Reflections on the mounted position: The founders of Jiu jitsu conceived the mounted position as a platform for striking with fists and elbows in a fighting/self defense context. In this context the basic mounted position is devastating all by itself. However, when strikes are prohibited in grappling, it’s loses much of its bite. In grappling, the mounted position only really becomes dangerous again when you can move from the basic mount into other variations of the mounted position that facilitate submissions, in particular, variations that get either get your opponents arm extended up and over his head or that get you high up on opponents chest and perpendicular to your opponent. When you can transition from basic mount to mount variations – THEN the mount regains its bite and becomes dangerous even in a pure grappling context. Next time you’re mounted in grappling training – play around with high mounts and getting angles – don’t be satisfied with just getting mounted – that’s fine when you’re allowed to strike, but for submissions you’ll need the other variations to make your mount dangerous
