Today I am here with Damian Hirtz, he is an alliance black belt. Damian has an Alliance school in Minnesota. I was able to make a seminar here in his school and it was very nice. Damian is a very tough black belt from Alliance and the instructor at Alliance Minnesota. 5-7 years ago, he came to Alliance Sao Paulo to train with all of us and went back and forth with everyone. Today I asked him to show us one of his best techniques. It is a setup from closed guard with the lapel that is very cool and I have never seen before. Check out the video of Damian showing his lapel sequence from closed guard and then my breakdown of the technique below.

Breakdown of Damian Hirtz Lapel Sequence from closed Guard:

The first thing Damian does that I really like is when he pulls my lapel out, he immediately hides it behind his knee so there is no way for me to break the grip. After that when he places his hand on the collar, it is just a trap. He wants to force me to break the grip and that is when he can break my posture. It is sneaky. Now, once my posture is broken, he has me where he wants me to be and I am playing his game.
After he has my posture broken, he set another trap by pretending he wants the brabo choke so that he can drag my elbow across like an arm drag. Now I am completely vulnerable, he starts to come onto my back by posting his hand and hip escaping and instead of trying to get the back, he knows I will defend so he controls my sleeve and goes to the mount. This is one of the most important details. Instead of coming to my back he goes into the mount which is a safer option.
This is a very good sequence from the closed guard. A lot of traps that many people will fall for. It is a lot of moves but it works! Damian is the best at this position, I have seen it done some other ways, but he has the best variation. This is a great position to trick your opponent with. Guys don’t forget to check out my E-book and download it for free tricks, tips, and techniques!
Also, check out some of my DVD’s where I really give out my best secrets and techniques! Oss!