Along with the rear mount, the mount is considered the most dominant position on the ground in jiu-jitsu. Yet, many students struggle with the mount, preferring to stay on top in side control.

Why is this?
The students feel that their opponents replace the guard or bridge and roll them more easily and they lose their hard fought position. Make no mistake, the mount is a powerful position and worth devoting the training time to make it a solid part of your jiu-jitsu game.

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Here are 3 Tips to improve your mount

1) First priority : Maintain the position

All too often, students achieve the mount and are in too much of a hurry to grab an arm lock.
They have not yet stabilized the mount position (you need at least 3 seconds to be rewarded the 4 points in IBJJF competition) and try to attack. The opponent has room to escape and the top loses their mount.

When you achieve the mount, your first priority is to control the opponent and prevent their escape.
Once you have prevented your opponent’s escape attempts, then you can look at tip 2.

2) Attack the collar / neck

If the opponent on the bottom is not threatened by an attack, they can be free to look to escape.
However, the moment that the person in mount gets a hand deep in the collar, the choke must be defended!

This also tends to bring the arms of the bottom person up and allows the top mount to slide their knees up to a higher mount.
In a “high” mount with your knees in the opponent’s armpits, their ability to effectively bridge is greatly reduced.

3) Develop the arm lock / choke combination attack

Legendary competitor Roger Gracie is famous for this “basic” but powerful attack from the mount.
One year at the World Championships,. Roger had a mission to mount and submit all of his opponents in the black belt division.

Roger advises to train your straight arm lock / cross collar choke combination. The opponent can not defend both of your attacks with 100%.  As you threaten both attacks, and change between the techniques, your opponent falls behind and you gain an advantage.

The top mount allows you to apply your bodyweight and leverage to make the opponent uncomfortable and cause them to commit a mistake.
Threaten the choke to get the arm. Threaten the arm to make your opponent forget their collars and get the choke.

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Credits: Mark Mullen
Gracie Barra Black belt based in Saigon, Vietnam
Twitter: @MarkMullenBJJ