Knee Mount Escape to Backside 50/50

26 Jun, 2023

If you can do the basic backward somersault, then I’ve got a pretty spectacular and highly effective kneemount escape for you.

The Wu Tang escape takes you from the receiving end of eating pressure under a terrible position to one of the strongest positions in leglocking – the backside 50/50.

Here’s a detailed video about how to add this escape to your game, even if you’re NOT flexible…

One of the special bonuses of practising this escape is that it trains your body in the movements it’s going to need for more advanced backside 50/50 entries; by training this escape you’re essentially learning high level entries without even thinking about it!

Let’s now break the steps in this video down in writing…

Steps for the Wu Tang Escape

Kneemount escape 1 – Start on the bottom of kneemount

You’re caught in the bottom of kneemount. His weight is centered on your belly which makes it tough for you to move or spin.

Kneemount escape 2 – Frame against his top knee with the Wu Tang hand position

Frame against his top knee (the one closest to your head) with your arms.

You want to align your thumbs with the forefingers of your opposite hand to create a deep well between your fingers, then grip his knee. Anchoring your hands like this makes it harder for him to pull your hands up or push them down.

Extend your arms away to shift his weight onto his top leg and off your belly.

The Wu Tang hand sign in the wild

This hand position is reminiscent of the Wu Tang Clan hand symbol, so it makes for a pretty memorable name.

Kneemount escape 3 – Keep his weight off of you and spin your head between his legs

Once you’ve shifted his weight off your belly you can now spin your body. Swing your legs horizontally towards his head, and swing your own head between his legs and underneath his body.

Kneemount escape 4 – Backwards somersault into the 50/50 leg entanglement

Once you’ve swung your legs free in the step above you now do a simple backward somersault with your head turned to one side and entangle his legs with your own.

Most commonly you’re going to end up in an entanglement known as ‘backside 50/50’ which is a very powerful position from which to finish the reverse or inside heel hook.

How Flexible Do You Need to Be to Do This Escape?

wu tang clan kneemount escape

This might look like a heel hook entry that requires a very high level of flexibility. But that’s NOT true.

In fact, if you can lie flat on your back, put your head to one side, and then do a backward somersault then you can probably pull off this technique.

The gif above shows you how the core part of the technique breaks down into two separate movements: 1, escaping your hips out from under his knee by spinning your body horizontally, and then 2, entangling his legs by putting your head to the inside and doing a backwards somersault.

So it really doesn’t require very much flexibility at all. Train this technique with a partner a few times and I’m sure that you’ll get it.

Good luck with your leglocking!

Stephan Kesting

More Leglocks

Three Critical Control Points You Must Have to Apply a Good Leglock

It’s a terrible thing to do all that work to get into a good leglock position only to have your opponent find enough space to slip out and escape. Or worse, have him laugh at your submission attempt because it’s not tight enough to cause him any concern.

The key to a good leglock is having 3 points of control…

Click here to learn better leglock control