The mount in BJJ (often called by its Portuguese name, montada) is the position where you sit astride the belly or chest of an opponent lying on their back, with both knees on the mat. It scores 4 points in IBJJF competition and is the best platform for armlocks and chokes. From the bottom, the two basic mount escapes are the upa and the elbow-knee escape.
Judokas know it as tate-shiho-gatame (lengthwise four-quarter hold). The position is nearly the same. The intent is different. In judo you hold for 20 seconds to score ippon. In BJJ the mount is only a step, and holding it without doing anything almost always ends with losing it.
Holding mount: weight in the right place
You don't stay in mount by squeezing hard. You stay by being light on the hips and heavy on the chest.
- Knees climb high, as close to the armpits as you can get. A low mount, sitting on the belly, gets rolled on the first bridge.
- Feet hook under their thighs (low mount, for control) or sit flat with the toes on the mat when you want to attack.
- Hands post wide on the mat above their head the moment they push. That post is your answer to the upa.
- Your head drops to the side opposite the arm you want to isolate.
The bottom player has one goal: slide your weight down onto their hips so they can bridge. If you feel them pushing your knees down, climb back up right away with small knee steps.
High mount
Climb until your knees sit under their arms or on their shoulders. They can no longer bridge well, their arms are pinned upward and the armbar is within reach. This is the variation to drill first with white belts who can already hold basic mount.
S-mount
One leg comes up near their head while the other stays bent against their ribs, so your body makes an S shape. It is the most reliable entry to the cross armlock. It is unstable if you stay too long, so treat it as a transition.
Attacking from mount
Three attacks cover most finishes from mount:
- The armbar. When they push your chest with straight arms, they hand you those arms. Switch to S-mount, pivot and fall back. It is the exact movement of juji-gatame (cross armlock).
- The cross collar choke. In the gi, one hand goes deep in the collar with the thumb inside, and the other comes from the opposite side. Drop your head to the mat next to theirs and flare your elbows.
- The arm triangle. When they push with a single arm, trap it across their own neck with your head, then slide off to the side to squeeze.
The combination to know: you attack the collar, they protect their neck with both hands, their elbows open and the armbar appears. Each attack feeds the other.
Mount escapes: upa and elbow-knee
This is the most useful part for a beginner, because you will spend your first months stuck under mount.
The upa (bridge and roll)
Trap one of their arms tight against your body. Trap the foot on the same side with your foot. Then bridge hard, up and diagonally over the shoulder on the trapped side. They can't post a hand or a foot to catch themselves, so they roll. You land in their guard.
Classic mistake: bridging straight up at the ceiling. The bridge travels toward the opposite shoulder, with your eyes on the mat.
The elbow-knee escape
Put your elbow against the inside of their knee. Turn your hips to the side and shrimp (a small hip escape) to make space, then slide your knee inside. Bring your leg back in front and you have recovered half guard or full guard.
These two escapes answer each other. If they lean forward and post their hands, upa. If they sit tall to resist the bridge, elbow-knee. A defender who knows only one gets read within two attempts.
Mount in judo vs mount in BJJ
A judoka who starts BJJ often has an excellent mount, for about twenty seconds. They were trained to hold. In BJJ that reflex makes them lie flat on the opponent, which is exactly when the upa works best. The reverse is also true. A BJJ player doing judo forgets that the referee will stop groundwork after a few seconds without progress, while they were calmly setting up the finish.
To see how mount fits into the full hierarchy of positions, start with the Brazilian jiu-jitsu overview, then read our piece on guard passing, the most common road to get here.
A drill for the end of class
Two minutes. One partner in mount, the other underneath. The top player may not attack: the only job is to stay. The bottom player has to escape. Switch roles. Then repeat with attacks allowed. Run it three sessions in a row and you will feel it for yourself: mount is held with the knees and the posts, never with arms wrapped around the neck.