It’s just a matter of time but if you’re training, then you’ll eventually run into an untrained guy who wants to test his skills by brawling on the mats.
These are usually the “In a fight, I just see red, bro!” guys.
They’re never very skilled, but the problem is that even the reddest of the just-seeing-red bros present some danger.
That’s because they’ll go zero to one hundred in the first moments of the match. Deep down, they know they have no gas tank, and so they gamble everything on winning in the first few seconds.
If this were a street fight, they’d have one flurry of wild, desperate, untrained punches.
There’s no skill or strategy here, but if one of those haymakers catches you on the chin, it could still knock you out.
In a grappling context, they’ll have a rudimentary plan, which is usually to grab onto something, then squeeze and twist as hard as possible.
If they catch a headlock, they’ll hang on for dear life, which means that escaping will be a slow, painful process for you. Alternately, they’ll grab a foot and then try to twist it off with all their strength.
These are low-percentage attacks, but because they’re so unorthodox and uncontrolled, they can still be dangerous. There’s zero control and zero looking out for your joint health.
The first rule of going against one of these just-see-red bros is to avoid injury.
Therefore get your grips, control their ability to move, and don’t let them get the grip they want.
The second rule is to tire them out.
Once you have a good grip and/or established a dominant position then you should hang on for the ride as they thrash around for 30 seconds and completely gas out.
When they’re completely exhausted, systematically submit them as many times as possible for the rest of the round.
Good luck with your training!
Stephan Kesting
P.S. If you’re looking for gripfighting techniques and strategies then check out The Gripfighting and Kuzushi Formula with Rob Biernacki, available here on this site.
P.P.S. And if you’re looking for ways to defend yourself against much larger man-monsters on the mat then check out How to Defeat the Bigger Stronger Opponent. This series has two installments: Volume 1, with Emily Kwok, and Volume 2, with Brandon Mullins.
