Dragin has covered all the in’s and out’s of his Left Drop Seoi Nage, and how to make it successful, now let’s look how he executed it in competition.
In front of his home crowd at the 2010 Paris Grand Slam, Dragin executes two Seoi Nage’s to get the win against Peru’s Postigos. The 1st starts from a shoulder roll.
Dragin does a small shoulder roll followed by a flick of the wrist to get some distance from his opponent, he then drops straight under for the Seoi.
The second score is initiated off a Feint.
To get a reaction and get his opponent moving Dragin feints for the Seoi first, as soon as Postigos starts to he move he fires in. He doesn’t get all the way underneath the Peruvian but with the tight contact on the arm, Dragin is able to keep driving through to secure the score and take the win.
The following year at the 2011 Paris Grand Slam, Dragin used the feint again to set up his Seoi against Turkies Uzun.
In this variation Dragin proves just how important it is to have the close upper body contact and arm wrapped tight. As he goes to drive Uzun over his opponent manages to get his free arm down and leg out resisting the rotation. Dragin feels this and has to change the direction of the drive. This is only possible with good upper body contact.
Against Brazil’s Leandro Cunha in the final of the 2011 World Team Championships, Dragin uses his Seoi in a right vs right situation to great effect.
He attacks once with the Seoi but Cunha avoids the attack, Dragin is straight back to his feet. Then he uses De Ashi Barai, squaring the Brazilian up to then attack again with the Seoi. This time really pulling the arm in tight enabling him to execute the attack successfully.
At the 2011 Qingdao Grand Prix, Dragin finds himself up against another right hander, Mongolia’s Sanjaasuren. While a slightly different scenario Dragin executes a great example of his Seoi nage.
Although his opponent is right handed, they are standing in an almost square position, with just his left gripped up. Because of this Dragin uses his set up for left handed opponents. He flicks the lapel up and down, circles to his left and then attacks.
Fighting Japan’s Yoshida Yuito at the 2012 Dusseldorf Grand Prix, Dragin executes his Seoi Nage off a reverse cross grip.
Dragin starts by taking Yoshida’s lapel with his left hand and goes to feed it into his right. However his Japanese opponent does a good job of blocking the grip.
As Yoshida lowers his arm Dragin takes hold of his sleeve with his right hand and then brings his left across to also take the sleeve. With a good grip Dragin releases the right and takes hold of the lapel, ending up with a reverse cross grip.
Dragin attacks with the De Ashi but ends up connecting with a Kouchi. Yoshida is knocked out of balance, as he recovers he steps forward and attacks with his own De Ashi. It’s at this point Dragin flicks the lapel up and then drops under for the Seoi.
He pulls down on the lapel and arm, keeping it tight to his shoulder and neck, then powers through, sending Yoshida over for the Ippon.
Back in front of his home crowd at the 2013 Paris Grand Slam, Dragin needed just 10 seconds to dispatch his opponent from Hong Kong.
As soon as he gets his hand on the lapel he starts flicking it up and down, distracting his opponent as he steps to his right. He gives a little pull breaking their balance and then is straight under to execute the throw.
Later, in the Repechage, against Kazakhstan’s Lim, it was a waza-ari a piece with just 3 seconds remaining. As Lim starts pressuring forward, Dragin attacks. Sending the Kazak over and booking his spot in the Bronze medal contest.
Lim is really applying forward pressure, trying to force Dragin out for a penalty. Dragin circles around getting himself back into the area.
A flick of the lapel, inwards and then out, gets a reaction from Lim - bringing a holt to his forward pressure and squaring him up.
Dragin pulls on the lapel, drops under continuing to pull down on the lapel, wrapping the arm tight and then driving through.
You can really see from this angle the initial pull on the lapel, and just how tight the arm is wrapped and the control he has of it.
Against Awad from Egypt at the 2013 Samsun Grand Prix, Dragin uses his De Ashi to set up his Seoi due to it being a right v right situation.
Although he misses the De Ashi, Dragin still gets a good enough reaction from the Egyptian to allow him to attack with the Seoi.
Wrapping the arm tight allows Dragin to pull it from underneath Awad, stopping him from keeping it down to defend the attack.
In the Bronze medal contest at the same event, Dragin throws Uzbekistan’s Mirzahid Farmonov for Ippon with his Seoi.
Dragin starts by taking a cross grip on the sleeve, doing so causes Farmonov to bring his arm up, initially blocking Dragin from being able to take the lapel. Eventually he secures the grip, which results in the Uzbek sending his left arm over the top.
As soon as the arm goes over Dragin moves back, creating space. With Farmonov following and then squaring up Dragin turns and drops right underneath.
Good control of the arm and the rotation at the end ensures Farmonov lands on his back for Ippon, earning Dragin the bronze.
In the first round of the 2013 Tyumen Masters up against the explosive Russian Khan Magomedov, Dragin has the lapel grip, with the Russian trying to pin the sleeve and looking to get his right arm over the top. Dragin moves to his right and strikes.
Dragin does a really good job of blocking the arm coming over and starts stepping to his right. Khan-Magomedov starts to follow the movement, a couple quick flicks out on the lapel causes the Russian to react and square up and then Dragin is straight underneath him.
He doesn’t get all the way underneath Khan-Magomedov but a tight grip and control of the upper arm allows him to rotate through and secure the Waza-ari score.
Up against Japan’s Fukuoka at the 2013 Tokyo Grand Slam, Dragin does a great job distracting his opponent with the lapel movement allowing him to sneak into position to attack with the Seoi.
From this angle you can see how effective the side step is in allowing Dragin to re-position both his feet and Uke’s before he attacks.
A strong wrap on the arm and big drive with the legs really enables Dragin to rotate through, getting the Waza-ari score that would be enough to send him through to the Semi Final.
At the 2013 European Club Championships up against Italy’s Mingoia, Dragin circles back in from the edge of the area with great effect to execute his Drop Seoi Nage.
In his next fight up against the Netherlands Junior Degen, Dragin executed this perfect example of his Seoi Nage.
A little stab in with his right leg causes Degen to react and square up, as soon as he does Dragin is straight underneath wrapping the arm and driving through for Ippon.
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