5 Must-Know Grappling Techniques For A Fighter With Strong Striking Skills

We asked John Danaher, who holds a 4th-degree black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu, what the minimum grappling requirements should be for a fighter with a strong background of standing striking skills before getting serious about fighting. Below, John dives into the five must-know techniques to get you on the path to becoming a more versatile fighter.

1. Stop a takedown in two main ways - First through the threat of specialized striking technique well adapted to stopping a shot, such as knee strikes. Second, specialized grappling techniques such as down blocking and sprawling in cases where a grappler actually gets a hold of you.
2. Clinching skills - The ability to off-balance and disengage from a standing clinch. Grapplers will always be trying to get to either takedown or clinch, therefore, the ability to extricate yourself from there is crucial.
3. Fence grappling skills - Grapplers will always seek to use the fence as a means of limiting a strikers mobility and preventing sprawl counters to takedowns. You must be able to stop a takedown and get back up on the fence against a successful takedown.
4. Recover from a pin and get back up to your feet - At some point, you will be taken down. You must develop the ability to defend yourself, escape a pin and get back up to your feet from turtle position and guard position.
5. Escape the most common submission holds - Submissions are the bane of many striking experts. You must be able to recognize the emerging danger of the more common submissions and escape.