Counter-Attack Takedown Defence

Stay at the same level or below your opponent at all times, even when tired in later periods. Iron Faith Wrestling emphasizes that Marcus Blaze never stands up or comes out of stance—if your opponent backs away, crowd them while maintaining your defensive position rather than falling into the trap of abandoning your stance.

Don't pause in a front headlock position after sprawling. Iron Faith Wrestling stresses that you should sprawl and immediately move your feet back and push off the mat to go behind—hanging in the front headlock position is much more difficult to score from than if you had hustled behind quickly.

Use your hands to actively pull yourself around while your feet push off the mat. Iron Faith Wrestling explains that after you stop the shot with your head and hands in place, your hands should pull you toward the go-behind while your lower body pushes, so both your upper and lower body assist the movement.

Maintain constant reactions to fakes by throwing your feet back and making hand movements every time—good wrestlers will notice when you stop reacting as fatigue sets in and will attack at that moment. Iron Faith Wrestling notes this is why staying engaged with down blocks and reactions throughout the match is critical.

The Counter-Attack Takedown Defence family covers defensive techniques that defend against takedowns by attacking the opponent during their takedown attempt, using the takedown entry's vulnerabilities to counter with strikes or submissions. Counter-attack defence exploits the fact that takedown attempts require the attacker to change level and move forward, exposing them to guillotine chokes, knee strikes, and other counters.

Counter-attacks against takedowns have been used since the earliest combat sports, but became particularly important in MMA where the intersection of striking and grappling created opportunities to punish takedown attempts with submissions and strikes. The guillotine counter to the single-leg became one of the most iconic defensive techniques in MMA history.

Unified MMA: legal — Legal defensive technique; IBJJF: legal — Legal; IJF: legal — Legal defensive action; WBC/Boxing: legal — Legal; WKF: legal — Legal; WT: legal — Legal

Danger rating 3/10. Moderate — sprawls and stuffs involve sudden body weight displacement; knee/hip strain risk

The standard setup chain: Anticipate the Attack → Execute Defence → Recover Stance → Counter or Disengage.

Standard counters include: Timing — attack when the defence is recovering or between movements / Feint — use deception to create openings in the defensive structure / Angle Change — attack from an unexpected angle that the defence does not cover.

Common variants: Standard defence (primary defensive technique from the most common position); Reactive defence (triggered by the opponent's attack, minimal movement for …); Proactive defence (anticipating the attack and positioning to neutralise it …); Counter defence (using the defensive movement to create an immediate count…).

Used in MMA competition by strike-first fighters.

Top errors to watch for: Waiting to fully defend before countering — the counter must be simultaneous with or immediately after the defence / Attempting counter-attacks against deep, committed shots — if the shot is deep, defend first (sprawl) then counter / Using the same counter every time — vary between guillotine, knee, whizzer-hip-throw, and other counters / Counter-attacking without maintaining defensive position — a counter that misses should not leave you vulnerable.

The Counter-Attack Takedown Defence is also known as Kauntā Teikudaun Difensu, Counter Takedown, Sprawl And Brawl, Punish The Shot.