Marcelo Garcia: Escaping Side Control

3 Part Lesson -- Marcelo escapes from Side-Mount: When you opponent is holding you down in Side Control with a balanced approach, i.e. they are not laying too heavily/tightly over your centerline and therefore susceptible to a Bridge Sweep/Reversal you may not be able to recover your knee(s) inside to recompose guard due to them monitoring your hip closely with their far knee in Side-Control with Underhook & Head Control (Side-Mount, Cross-Sides (Top), Cross-Face. Protect your far-arm by keeping it strong and bent as a Frame against your opponent's neck/jawline; quickly keep it safe from any variations of Arm-Lock and don't waste any time advancing your defense. Connect your hands together in a joist and rock your legs or pop a bridge to help open up enough space to turn onto your side and pummel an Under-Hook. Apply another bridge coupled with your Under-Hook to make room for a belly-down turn-over entry onto a Single. You can finish the single from your knees, drive to the far-leg for a Cowboy-Double or Barzagar, or come up with the leg and finish from standing. Stay low on your opponent's knee as you turn onto your belly and build up your base before coming up to attack your opponent's Back/Side from the Coyote-Guard/Dog-Fight Position; otherwise, you run the risk of giving up the Mount or arriving on top inside a Triangle. [04:36] Use your near-side arm to help loosen your opponent's Cross-Face (aka Shoulder-of-Justice, et al.) and also prevent your opponent from using two hands to attack your far-arm before wedging it into safety as a Frame. Meanwhile, elevate both of your knees to block an easy path from Side-Control into Mount. If your opponent is keeping heavy against your chest and preventing you from creating enough room to pummel for and Under-Hook and turn onto your side, pummel your opposite hand inside and connect your hands again in a Frame/Joist. Employ a bridge to help push up and turn yourself onto your side, pushing at their biceps and pummeling for an Under-Hook; use the Under-Hook as a jack to throw your opponent away from defending their knee from your Single-Leg Reversal. You can feed your opponent's lapel/belt through their legs to amplify your effect on coming up and finishing the Single. [08:49] Oscillate your Bridge-Escape until a dissonance is generated inside the discursive feedback loop of control for your opponent; in other words, you may need to quake back and forth, alternating between the two major directions of your Bridge-Escape to disrupt your opponent's ability to correctly track, adjust, and retain the Side-Mount Position.