The Best Takedowns You Can Learn For Self Defense

Depending on what kind of altercation you find yourself in, sometimes the best thing to do is take your opponent down to the ground. By succeeding in a takedown attempt, you immediately gain the upper hand in a fight. Even against a bigger and stronger attacker, if you manage to secure them in a bottom position, a lot of their strength is neutralized – taking away their main advantage.

Of course, not all takedowns are suitable for self defense. You will find that many throws you see in judo are very high reward, yet the risks are too high. Not only this, but you may also have noticed that certain takedowns can end very badly for the aggressor. Even if you manage to throw your opponent back first onto the ground, they can still end up in a dominant position after a scramble. It’s for these reasons that we recommend you should only perform low risk takedowns or high percentage takedowns that end up in a very safe and secure position.

When Not To Takedown An Attacker

Most self defense situations are actually not advisable to attempt takedowns. For example, if you are approached by 2 or more attackers, it would be a good idea to remain standing. Whilst your chances of winning a 2 vs 1 situation are not very good, they are much lower on the ground. Even the best BJJ black belts cannot control 2 different men at once whilst they are on the floor.

Secondly if an attacker is armed, you should almost always run away. Unless you are absolutely desperate and cannot escape, trying a takedown is not a good idea. Fighting someone with a weapon is already very difficult, fighting against a weapon whilst on the floor as well can be even trickier.

Lastly, the surrounding terrain matters a lot. Performing a double leg takedown on concrete will hurt your own knee, even if performed 100% technically correct. Attempting any sort of wrestling takedown on a hard surface is almost always going to lead to taking some kind of damage yourself. There needs to be a quick cost-benefit analysis performed before risking injuring yourself.

When You Should Try To Takedown An Attacker

Most times that you will want to try and use a takedown for self defense are actually when you do not want to harm the attacker. For example, if you can clearly see someone is having a manic episode and is not trying to harm you because of a grievance, if possible it would be nicer to not harm them. In this case, taking them to the ground might give them bruised ribs, but you do not have to give them a concussion or broken limb.

Takedowns are most suited towards when the ground is softer than concrete. This is because you are at less risk of injuring yourself if something goes wrong and also less likely to hurt the attacker. From this point, you can control them on the floor, rather than ending the confrontation with a single and brutal strike.

Depending on the self defense laws in your state or home country, it’s also a good idea to not punch or head kick if you can help it. You never know what could happen with a strike, whereas a takedown has a much lower risk of severe injury or concussion.

Best Takedowns For Self Defense

Ouchi Gari (Leg Reap Technique)

Ouchi gari is a great technique for self defense since it is a leg reap that doesn’t require you to put a knee on the ground. Although you can fall to the ground to finish and ouchi gari, it is not required if your technique is good enough.

A typical judo throw, ouchi gari requires a collar and sleeve setup, which allows the user to throw all of their force into their opponent’s body whilst reaping their leg – stopping it from stepping backward. Note that ouchi gari can be performed on a shirtless opponent too, but you must bait them into stepping backward.

From a self defense perspective, once your attacker is on the ground, you can now hold their legs and walk around their guard. Or simply put all of your weight on top of them and pin them to the ground. If successful, there will be no damage sustained for either you or your opponent from an ouchi gari.

Single Leg Takedown

An extremely popular technique in MMA, the single leg takedown has proven its effectiveness in real life combat. For a wrestling technique, the single leg is reasonably low risk, since if you can’t finish it, disengaging should result in a neutral position. When compared to a double leg takedown, there isn’t much of a drawback to not finishing a single leg.

A great thing about single leg takedowns is that you do not have to drop your front knee on the floor in order to start the technique. As self defense situations can take place on hard surfaces, being able to stay off your knees is a huge positive.

There are a number of ways to initiate a single leg, the most common of which is setting up a few punches and then shooting in on the leg unexpectedly. From here, there are a number of ways to finish the single leg takedown as well. For self defense, a nice way is simply to kick out the remaining standing leg of your opponent and disengage from the combat unless it is necessary to stay.

Foot Sweep

Foot sweeps are fairly low percentage takedowns – especially for those who are not experienced judoka. The reason that a foot sweep is an effective takedown for self defense is due to the fact it is so low risk. You give up almost nothing by attempting a foot sweep and are not put in a risky or dangerous takedown. Even if the sweep fails, you should be in a neutral position.

When a foot sweep works it looks beautiful. For self defense purposes, this doesn’t matter, but it is a good way to get your opponent to the ground whilst remaining upright. If an attacker was particularly dangerous, you would be in a good position to run away after foot sweeping them. Alternatively, it is not difficult at all to jump straight on top of them and pin them to the floor. As attackers do not expect a foot sweep, they will be very disoriented once hitting the ground.

Knee Tap

Popularized in wrestling by Hassan Yazdani, the knee tap (or knee pick) is performed by off-balancing your attacker and then taking away their base. Against a wild swinging attacker, it is not too difficult to get on the inside. A timed duck under a hook or overhand will put you in a very good position to take an underhook.

From this position, you can drive your underhook very high and tap the knee of the opponent. As you will end up almost falling on top of the attacker, this is ideal since they essentially break fall for you. Also by maintaining close contact throughout, you can control your opponent, making sure there is no scramble or escape once you reach the floor. In this position you can wait, until help or the police arrive.

Body Lock (From Rear)

There are a variety of different takedowns from the body lock position. The great thing about the body lock position is that it is very safe from a self defense perspective. As you are fully behind your attacker, they cannot strike, bite or spit on you.

When in the body lock, your attacker is extremely vulnerable, yet you are not. The only problem is getting there. The most common way is getting double underhooks on your opponent and throwing your way around to a single side. Another way from a non-grappling perspective would be to duck under a wild swing from your attacker and clasp your hands around their waist.

Takedowns can be pretty devastating from the body lock. By deadlifting your attacker into the air, you can then knock their base out from underneath them with a knee and throw them down to the floor. This takedown will typically hurt the attacker a lot more than any other since they are completely out of control of their body once lifted into the air.