The chicken wing armbar is a great submission that is set up from side control and finished in north south. It’s particularly useful because if you lose it you don’t lose position, you effectively block out his shrimping game by going for it, and you don’t need an underhook to start.

As you can see, I’ve got ‘regular’ side control: shoulder of justice and an underhook on the far arm. This is a good side control, but is vulnerable to shrimping if you don’t have proper pressure with the shoulder of justice or your opponent is strong enough to push you away with his near side arm.

I switch my shoulder of justice around so my top elbow and top knee are sandwiching his head. I withdraw my underhook and place it on the ground at his near side hip, and prepare to move to North South.

With your top hand, you want to slide it (palm down) up his ribcage, and get underneath his arm. Dan has lifted his elbow for the photo, but there is always room to start worming this in, even if it just takes a bit longer.

As your forearm gets closer into his armpit,turn you thumb up, separating his elbow from his body even more. This movement should be done the same time as you walk around to North South. You want your hips to be on the same side as the arm you’re attacking – which means you move past his head to secure top position.

To escape, Daniel really needs to roll onto this back, so it’s important to get your knee as far down his spine as possible. Your knee should be in tight, like everything else in top game.

You can also lift your knee and stay on your feet, as long as you’re applying pressure to the back. This allows you to be more mobile in case you need to switch to an armbar or abandon the technique. Daniel can escape by rolling onto his stomach, but it’s not a guaranteed escape. If you’ve good control of his arm, you can stop him rolling. Plus he’s not guaranteed this single leg reversal.

Take a figure four grip as shown. Keep his arm at ninety degrees – if it’s not a right angle, it’s a wrong angle! Also, keep your chest connected to his elbow. You want to break his grip with a hip extension, not using arm strength.

To break his grip, pull away in the direction he’s facing. This is the opposite direction to finishing the technique. Once his grip is broken, turn back and push his hand past his body to finish the move. (mpg of breaking the grip correctly, 5 secs, 1.4MB)

And finally, always remember to KIAI!