Colin Oates is a left handed fighter. When up against same stance opponents, those also in a left stance, his only thought as he took to the mat was ‘stop the left hand’.

He did this initially by targeting his partner’s left shoulder and chest, before transitioning down to a sleeve grip.

Here, ...

Colin Oates’s mentality against left handed opponents was ‘stop the left hand, catch the hand, break the grip’.

He felt most uncomfortable when his opponent managed to get a high lapel or collar grip. If they managed to get the grip, his main way of dealing with it was by easing their hand down ...

In this clip we see Colin Oates’s gripping strategies against left handed opponents, used in the heat of competition.

In the 2014 Paris Grand Slam, Oates perfectly demonstrates his game-plan of stopping the left hand, by targeting the chest, against double World Champion Rishod Sobirov of Uzbeki...

Colin Oates says that in his early competitive career he spent a lot of the time finding ways to neutralise his opponent’s attacking abilities.

Against right handed opponents his principle gripping technique was the sleeve pull through. He credits the pull through as one of the main reasons he h...

To move from an average international competitor to being inside the world’s top five in his weight, Colin Oates made some significant adjustments to his Kumi kata.

The biggest transformation against right handers came when he started to dominate the back of his opponent. Rather than fight for t...

A gripping scenario Colin Oates was not happy with was when a right handed opponent pinned his left sleeve, whilst fighting to control his right sleeve.

Oates’s response was to snap off the sleeve pin on one side, then neutralise his opponent’s grip on the other side, before taking his favoured ...

In this clip we see the competition variations of Colin Oates’s gripping strategies against opposite stance opponents. This sleeve pull through allows Oates to get a deep and dominant grip around the back, against Israel’s Raufman, on route to winning a bronze medal at the 2014 Samsun Grand Prix....

Five time World medallist Kirill Denisov is an expert at combining movement and gripping.

Denisov is a left handed fighter. When up against right handers, he uses a circular motion in his gripping patterns.

Primarily, he aims to fight for control of the lapel, before looking to dominate the sle...

When fighting right handed opponents who want a traditional high lapel or collar grip, Kirill Denisov’s first aim is to catch the power arm.

Once he’s done this he takes a cross lapel grip.

Before feeding the lapel into his left hand.

He then starts putting pressure on his opponent by pushing ...

Once Denisov is in charge of the lapel he fights for his favoured sleeve grip.

He likes to pin his opponent’s sleeve, whilst tucking his elbow into the side of his stomach.

This unique body position allows him gripping dominance, whilst conserving energy in his right arm.

After catching the op...

Kirill Denisov’s lapel feed is the starting point to his most effective gripping sequence against opposite stance opponents.

Competing at the very highest level in international judo for over ten years, the lapel feed was a regular technique Denisov successfully employed.

Occasionally he would ...

Multiple World medallist Kirill Denisov is a left handed fighter. When up against opponents who are also left handed, Denisov’s prime target is to catch and then neutralise their power hand, before he does anything else.

As his opponents will not give up their sleeve easily, Denisov’s strategy i...

Kirill Denisov says that whenever he fights left handed opponents, his first thought is always to have control of their left arm.

‘How do I catch the left arm’, he says. ‘How do I control it’.

With his opponents aware of his game-plan, they do as much as possible to prevent Denisov from catchin...

When Kirill Denisov is up against an opponent who takes a high cross grip, or ‘the Russian arm’, he has two very efficient ways of quickly dealing with this dangerous grip.

The Russian arm is very threatening, as an attack usually follows in quick succession.

Denisov’s response, therefore, has...

If Kirill Denisov is up against a left handed opponent who targets his lapel with their right hand, he has a very effective way of turning defence into attack.

With the opponent switching their upper body stance from left to right, Denisov’s main objective is to prevent his left lapel from being...

One of Denisov’s most effective strategies against same stance opponents is to come out right handed before switching back to a left stance once gripped up.

Here’s a good example against Turkmenistan’s Hojamuhammedov in the 2018 Agadir Grand Prix.

Denisov leads with a right handed lapel grip, w...