Per usual, I led stand-up grappling practice at Fit Factory Jiu Jitsu, 3814 Boyd’s Creek Highway, Sevierville, TN on April 8, 2024. However, today I’m taking a short break from the normal format for a quick dive into some theory that has been informing my personal practice of late.
I’ve heard a lot of coaches, fighters, and commentators describe boxing’s jab over the years.
It seems everyone has their own unique take on its strengths, weaknesses, and applications. A quick list of the jab’s uses might include:
Manage distance
Impair your opponent’s vision
Set your own rhythm (either for combos or for deception)
Disrupt your opponent’s rhythm, posture, position
There’s also the question of how powerful the jab is. Some people say that a jab isn’t intended to be a knockout. Others say that if it doesn’t at least sting, your opponent wont respect it. Bruce Lee said that you should lead with your strongest weapons and he emphasized developing knockout power in the front hand. (Yes I know he’s an actor, not a boxer, but he almost certainly could have kicked my ass, so we’ll give him a say in the argument, just not the conclusive word.)
Regardless of how the jab is used, I think we can agree that it is quick and easy to deploy, relatively low risk, and when used with smart footwork allows you to maneuver offensively while forcing your opponent to be defensive.
Does this description of the jab sound like the snapdown?
Maybe. . .
In one of his instructionals, John Danaher claims that the snapdown is to stand-up grappling as the jab is to boxing. Rather than agree or disagree outright, I want to make a distinction between the snapdown and the head hang/head pull.
In my experience, a snapdown that brings an opponent’s hands all the way to the mat requires a bit of setup. Skilled opponents are sufficiently aware of their head position and don’t let you simply reach up and snap that powerfully without a handfight. Plus, a snapdown that brings an opponent’s hands all the way to the mat feels more like the equivalent of a knockout (or at least a knock down), the kind of thing that has a major impact on the trajectory of the match. That doesn’t fit our description of the jab above.
Maybe you don’t mind that your snapdown isn’t likely to bring your opponent’s hands to the mat since you’re just using it for disruption. But, that’s equivalent to the jab without the sting. If I’m going to snap, I want the intent to be that my opponent’s hands are going to the floor. If I know that a snapdown of that caliber requires a handfight and a winning tie first, then I can’t really consider the snapdown to be a jab.
Let’s consider a precursor to the snapdown that might work better as a jab-equivalent.
What is the head hang, and why not just call it a collar tie?
The head hang is simple.
Get your palm on the back of your opponent’s head, fingers pointed in the same direction as your sternum/forearm.
Drop your elbow straight down into space.
Nestle their forehead in the crook of your wrist.
Hang your weight on them like you’re doing a plank exercise.
Done correctly, this forces your opponent to look straight down at the floor, or even a bit backward between their legs. This limits their access to your upper body, throttles their athleticism, and drives their chin toward their chest in the can-opener orientation that we know creates a structurally weak neck.
How is this different from a standard collar tie? Two ways.
First difference, the position of your hand and the direction your fingers are pointing. In a typical collar tie, your hand is on the opponent’s neck (as opposed to the back of their head) and your fingers are pointed perpendicular to the direction your forearm is pointed (as opposed to pointing the same direction as your forearm).
Second difference, the position of your elbow. In a typical collar tie, your elbow is framing against your opponent’s collar bone or shoulder. This gives you increased leverage and makes it harder for them to secure a counter-grip. In the head hang, the elbow is deliberately not framed against the opponent, allowing you to hang your weight on their head.
But doesn’t this make it easier for your opponent to counter-grip? Yes. We’ll get to that next.
Head Hang vs. Head Pull: Turning a static position into a jab
If you simply hang on your opponent’s head as described above and try to camp there, they will inevitably move and you’ll have to move with them or lose your grip/balance. Additionally, with your elbow hanging in space, your opponent has ready access to it from which they can set up the grips they need to muster their own offense. So once we’ve gotten the basic body mechanics of the head hang, we’ll need to graduate to something better suited to the fast paced context of sparring.
Enter the head pull.
The head pull is a dynamic version of the head hang. You’ll have the same grip orientation and you’ll still aim to hang your weight onto the back of your opponent’s head. But you’ll also pull down powerfully and you wont be looking to stay there. Instead, you’ll be looking for the opening your opponent will inevitably provide as they attempt to shuck your grip.
I’ve encountered three common options for progressing the attack from here. Which one you get depends as much upon how your opponent defends as it does upon your preference. You can expect to have the following options:
Head pull again with the other hand
Establish upper body tie
Depending on how they reach to clear your grip you’ll find they give you access to an armdrag, underhook, or 2 on 1
Advance your tie-up to perform a true snapdown
This typically involves keeping your head hang grip and adding either a shoulder grip or an elbow grip with the other hand
Tactics for applying the head pull
There is one major way in which this head pull technique is not like a jab. It doesn’t work well as the “1” in the “1-2” combo. This has to do with the range at which it works.
I made a distinction above about the standard collar tie versus the head hang. I think the reason people typically collar tie instead of head pull is because the collar tie is accessible at a further-out range. Access to the back of someone’s head cannot be gained until your are nearly chest to chest and fighting for upper body tie-ups.
If you try to reach for the back of someone’s head from further out, you’ll quickly find them underneath your reaching elbow and establishing control inside your armpit or behind your knee. Either way, you’ll be fighting from behind if not already on your way down to the mat. The risk-reward proposition of the head pull from collar tie range is bad.
On the contrary, once you’ve closed distance and begun fighting for an upper body tie-up, the head pull is much more accessible and much less risky. For example, you’ve pulled an arm drag and the opponent was able to stop you from getting behind their shoulder to secure the position. In doing so they’ll have squared back up to you. As they square up, either arm can reach up for a quick head pull (I typically prefer the far arm, the one that didn’t perform the drag).
A head pull at this point can easily cause enough disruption to reopen your attack on the arm drag, or open a new avenue of attack. This “head pull offense” is reminiscent of pressure passing in jiu jitsu where the relentless pressure forces the defender to act, and when the defender acts, he gives the passer an opportunity to progress their position.
Don’t stress too much about which option the defender gives you. As you develop experience in the positions where the head pull is available, you’ll develop answers for the ways that opponents attempt to deal with the disruption and pressure created your head pull.
Good Hunting,
Charles