#8: Front Headlock & Stuck Under Counters

You'll have the Front Headlock, but both you and your opponent will be standing on your feet. So this is before you snap him down to the mat. Usually you'll get here while hand-fighting or if he takes a bad shot but doesn't fully commit and you snap the head under your chest. You can control this by lifting the arm up with your arm on the outside, or by having your arm under his arm (Under-Hook, Cement Job). I recommend you try to keep your hand on the outside to lower the chances of him grabbing both elbows and forcing a stalemate.

Your head is stuck under his chest so he has a Front Headlock. The goal is to get out of this position as soon as possible before it gets any worse. You can shoot out of most tie-ups, but for this one I want you to get out of it first before you attack. These moves have that goal in mind. If you try to shoot under a Front Headlock there's a very good chance that an experienced wrestler will feel this start to happen and he'll sprawl on you, making the situation worse for yourself. Do not dig yourself a bigger hole. Do not get into a false sense of security thinking that moves that work against bad wrestlers will work against good wrestlers. Remember: your style should not change depending on who you're wrestling. You need to have consistent and good technique if you want to win consistently. Don't use bad technique just because you can. Develop good habits that you'll need to use against good wrestlers.

This would be when you have the Front Headlock but down on the mat. Your opponent will be on his hands and knees, you should be off of your knees to improve your mobility and to put more pressure or weight on your opponent. You can snap his head down repeatedly (bounce the head) to break him down and keep his weight on his hands, but don't do it too often or too aggressively or you'll end up giving up Unnecessary Roughness call.

When you're on the mat and stuck in a Front Headlock, you should probably grab an elbow and pull it down as soon as you can. This will secure your position a little bit and give you time to improve your situation. It'll also limit the amount of attacks the top wrestler can use and it will keep him in front of you. You can grab the chin hand with two hands and post it down, but it's a little bit more dangerous because the top guy has a lot more mobility in this situation compared to when you're on your feet. He can start to spin around you and with his weight on you it's harder to match his rotation. Grabbing the elbow solves this a little better.

To me this means you'll be keeping your arms short, hands over top of the head and/or shoulders. This way your opponent cannot grab your elbows and slow you down in this position. You'll have a lot more mobility, but you will have less control of your opponent. Make sure you keep your hips low, knees off the mat, feet wide and back. You don't want to run into a random shot, and you don't want to lose him completely.