Trap and roll: the upa mount escape

Position and problem

Someone is sitting in mount on you, and to keep their balance while they hunt your arms they have planted a hand on the mat beside your head. You bridge straight up. They rise with your hips and settle back down in the same place, and the bridge has cost you breath and moved nothing. A person balanced on two knees and a hand has three posts, and a bridge aimed straight up pushes against all three at once. Trap and roll, also called the upa or the bridge and roll, removes the posts on one side and turns the top player over toward the gap.

Objective

Trap one of their arms and the foot on the same side, then bridge diagonally over that side so they fall toward the posts they no longer have, and come up inside their guard.

Core concept

Mount is held on a base of posts. The top player's knees are two of them, and a hand on the mat is often a third, and a wider or heavier base simply means posts that are further apart. A bridge that goes straight up meets all of them together and lifts a person who comes back down where they started. Take away both posts on one side, the arm and the leg, and there is nothing on that side to catch their weight. The bridge then goes up and across, over your own shoulder on the trapped side, and they tip toward the gap. Trapping is two actions done together. The arm is wrapped above the elbow and held against your chest, so its hand cannot reach the mat. The foot on the same side is blocked by your foot, placed outside their ankle, so that knee cannot slide out and widen the base again. Timing matters as much as either trap. The roll works best when their weight is moving toward your head, when they are posting a hand, reaching for your neck or leaning in to attack an arm, because weight that is already moving toward your head is easy to tip over it. When their hands are off the mat and their knees are wide, there is less to trap and further to roll them, and many coaches reach for the elbow-knee escape instead. A bottom player who knows both can let the top player's posture choose between them. The roll finishes with you on top, usually inside their guard, which is a reversal of position rather than a return to guard.

Key mechanics

1. 01Wrap their arm above the elbow and hold it tight to your chest. A wrist on its own can be pulled free and posted again, while an upper arm held against you cannot reach the mat.
2. 02Place your foot outside their foot on the same side as the trapped arm and keep it there. Their knee on that side can no longer slide out to widen the base, which takes away the second post.
3. 03Bring the heel of your other foot close to your hips before you bridge. A foot near the hips drives the hips up, and a foot planted far away pushes along the mat and lifts very little.
4. 04Bridge up and across, over your own shoulder on the trapped side. A bridge straight up meets their free hand and knee; a diagonal one drives their weight toward the side where nothing can catch it.
5. 05Turn your head toward the trapped side as you bridge, so the roll passes over the shoulder and upper back rather than the head.
6. 06Bridge when a hand posts or reaches. A posted hand, a reach for the neck or a lean into an arm attack all move their weight toward your head, which is the direction you want to send it.
7. 07Follow them over and come up into their guard with your head up and your hands on their hips or chest. A roll that stops halfway leaves you on your side under someone who can climb back to mount.

Common errors

• ×Bridging straight up, which lifts them and returns them to the same mount.
• ×Trapping the arm without the foot, so their knee slides out, the base widens again, and the roll stalls on the new post.
• ×Holding only the wrist, which they pull free and post with as soon as the bridge starts.
• ×Bridging while their hands are off the mat and their knees are wide, which spends the effort on a base with no posted hand to take away.
• ×Pausing between the trap and the bridge, which gives them time to free the arm or step the foot out.

Safety

Training progression

1. 01Static: partner sits in mount with neutral weight. Trap the arm and the foot on one side and stop, and let the partner test whether they can still post on that side.
2. 02Cooperative: partner places a hand on the mat beside your head on each repetition. Trap, bridge over the trapped side and roll them slowly into their guard.
3. 03Cooperative: partner alternates between posting a hand and keeping both hands off the mat. Roll only when a hand posts or reaches, and switch to the elbow-knee escape when it does not.
4. 04Constrained: partner may defend the roll only by widening the base or freeing the trapped arm, with no submissions.
5. 05Positional: start mounted with the partner attacking. Escape by either route, and restart on an escape or a submission.
6. 06Live rounds: before each bridge from mount, find the posted or reaching hand first, and go to the elbow-knee escape when there is none.

Related entries

• The elbow-knee escape from mount
• The butterfly sweep and the missing post
• Frames versus blocks
• The americana reverses the kimura grip