Learn to Counter Outside Ashi and Take the Back, Gordon Ryan Style

New Trendy Move I see EVERYWHERE

It's hard to keep up with the new trends nowadays. Every month, a new trendy move starts appearing (or reappearing) in BJJ competition.

This one's been around for a while, but in the past few months, I've received numerous requests for an explanation on how to execute it, and more importantly, why this move is emerging and why to choose it over others.

As usual, I need a strong reason or motive for preferring one move over another, and this one passes my test. It ticks one of the most important boxes (if not the most important) of any good defensive move: it swiftly and reliably transitions you from a defensive to an offensive cycle.

I usually avoid flashy moves, but this one has passed the defense-to-offense test, so I believe it is very valuable. It's not that I dislike fancy, flashy stuff; I just think in most cases, there's a simpler, less Instagram-worthy move that works better and has a higher success rate.

Here it is:

Let’s break it down:

Outside Ashi Defense/Backtake

Step 1:

When the opponent has Outside Ashi (OA), and we are standing.

Step 1 is to clear our knee and smash their legs below our knee:

As long as our opponent doesn’t have an Achilles grip, we can go to step 2

Step 2

We can drop to our knee like so:

And connect our knee and heel to create a wedge around our partner’s hips:

Step 3

Fall and use your knees to wedge around your partner’s hips:

Step 4

This is the hardest step of the whole move, and it requires a bit of getting used to it, in my opinion.

First, you need to make a switch with your legs like so:

You have your first hook in!

Step 5.1: If the opponent brings their back to the mat

Close a lockdown(Scorpion, Cross Body Ride) and get upper body control to get to chest-to-back control:

Step 5.2: If the opponent tries to go to turtle

Follow them, controlling their hips, and take the back from turtle:

If you are interested in watching Gordon’s explanation, here’s the video:

This one is worth drilling very progressively since the move must be performed precisely if you want to hit it in live rolling.

Let me know what you think and if you want me to cover a specific move in the future!

Oss!