Mount

The full mount

The mount is a dominant top position where the attacker straddles the opponent's torso, with the attacker's knees on the mat alongside the opponent's hips and the attacker's hands free to strike or attack submissions. The opponent is on their back, with their upper body and arms exposed to the attacker's offense.

Full mount is one of the most-scored grappling positions on the judges' cards and is the setup position for armbars, triangles, head-and-arm chokes, and the back-take game.

Mechanics

From a passed guard or side-control transition:

• Establish mount: knees on the mat alongside the opponent's hips; the attacker is centered on the opponent's torso.
• Posture: posture up to a kneeling position with the attacker's spine vertical. The posture creates the leverage for striking and submission entries.
• Hand position: hands free to strike or to fight for submission entries. Typical grips include controlling the opponent's wrist or pinning their head.
• Base: hips low, knees wide, feet hooked inside the opponent's legs if possible (the high mount position).

What mount is for

• Strike accumulation: ground-and-pound from mount produces championship-level damage at faster rate than any other position.
• Round-winning control: a clean mount hold drains the round clock while scoring on the cards.
• Submission setups: armbar, triangle, mounted Americana, arm triangle, rear-naked choke (via back-take) all originate from mount.
• Position retention: harder to escape than side control because the opponent has fewer leverages to disrupt the attacker's weight.

Mount variations

• Low mount: the attacker's knees are below the opponent's armpits. The most common starting mount position.
• High mount: the attacker's knees are above the opponent's armpits, with the legs pinning the upper arms. This position prevents the opponent from bridging effectively and sets up armbars and triangles.
• S-mount: a mounted position where the attacker's legs form an S shape around the opponent's body, allowing armbar entries.
• Technical mount: a side-mount variation where the attacker is rotated 45 degrees.

Common errors

• Posture too high: rising too far loses the chest-pressure control.
• Knees too narrow: a narrow base lets the opponent bridge and roll the attacker.
• No hand control: free hands without grip control on the opponent reduces the strike accumulation.
• Static mount: holding without working an attack gives the referee reason to stand the fighters up.

Defense

• Bridge and roll: the most fundamental mount escape. Lift the hips off the mat to disrupt the attacker's weight distribution, then roll to one side.
• Shrimp: hip-escape to slide out from under the mount.
• Hand control: fighting the attacker's grip control to disrupt their offense.
• Trap and roll: trapping one of the attacker's arms with both of yours and bridging to roll them to that side.

Submissions from mount

• Armbar: rotating to a hip-perpendicular position to isolate one of the opponent's arms.
• Mounted triangle: locking the legs around the opponent's neck while in mount.
• Mounted Americana: rotating one of the opponent's arms forward.
• Mounted arm triangle: trapping one of the opponent's arms across their face.
• Cross-collar choke: gripping the opponent's collar (in BJJ) or the back of their neck (in MMA) for a choke.
• Back-take: when the opponent turns away from the mount, transitioning to back control.

Exemplified by

• Khabib Nurmagomedov: mount-and-strikes ground-and-pound that defined his title-defense run.
• Islam Makhachev: mounted-position submissions and ground-and-pound.
• Demian Maia: mount-position submission catalog at welterweight.
• Anderson Silva: the mounted triangle-armbar against Chael Sonnen at UFC 117.

Drills

• Mount retention drill: top partner works to hold mount for 90 seconds; bottom partner works escape attempts.
• Mount to back-take drill: drilling the chain when the opponent turns away.
• Submission drills from mount: drilling armbars, triangles, and Americanas from mount.
• Live ground sparring from mount: rounds where one partner starts in mount.