Being on your back with someone straddling you (mounted) and throwing punches at you is the second worst position you can be in. The worst position is to be face down, while being mounted, and someone’s throwing punches at you. Generally, anytime someone has your back (rear mount) it’s a worst-case scenario for you and a best-case scenario for them.
In Wednesday night’s class, we did a drill... I’ll call it the “Sleeping Beauty Drill.” In this drill, we were on our backs with our eyes closed and our arms spread eagle. My training partner was mounted on me. He awakened me by slapping me in the face and punching me in the torso. My job was to defend against the punches and then trap and roll (sweep) him.
As a Krav Maga practitioner... a Kravist... we don’t want to be on the ground if we can help it, but [blank] happens. So... as our lead instructor always says, “Let’s fix it.”
The following are a couple of techniques that can be used to reduce the punches being thrown and to get the attacker off you.
A very basic technique is to use Krav Maga's inside and outside defenses against the punches. In addition to that, as a punch is thrown, buck your hips straight up. This will force the attacker forward, making him lose his balance, and will probably make him base himself out on the ground with his hands. A variation to this is to buck up and drive a knee into the attacker's butt to force him forward onto his hands.
Once the attacker is on his hands, reach out and trap one of his arms above his elbow. You can reach either over (trapping from the inside out) or under (trapping from the outside in). Simultaneously, using your leg, trap the attacker’s leg that is on the same side as the trapped arm.
Next, buck your hips upward toward your head. At the end of this motion, roll your hips over toward the trapped side. Drive over with your feet to end up on top. When you’re on top, deliver punches and elbows to the face and groin as you get away from the attacker.
In another technique, start out the same way by using inside and outside defenses against the punches. However, this time grab one of the attacker’s wrists with both hands. You can use the grabbed arm to block punches from the attacker’s other arm.
Next, pull the grabbed arm across the attacker’s body while at the same time you use your leg to trap the attacker’s leg that is on the same side of the grabbed wrist. A variation to this is to grab both wrists and pull them across his body.
Now, buck your hips upward toward your head. At the end of this motion, roll your hips over toward the trapped side. Drive over with your feet to end up on top. When you’re on top, deliver punches and elbows to the face and groin as you get away from the attacker.
Tip: To effectively buck your attacker off you, make sure your hips are under him. A good ground fighter will ride your chest high in order to make your bridging or bucking ineffectual. To thwart him from riding high, jam your elbows into his knees to prevent him from sliding up. If he’s already slid up, jam your elbows into his knees and shimmy yourself up until your hips are underneath of him again.
Get out of this predicament as fast as possible. In the street, there will be no referee to stop the fight because you’re taking too many punches to the head and can’t defend yourself anymore.
