Escape the Full Mount
The full mount position is where you are on your back (or on your stomach or side) and someone is sitting on top of you.
People who are not sufficiently trained in this position will usually freak out. They will close their eyes, turn their heads away, and even roll to their stomachs to escape the nightmare of punches raining down.
The problem of course if you turn away is that you can’t defend yourself and you will lose the fight.
You must face the danger head on if you want to escape the full mount.
Steps to Escape the Full Mount
Feet to Butt & Guard Up
I recommend a slightly extended Muay Thai style guard as this blocks the most angles and it allows you to reach out and grab onto your opponent’s clothing, elbows, wrists, etc. to help pull them down.
Bring your feet close to your butt so you are in position for the next move.
Thrust Your Hips
With your feet close to your butt you can drive your heels into the ground which will buck the person on top sending them flying forward.
If they are in the middle of a punch they will have to abandon it in order to catch themselves so they don’t face-plant on the ground.
In some cases the person on top might have really good balance (or be trained to keep the full mount) in which case you want to do multiple rapid hip thrusts and reach up and grab them and pull them down.
Keep your guard in tight so that as they fall you can catch them so you don’t have their chest smash into your face. Your elbows / forearms will do the catch.
Double Overhook
We have a brief moment to get ahold of them. If we don’t grab them and keep them tight they will return to punching at us.
Swim your arms up and around their upper arms and lock your hands together. I usually am able to grab my wrist with my other hand. The space should be so tight they couldn’t possibly pull their arms out of your hold.
It is also very important to get above their elbows if you want the best hold possible.
Trap 1 Foot
Reach out with one of your feet and slide it back as close to your hip / butt as possible. This will trap their foot so that when you go to roll them they can’t reach out with their foot to stop the roll.
You have their arms tied up so they can’t use their arms to stop the roll either.
Hip Thrust at a 45° Angle and Roll
Hip thrust again but this time instead of straight up use a 45° angle to the side where you have their foot trapped. Once again both of their arms are tied up and that one foot is trapped so they won’t have any way to stop the roll from happening.
As they roll just go with the momentum and you will have just escaped the full mount.
But you aren’t done. The fight is still going.
Stay Tight as You Roll
Since the opponent hasn’t been defeated yet you can’t afford to get sloppy.
Stay as absolutely close to them as possible.
Keep those double overhooks tight!!!
Keep your head pressed to their chest.
Optional Headbutt
Now you can do a headbutt if you would like. Simply raise your head just enough to get a look at where to go and then smash.
Go in forehead first from their sternum while remaining low. Don’t sit up tall and come down with your forehead or else if they duck their chin you will meet forehead to forehead and that will hurt both of you. Instead go in more like a bull horns first.
I say “optional” headbutt because you are likely to break their nose, cheekbone, knock a tooth out, cause a cut, etc. So if you find yourself in a lower threat situation and don’t really want to hurt someone then skip the headbutt.
Pin & Hit
We need to do more than just escape the full mount – we want to end the fight as well. We don’t want to stand back up only to have them get back up and continue their attack.
With your non-dominant arm smoothly transition from your overhook to pinning their elbow down.
Then with your dominant arm you can hit.
Hammer fists to the face / head will knock someone out for a medium to high threat situation.
An eye flick to stun someone without causing injury would be appropriate for a low threat situation where you don’t want to or don’t need to hurt someone.
A smash to the throat would be appropriate if you find yourself in a high / lethal situation.
Pin Both Elbows & Hop Up
Now if you followed all of these steps so far you have not only escaped the full mount but most likely knocked the opponent out.
However, in some cases you might be in a HUGE hurry to get back to your feet. Such as multiple attackers.
In that case you might roll and hop up without having a chance to knock the opponent out first.
So if you just start to stand up they could hit or grab you.
Solution: Pin both of their elbows as you hop up.
The hop is basically a burpee – everyone’s favorite exercise…
Hey finally you have a reason to practice burpees!
When you burpee up make sure you land with wide feet so you aren’t easily knocked off balance.
Congratulations you have escaped the full mount.
Optionally Hammer Fist Testicles
Once again this is optional. If the opponent is knocked out this becomes superfluous.
However if you are in a low threat situation where you didn’t knock the opponent out but instead did an eye strike we can double down by now doing a hammer fist to their testicles.
Neither of these strikes should cause an injury – just an injury like response. Giving you time to escape or turn your attention to the next attacker.
Rise Up Ready
Speaking of next attacker maybe you thought you were in a 1 on 1 fight only to stand back up and get sucker punched from behind.
So when you escape the full mount you want to be ready for the next attack if there is one.
Get your guard up, I recommend the Muay Thai high guard, and turn around with your guard leading the way. If a punch is incoming it will hopefully deflect it while you get your bearings.
Conclusion
Against an untrained fighter it is not difficult to escape the full mount. There are a few things that can make it harder such as the opponent being significantly bigger and stronger or you not having sufficient training.
The 1st you don’t have much control over but the 2nd one you do.
You can be amazing at escaping the full mount with a little practice.
Which is why you should find a good reality-based martial arts school and get your reps of training.
Until next time,
Brian
