Being in a right vs left scenario, Dragin wants to take a lapel grip with his right hand.

To get the control he needs, Dragin wants his lapel grip to be on the inside of his opponents.

With this grip he can create distance from Uke by pushing his hand into their chest.

Even if they try to pus...

From the square position, Dragin needs to break Uke’s balance.

The aim is to get them coming forward up onto their toes.

In this instance it isn’t done by just pulling on the lapel. Instead it’s more a flick of the wrist, like a fly fishing movement.

As Dragin flicks the lapel up, he simulta...

Although Dragin preferred to use his Drop Seoi on opposite stance opponents, that didn't stop him having success with it against same stance opponents.

The execution of the throw is very much identical to that on opposite stance opponents.

The main difference is the set up, getting in the posi...

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 f...

Dimitri Dragin’s Sumi Gaeshi is executed in a right vs right scenario, where both fighters have a traditional grip of sleeve and lapel

He has 2 main variations

The first is his twitch set up variation. Dragin uses this when the opponent is in a more upright position.

The twitch is used to get...

Dimitri Dragin executes his Sumi Geashi off a traditional sleeve and lapel grip.

Although it’s a right v right scenario, Dragin prefers for Uke to be upright, in a more square position, while having himself at a more side-on angle.

Dragin makes sure that he keeps his right arm relaxed on the l...

Dimitri Dragin says executing Sumi Gaeshi on an opponent in a defensive posture bares many similarities to his standard Sumi Gaeshi.

The arms start the same, right hand relaxed on the lapel, and left hand pulling on the sleeve, it’s the posture of his opponent that is the key difference, requiri...

During his career Dragin found that he could have success with Sumi gaeshi when using it as a response to an opponents failed attack.

It worked particularly well off a Drop Seoi Nage attempt, or any failed attack where they ended up on their knees, like Ouchi gari.

Thanks to Dragin’s quick reac...

Now let’s take a look and analyse how Dragin executed his different Sumi Gaeshi variations at the World’s biggest tournaments.

Up against Millar of Great Britain at the 2009 Paris Grand Slam, Dragin circles around disrupting his opponents balance, then attacks with his Sumi Gaeshi.

The circle D...