A fundamental dichotomy in methods of attack – the ultimate aim of all good Jiu Jitsu is submission. When you pursue that aim there is a choice between OPPORTUNISTIC methods and CONTROL BASED methods. The former involve seeing a momentary opportunity to attack usually based on a fleeting lapse in your opponent's defenses. The latter involve the systematic dismantling of your opponents defenses even when they have been out resolutely in place until the defenses are insufficient to stop your attacks. As a general rule I prefer control based methods since at the higher levels athletes don't make many mistakes upon which to capitalize. Nonetheless, it is critical that you be strong in both for the simple reason that in operation they usually compliment each other. So for example, when attacking the back we must constantly be looking for any minor lapse of defensive position of hands and jaw on the part of our opponent. If there should be a fleeting opportunity we must immediately capitalize upon it and threaten the strangle. The predictable defenses our opponent must put in place to prevent that immediate opportunistic strangle then allow us to set into operation our distinctive back attack system of arm traps that strip away defenses until the strangle in inevitable. If the opponent over reacts to the arm traps and exposes his neck, we immediately go back to the opportunistic route and snatch the strangle. In this way we can exploit both the speed of opportunistic methods and the inexorable power of systems based/control methods and play them off against each other to great effect. With all your favorite submissions, INVESTIGATE THE INTERPLAY BETWEEN OPPORTUNISTIC ENTRIES AND CONTROL BASED ENTRIES AND learn TO USE THEM IN UNISON – you will love the results!
