The arm drag is a great tool for setting up any number of takedowns, but surprisingly there’s very little out there on the internet on how to do the armdrag.

  1. Anytime you can grab your opponent’s wrist you can armdrag him. The way I was taught the arm drag was off an attempted neck tie or shoulder push, as pictured here.

    Armdrag 1

  2. When Conor reaches for me I circle outwards in a “wax off” motion. (Excuse the terrible posture we have for the purposes of learning this technique)

    Armdrag 2

  3. When his wrist is low (at my hip) I reach across and grab his arm as close to the armpit as possible with a thumbless grip.

    Armdrag 3

  4. Once I’ve grabbed him, I pull my right hand violently back to my right hip, like I’m reholstering a gun.
  5. The important thing here is to do a strong, hips forward, penetration step between Conor’s legs. If you fail to do this you’ll end up running around each other like you’re square dancing. And that’s not cool.

    Armdrag 4

  6. What you are trying to do is cut off his circle. In all greco/clinch the aim is to have your chest facing your opponent and his chest facing away from you. If you think about cutting a line 45 degrees through his body this can help. Once you’ve cut across him, secure a tight grip: hands pulling in, , elbows point down, hips in and lower than his, head pushing in.

    Armdrag 5

The grip shown above is the set up for a siple trip up style takedown.