Making your mounted position intimidating (even when you can't punch): The original purpose of Jiu jitsu was to build a positional game where you attain what was considered the ultimate positions in a one on one fight without weapons – the mount and rear mount – from where you could rain down uncontested punches and elbows on an opponent to finish with either the strikes themselves, or submissions based on defensive reactions to those strikes. Now you have to ask yourself – are those positions still any good when you aren't allowed to strike in grappling matches? Well, obviously rear mount is still a great position since strangleholds from the rear are the highest rated finishing method in Jiu jitsu. What about the front mount? Is that still the best position when you are grappling. At first look I would say no. The mounted position by itself is nothing special in a grappling match. It is actually less stable than most side or north south pins and offers fewer submission options. The magic of the mount is only realized WHEN YOU BEGIN TO MANIPULATE YOUR OPPONENTS arms INTO COMPROMISED POSITIONS SO THAT YOU CAN DIRECTLY ATTACK HIS BREATHING AND SET up DEVASTATING SUBMISSION ENTRIES WHILST SHUTTING DOWN HIS BEST METHODS OF ESCAPE. It is only THEN that the mount becomes a scary position again when there are no strikes involved. The problem is that the mount is usually taught as a SCORING move – that is understandable since it's the highest scoring move in the sport – but the scoring criteria are only based on your LEG positioning, whereas the PRESSURE, SUBMISSION and CONTROL aspects of the mount come from the interaction of your legs and the management of your opponents ARMS and head. If you are going to build a devastating mount without strikes, you need to go beyond the scoring criteria and into the PRESSURE criteria, which means not being satisfied with the position itself but going the extra distance and manipulating your opponent arms and head into vulnerable positions from where even breathing is difficult, forget about escape – and from where resistance to submission holds is exceedingly difficult. Only then does the mount become scary in grappling
