How Does BJ Penn Do A Basic Arm bar from Closed Guard?

BJ Penn, A.K.A. The Prodigy is know for describing his advance Brazilian Jiu Jitsu as perfected Basic Jiu Jitsu. He is a very strong believer of perfecting and mastering the basics of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu verses the fancy Jiu Jitsu moves/techniques of the moment. He attributes his amazing success as a BJJ Practitioner to his mastery of the basics. In this instructional he explains the armbar from closed guard. A very overlooked position but still very relevant in BJJ.

As you can see, the arm bar stats show an amazing high precent of success for executing the technique.

Let’s Learn The Arm Bar From The Great BJ Penn!

From closed guard, the guard player starts by grabbing the wrist of the opponent using the same side grip. Next, the other hand makes a cross grip to cup the tri-cep of the opponent in order to trap the arm. To secure the arm even more, the closed guard player then proceeds to step on the hip of the opponent on the same side of the arm that is being attacked. The knee is then pinched towards the entire arm to limit the movement of the arm.

The other leg then kicks the armpit, as the leg stepping on the hip is used as leverage to create an angle. The leg that kicks the armpit hacks behind the opponent’s back to control the posture. An additional detail BJ Penn explained is to attempt to try to connect the heel to the knee of the leg that traps the arm.

With now a different angle and the top player’s posture already broken, the cupping arm by the tricep then slides into the wrist. 

The grip previously controlling the tricep then pushes the face to make way for the leg to come over. In order to finish the arm bar in this setup, BJ Penn raises the hip while both legs hack down towards the direction of the mats.