Center Line

If I am not in control of the hips of my opposition, I should not be complacent across their center line. It is back exposure, it is armbars, it is head and arm chokes. All of these things occur when I cross the invisible border at the center of their body. Once again there are no absolutes in grappling. Can you cross the center line without hip control? Yes. Is it risky? Also, yes. If you want to do takedowns like Tim Spriggs and Rodolfo Vieira, the key factor is violence of action. As soon as those guys take a cross grip standing up, they whip you around the mat until you fall over. In this instance kuzushi is the limiter of the opponent’s movement instead of hip control.