Iron Grip Single Leg Defense With Ben Askren
Being able to defend against whatever your opponent throws at you is a skill that a lot of combat sport athletes want. Whether you’re a wrestler, a boxer or an MMA fighter, you want to make sure that all your offense can land and none of your opponents can.
This will not only keep you safe but also mess with your opponent's head a ton. Just imagine how you would feel if every time you tried to attack your opponent, they just defended whatever you were going for. You would start to lose morale and second guess yourself rather quickly.
That’s why you want to have a really strong defense,as it helps break down your opponent both mentally and physically. That being said one of the most common techniques that you will find yourself defending against is the single leg. You probably know a fair amount of single leg defenses, one of them probably being to sprawl and slide off to break the grip.
This works against most people but sometimes you will run into someone that just has an iron grip that will not break. That’s why you need to have some sort of defense from the position that you end up in, or else you’re in trouble.
Luckily we have one of the best wrestlers alive today to show you just what to do from this position.
In this video, Ben Askren and his brother Max go over what to do if your open has an iron grip on their single leg takedown.
Who Is Ben Askren?
Ben Askren is a top tier wrestler and wrestling coach but he hasn’t just stuck to wrestling. Askren is also a very accomplished MMA fighter having won both the ONE championship and Bellator welterweight titles and he even competed in the UFC for a short time. Now that he’s retired Ben has focused most of his time coaching the next generation of wrestlers from his own school, the Askren Wrestling Academy.
Hip Tip Single Leg Defense
The video starts off with Max getting a single leg on Ben. Ben then sprawls but because of his grip strength, Max still won’t let go. So from this position, Ben goes for what he calls the Hip Tip. First thing Ben does is get a belly whizzer with on the same side that Max has the single leg on.
Ben then brings his free leg’s knee up so he can sit on it. From there he sits back and posts on the mat with his free arm.
This will roll your opponent onto their side. From here you have a few options. In the video Ben shows that you can hip over to the side his brother is now facing and take a crossface for control.
Something else that Ben shows is that as your falling and posting, you can move your belly whizzer arm to take the tricep. From there you can actually use that arm to help you step over to on top of your opponent to score.
Learn More Techniques From Ben Askren
If you like this technique and want to learn more from “Ben “Funky” Askren then you should check out his full video series THE KEYS TO SUCCESSFUL SINGLE LEG OFFENSE BY MAX & BEN ASKREN” available exclusively on Fanatic Wrestling!