Priorities: Whenever you're in a bad situation understand this: You will be faced with a set of dangers and problems. Your job is to assess WHICH danger IS THE MOST IMMEDIATE AND DRAL WITH THAT FIRST. THEN TO RANK THE OTHER PROBLEMS AND DANGERS AND DEAL WITH EACH IN TURN, BEING SURE TO DEAL WITH EACH PROBLEM PROPERLY BEFORE TURNING TO THE next. Be aware that this can all happen quickly and usually the progression through the problems is fairly rapid. Here, Gordon Ryan has had his back taken. The first and most pressing problem is always the threat of strangulation – so that gets first priority before anything else – hence the inside thumb grip at the wrist with primary defensive hand. Only when the most pressing problem has been addressed so you go to the next. Then you go quickly from problem to problem until successful resolution of the whole problem – which means escape from the position overall and hopefully the beginning of a counterattack. Always have a crystal clear notion in your mind for all the crises positions in Jiu jitsu as to what the first danger is and have a good first response and then work progressively from there. You must be able to rank dangers and problems – once you can do that you can address them by rank – and once you can do that you'll be a much harder opponent to control and finish!
