BJJ / Grappling Technique: Knee on Belly

Knee on belly / stomach (KOB) is one of the most painful and frustrating positions to achieve in grappling / jiujitsu / MMA. On the top you can control your opponents hips and shoulders, or at least stay on them as they move about. If your opponent tries to escape you can pull up with your hands and force your knee ibnto them, hence increasing the pressure, or transition back down to side control or even flick your leg across to the mount or back mount.

A variety of strikes, chokes, arm- or even leg-locks can be started from this position and your relative disengagement from the opponent, compared to say a deep low mounted position, means you can be more aware of your surrounding and can react faster in a multi-attacker situation.

You can enter the KOB position from a variety of scenarios. You opt to go there instead of mount after a hip throw or a guard pass. You could pop there from side control or even retreat from mount when you want to maintain a high level of mobility while still affecting tremendous pressure on the opponent.

There are no right or wrong ways of going into or out of the KOB. Only ways that afford you control (tight) vs ones that afford you mobility (loose). Here's a concise treaty on the topic of Knee on Belly:

But just as important as it is to get there, it is important to stay fluid in your KOB game. The following drills, if you invest the time and energy into drilling them, will add that fluidity:

Once you're maintenance and flow game is high level, start attacking your opponent. One of my favourite attacks is the choke and to demonstrate is none other than Mr Nick Brooks from Mill Hill BJJ:

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