Check Out John Danaher’s Slick Takedown

10 Mar, 2018

John Danaher is one of the most famous coaches in Brazilian jiu-jitsu. The namesake of the Danaher Death Squad — one of the toughest squads in competitive BJJ — Danaher also trained MMA legend Georges St-Pierre for his triumphant return to MMA back at UFC 217.

In this video, John Danaher shows a simple-but-not-so-simple takedown. It’s known as the kani basemi — i.e., the scissor throw. It’s an impressive move for a guy who was walking around with a cane not too long ago.

Check it out below:

Kani Basami: The scissor throw – kani basami – is one of the more controversial moves in jiu jitsu. It is among my favorite moves – all of my students are very good at it and often use it in competition – AND YET I DO NOT PERMIT THEM TO USE IT IN CLASS AND I EVEN WOULD GO SO FAR AS TO SUPPORT A BAN OF THE MOVE IN COMPETITION. Why do I have such an odd point of view towards this move? Kani basami is one of the few moves with a truly unacceptably high accident rate – even when the move is performed well by well trained athletes. A tiny misjudgment of distance and height on a moving opponent can result in a badly broken leg. There are many safer ways to get into your opponent’s legs that work just as well. When I began teaching I saw many incidents involving flying Kani basami injuries and ultimately came to ban in it my classes. Yet this moment proved to be one of the most important of my coaching career. It made me ask a very interesting question. WAS THERE A WAY TO EMPLOY THE EFFICIENT MECHANICAL SCISSORING ACTION OF KANI BASAMI ON THE GROUND? (It would be safe on the ground as you are not jumping your full bodyweight onto a weight bearing leg). Initially I worked with the idea of back stepping from top position and this gave great results that students could use safely in everyday training to enter into inside heel hooks. Things got really interesting however, when kani basami was used from bottom position. The idea was interesting – INSTEAD OF FLYING TO YOUR OPPONENTS LEG IN STANDING POSITION – MAKE HIM FLY ABOVE YOU BY ELEVATING HIM FROM BOTTOM GUARD POSITION AND USE THE POWERFUL SCISSOR ACTION TO ENTER INSIDE HEEL HOOKS FROM UNDERNEATH. This was one hundred percent safe and proved to be extremely effective. How odd that an ancient move, which i do not allow my students to use in training with each other, should become one of the cornerstones of the modern leg lock game used by my students in a new fashion. My decision to ban its use in class more than fifteen years ago created an impetus that created a whole new direction for the move. I have not performed flying Kani basami since my hip replacement – no wonder my poor partner looks nervous!

A post shared by John Danaher (@danaherjohn) on Mar 10, 2018 at 3:03pm PST