BJJ Fundamentals

Lesson 34 – Collar-Sleeve Defence

Warm Up (5min)

• Partner Drill
  • Collar-Sleeve Control

Lesson (30min)

Standard Collar-Sleeve Defence

1. Start in collar-sleeve guard top
2. Try to maintain your posture upright, with your head above your hips
3. Bring your knee to the inside of uke’s leg and push to disconnect your bicep from uke’s foot
   • Lean over to uke’s sleeve grip side to unweight your leg, allowing you to move it
4. Use your free hand to post inside uke’s knee, forcing their foot to point away from you
5. Move off to the side into headquarters position

Knee-Drop Collar-Sleeve Defence

1. Start in collar-sleeve guard top
2. Uke makes it difficult/risky to defend while standing
3. Join your knee and elbow together on uke’s sleeve side
   • Your knee should be visible to someone standing in front of you, otherwise uke can easily break your elbow/knee connection
4. Drop your rear knee to the ground
   • Lean your head back to stop uke from transitioning to submissions
5. As before, hand post inside uke’s knee and move to headquarters

Knee-Drop Collar-Sleeve Defence

1. Start in collar-sleeve guard top
2. Uke makes it difficult/risky to defend while standing or kneeling
3. Grip uke’s Gi pants on the side of their bicep post
4. Sit back into ashi-garami
   • Clamp your top knee and bottom foot together over uke’s hip to create distance
5. Heist up to top position
   • Switch your gi pants grip so that your bottom hand is free to post on the mat

Active Drilling

Collar-Sleeve – Breaking Connections

• Give the class some time to drill the three techniques shown while uke applies moderate (~60% resistance).
• Select the right approach based on how much uke has managed to break your posture.