Excellent topic of discussion and exchange of ideas!

My Goju Ryu school teaches that ankle hook-side kick as one of the fundamental combinations! I love it and love seeing it here too! Great stuff!

Love it! For fun, some Kung fu techniques some of them resemble to my knowledge: Mike's: Cloud Cover Palm from Shaolin Xiao Hong Quan Shane: Pulling Hand/other names from wing chun, taiji, lots of stuff Ed's and Kevin's: Need no explanation lol Gentleman at 4:18 whose name I don't know: Single Palm Change/Dragon Palm from Baguazhang (coolest one imo)

I really liked that last one with the sidekick

- so what's your favourite trap in your martial art? some aikido guy: -martial art itself

Such a cool little community all you guys have among martial arts enthusiasts. Im quite jealous. Nothing like that where I live, BUT we do have paradise beaches and forests etc. There is enough people in my area though, like its pretty populated.. it could support a club concept like this. so is that RKM Icy Mike's place? do you know how he started it?

I loved that you included blackie chan, and he actually said something very useful and technical for someone that "technically" has no real training.

im loving the dynamics of all you guys together, all humble all learning from eachother!!!

Me and my teammates met Gabriel varga at a local tournament 2 weeks ago he’s a legend in my town Wich is where he’s from .he’s a great guy and everyone looks up to him

Appreciate showing the Jiu Jitsu Strike, Web Punch above elbow to go in for a potential lock!!

Varga's slick kick captures/reaps are a common staple of Northern Gongfu/Sanshou. They drop a lot of Thai Boxers on their ass with those. I'm guessing he spent a lot of time sparring Sanshou/Sanda guys. Also, good to see a wrestler talk about their thoughts on traps... Wing Chun and FMA blend together well with wrestling.

Thank you for letting everyone share their input!

The last one was a rare concept of Bagua, I was told that the you should be able to use it like the hand, either to strike, sweep, or linking it. It will be super hard to predict if the legs can keep changing like that.

Kevin's parry to pin is a lot like my favorite. My fav is pak sao with lead hand, pin the elbow with the rear hand (might also Tyson hop to the lead side), then I come over the pinned arm with an elbow killshot. (Does that make sense?) I have hit this multiple times in sparring and its SUPER satisfying. As a variant, instead of the elbow you can shoot your arm to the neck and enter the clinch with great advantage or you can shoot the arm across his neck for leverage and then sweep. I also like to bounce from a pak sao into an elbow with the same hand. Or from a frame to a spearing elbow against a wrestler.

Great Video! Again, Ed's head movement dodging icy's trap jabs is crazy fast!

Cool discussion guys, thanks! Should be noted that the Thai "jut" is technically a trap..or really any parry+fire/riposte, etc. We can widen the concept and look at kickboxing as "trapping" the opponent's perception (fakes/feints, etc), "grappling" with his anticipation. But man you can really see it in the clinch in MMA, with elbows, knees, etc...controlling limbs etc directly becomes super important there

Oh..... wow. Nice ones. The last leg one is something my bagua / destreza (spanish swordsmanship 16-19th cenutry) coach showed me long long time ago. I sometimes pull it off with short weapons, leg hook into stab. From low kick feint, or change of guard sequence.

Loved all the different traps definitely gonna apply some of these to the wooden dummy and in sparring

I absolutely love Seth's one lmao I am gonna steal that one

Shanes like 'I was hitting the dab pen, what are we talking about?'

First time I ever kick boxed. I was supposed to spar another teenage green belt, but secretly my sensei who thought I was getting too big for my britches had planned with the kickboxing coach to have me spar an older green bet who had been an experienced amateur boxer. The dude opened up with a full power overhead right and that set the tone. I wound up breaking his nose in the second round. The memorable part of it was since this guy had very little kicking experience kicking every time his coach shouted for him to kick or even to throw a particular punching combination I'd do it first and hit him with it. It actually made a difference.

That trap Shane did is one I used the most in sparring.

Some of my favorite traps aren't traps as much as set-ups, one of them is that I like to do the Wonderboy where I lean forward a bit with low hands to draw a strike to the head then fade back into an intercepting side-kick. One of the ones I use more often though, is I'll do a kinda Wing-Chun style cross step check to the shin when someone's coming forward to throw off their timing a bit, then I immediately follow up with punches.

Fun video!!!! Call it a new genre, fighting slice of life 😆

Man I'm loving these recent collabs lately. Sweet!

Awesome video with lots of input. Love the last one! Thanks guys!!

2:03 = the moment I finally realised the hauntingly familiar acoustic track was Chōzetsu ☆ Dynamic from Dragon Ball Super 😆

Great stuff. Avengers joke in the description reminds me of that ""The most ambitious crossover"-meme and that kinda fits this video too! 😁 I like Lop Sao into Cross or side kick. 😀

I thoroughly enjoyed this. So much to learn. Please do more of these collaborations!

Love the topic!

Great video! Love the collabs you guys do! Keep them coming! 😆

Love this video concept!! 🔥

Not the most sport friendly trap, but standing on/stomping on someone’s toes is a surprisingly effective bridge. It’s funny how even a light pressure people just want to look down. Really good lead for a “cheap shot” as well.

The one cliff does is also in capoeira. I usually see it from a lower grounded position. It was one of the combos I had to practice for my graduation 2yrs ago.

Great video and great collaboration. Just a small issue Ed, the music is a bit too loud in my opinion. But I love the information, the video idea and the fun everyone was having!

That wrestling pop in a striking context is really intriguing, like where else can we merge these techniques?

Great video, awesome topic

A meeting of the minds one would say.

Tip on trapping its not always about catching the other guys hand because on a jab its almost impossible but rather than chasing the opponents hands you can attack and force them to defend that establishes the bridge and from there you can convert it into a trap. Top position is the hand position you wanna gain in these exchanges. Trapping is like playing chess where you taking away his pieced and forcing them to move until they cant move or have nothing to threaten you with rather.

Awesome video and great crossover

ALL OF MY INFLUENCES (- the karate nerd 😢) ARE IN THIS ONE VID!!!! Thanks to 1 YEAR of my journey!

I got one for you coach. This is applicable to someone who has 'shelled up' or gone into a boxing high guard. Close the distance, place your forearm across their guard horizontally and it will trap their arms/hands. I use it often but I'm still working out the most effective follow-ups ( I'm boxing based ). So far I've just been using a right hook to the body.

Enjoyable topic thanks.

That was cool seeing all you guys together in one video. Nice BONG SAO block by HARD 2 HURT. (I’ll stop by) 😉🤛plus SENSAI SETH and METROLINA martial arts. That was off the hook. Good idea guys. Kevin Lee. What can we say. 🐉🤝☮️we support you guys. 💯

One of my favorites is to feint a jab or a cross to bring their guard up, then throw an axe kick that deliberately targets their hands. The leg coming real high usually keeps their hands high, until the kick yanks them down and away leaving them wide open for the big overhand that's coming right behind the kick. It's real fun to land, but usually only works once, maaaybe twice in any given set of rounds 😅

This is one of the greatest fighting vids I've seen. Was hoping to see what you came out with after seeing you in the back of Varga's video.

Also Bruce Lee considered double and single leg takedowns as "trapping the legs or hips" and head control as "trapping the head", etc! Good stuff though

I need to try Cliff's kick trap, that shit looks awesome

I like the different multiple skill sets

I really like what clif did at the end. I do something similar but im a lefty so i half sweep with my frot foot and then lamd a left overhand

My fav trap is dropping my hands and then throw fast jab, or drop hands and make my opponent drop hands and then throw fast jab

You've got some real heavy hitters in that room bro

Bro, I love this content.

Kevin Lee too 😮👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

Very interesting video. Had a real SunTzu feeling :) thanks

Just amazing

a moment of appreciation for using Naruto-Wind remix for music in the background. ;)

Nice!!!

holy cow you got all the greatest in this video!

Vargas Trap is my Favorite. Good Video

good content 👍

Traps are the funnest part of martial arts. The best Brazilian jiu-jitsu match I ever saw was Marious pujanowski the world's strongest man. He grabbed the guy by the hand yanked him off his feet and pulled him into the other fist it was brutal.

Love the video. It’s an all star cast like the Expendables 😁👍

"I'm stealing that" his sidekick is pretty perfect. I've always wanted to grab a wrist and spin someone into sidekick to the hip and just knock someones feet out completely without really hurting them like a movie kick.

That ending is un skippable bababa

It's a simple one, hardly even worthy of the name, but new or tired people tend to overcommit to parrying the jab. So you feed them 3 jabs in a row. On the first two, you condition the parry, then on the third jab, you roll your forearm around the parry and hit 'em with a hook. Works even better in a mirrored lead, because the distances are shorter than they appear.

That's a lot of martial art youtubers in one room

1 month white belt bjj noob, but I would’ve expected the baiting 3/4 guard from full mount, then sit and truck/ninja roll. Fun and flashy at least :P

It would be really cool to see a video on how footwear effects kicks. How slow do steel toe boots make you. Do sneakers cushion your attack Do hard leather/thick leather boots do more damage etc

J'ai adoré 👍👍👍

Omg it only seems like yesterday when I saw blackie chan's first fight, now he teaching me tips

would love to see more martial arts youtubers like Jesse Enkamp and maybe Wonderboy on the next Collab. Great content as always.

LOVE THE CONTENT. EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOU....MAINLY SHANE AND MIKE

Wow that was a lot of great stuff.

lol "Milton" at the end, "If you skip me again..... Im going to burn down the building." 9:43

I like to start with a roundhouse kick with rear leg and just throw it at the guard. It is quick and a strong enough one so the partner will remember. And settle back to my original position. Then next similar kick goes but it is a "lazyone" [and this is the trap or it is rather a "progressive indirect attack"] the opponent usually steps back 2 steps. This time I am letting down my previously rear leg at the front so the distance is misscalculated hence I follow up with a jkd pendulum side kick usually I arrive when the opponent still not lowered the body wheight or even midstep if it works the otherone flies. And it can go wrong and a pair of gloves are busting my face 😅

I feel like there is potential with Hand trap systems as MMA Ground and pound defense. Currently we see a lot of blocking; holding hands up to obstruct the strike; and general head movement (attempts) But hand trapping could potentially add a lot more counters from the bottom

i hoped for some southpaw combos setups like 1 to the head hard right hook to the body, for like 2 times and then go for 1 to the head get low right hook to the head

For Gabriel Varga's technique on catching the teep, why do you pull it to the side? I was already taught to hold it against the abs so you have 3 points of contact.

martial arts master class in session!!!!!!!

9:12 that something out of a taekwondo poomsae, love it ¡ ( i use it too )

“I’m stealing that”.

Definitely cool to have a coach that uses code words like "whopper" "and "zing um". Left kick is "Judy" and right kick is "Garland". Then you can even have safe words like if the coach says "GET HIM or LETS GO" at the start that means its a false command and not to listen to it, its just to mind control your opponent. Then you can turn false commands into the trap. Like if the coach keeps saying "GET HIM, HEAD KICK" Its just to make the enemy think about headkicks then the fighter can do a takedown or whatever. Also the fighter himself can use keywords as a mind trap. Like the fighter keeps saying "Whopper" and then doing a leg kick. In the 3rd round the fighter then says "whopper" and switches it to a flurry of punches and the enemy is expecting a leg kick. You can also do this by slapping your chest and then doing side kicks. After the 3rd or 4th one every time you slap your chest the enemy is going to be expecting a side kick. BUILD HIS APPREHENSION. You can also use clicking noises or whatever the hell you can think off to mindshift your opponent. Hell you could even pretend to cough and "stop defending yourself" to lure them in.