I learned Spartan Pankration from my uncle Stathis who was an Olympic
boxer, Mediteranean champ, and former NHB'er of his time. Spartan Pankration differs slightly
from regular Pankration in that it employed biting, eye gouging, ear ripping, and various other "dirty" tactics.
Pankration was the fore runner of Greco-Roman and was very similar to
catch wrestling with some
elements similar to Ju-Jutsu. In Pankration, anything went except eye
gouging and biting.
But when the Spartans competed in their own games, biting and eye
gouging was allowed in
some instances, thus submission biting techniques evolved as did eye
gouging techniques.
In this thread, I am concentrating on the submission biting aspect of
Pankration.
Submission biting wasn't meant to be an art by itself, it was only meant to
be a supplement
to Spartan Pankration the same way eye gouging was also supplemented
into Spartan Pankration.
Biting as a form of aggression or defense comes naturally to all of nature's
animals, more so than
striking. (just look at our closest relative, the chimpanzee) Our jaws have
many adrenaline
passageways connecting to our brain, and in times of great stress, the
adrenaline can
make our bite qyite strong. It's just that since we haven't used biting as a
principle means of
killing in thousands of years, those passageways have become atrophied in
a sense but can be reopened
with practice. To test this,first get a pillow, than imagine your worst
enemy has you tied down and you can't escape. While
you are trapped, he is about to rape and kill your loved one(wife, son,
daughter) in front
of you while you are tied down and can only watch.
Your stress is growing, than imagine that the pillow is your enemy's neck
and the only way
to save your loved one is to bite into your enemy's neck(the pillow) and
tear him to shreads.
You bite, and as you start grinding your teeth into the pillow, the
adrenaline will start to take
over and rush into your jaw, which keeps you wanting to dig in more and
stronger. Once you
see blood, something kicks in and all you can
think of is how you want more.
Submission Biting by itself is nothing spectacular nor a very effectice
means to
kick ass or defend yourself, but when incorporated into Pankration or other
fighting
systems, it can be very useful and effective. You dramatically alter the
strategy
of an opponent when he knows you're trying to take a chunk of flesh out
of him everytime
he's attempting to submit you. And if an opponent is much more superior to
you
in skill, you can take away alot of his arsenal
with biting and bring him down more to your level and
give you more chance of surviving the encounter.
Which is why your guard is the last place you want
your opponent to be in a real fight as you would be open to bites to the
testicles, inner thigh, abdomen nipples, and open
skin surfaces.
Submission Biting was really used as a means of escape from submission
holds more than as a
means to submit. Besides biting to the jugular and biting the testicles,
everything else was
pretty much for escaping.
The only time that the jugular bite was used was if you knew you couldn't
go for a prolonged
period of time with your opponent because he was too strong or too skilled
and you needed to stop
him mortally. Other than that, it wasn't used because there were more
effective and
less energy expending ways to submit.
An example of how you can use biting to escape from submissions.
Let's say your opponent has your back, he's trying to slip in the rear naked
choke.
You are fighting and struggling against it. But finally he is about to slip in
the choke, as
he is you must turn your head to the side to face the elbow of the arm
that is applying the choke
(it is very important that as you are turning your head, you open your
mouth and have your
teeth opened) when your head is turned facing
his elbow,than turn it back to its' original
position(your upper jaw will be scraping his upper forearm as you come
back as will your
lower jaw do the same to the bottom of his forearm). Once back in the
original position,
you will sink your upper teeth into the top of wrist bone closest to you
(the wrist is made up
of two large bones) and sink your lower teeth
into the bottom of the wrist bone. Once you
have your teeth sunk in, let the adrenaline take over and don't let go for
nothing, remember,
this guy was trying t kill you.
The correct choke procedure dictates that you choke with your wrist bone
pressed against
the throat instead of using the upper part of your forearm, so you will
always get your
teeth on to the wrist bone when you turn your head back.
If someone inexperienced is trying to choke you by using the meaty upper
part of his forearm,
just bite into the fleshy area.
A good biter can usually bite on to the nerves of one's limbs.
If your opponent has mounted you, immediately attempt to bridge hin off.
As he bases to keep
from flying off while still keeping the mount, quickly hug him and don't let
go.
Than you can go for a bite to his chest or nipple, or to his shoulder. While
you are
biting,you can bring one of your arms up behind him and grab his ear, you
can attempt
to rip it off or to run your thumb up the side of his face(while holding his
ear with the rest of your
fingers and using it as a base) and fish hook your thumb into his eye,
preferably between the
outside of the eye ball and the eye socket. He
will be in a state of defense and urgency as
you are biting and eye gouging him. You have altered his game plan and
sense of security in his system and have greatly increased your
chances of escape or victory.
I mentioned ear ripping. The human ear is not connected by bone. It is
connected by cartilage and can be ripped off
with enough pounds of pressure. An effective technique is gripping your
four fingers in back of the ear with your thumb pressing in the front
of the ear at the top where the ear connects to
the skull. The grip should be firm and secure.
The tear should be forceful and sudden. The
motion should be tearing the ear downwards and not outwards.
It doesn't always work on a first shot, but someone who is expert at it can
do it with one
motion.
An escape from the triangle choke using biting and testicle
grabbing.
Let's sat your opponent is about to slip in the triangle
choke on you by holding
your right arm.
He has his one leg on the side of your right arm, as he
brings his other leg
around to trap
you in the triangle, you turn your head toward that leg
and sink your teeth
into his inner thigh.
From there, you lean your right side a little and you can
quickly take your free
left arm
and grab his balls. You will
use your index finger and thumb to secure one side and
the rest of your
fingers to secure the
other side so that his balls don't slide up his skin and near
the pelvis to safety.
Than you can
either squeeze them or what is even better
is to sueeze them and while squeezing them you push
them in towards your
opponent.
This will want to make him back away, he will more than
likely let go of the
triangle and
the guard completely and than you can attack with
whatever your Martial art
is.
One addition to this is that if you become real good or
have super quick
reactions, you can go
straight for a testicle bite when he is trying to get his leg
around you to
complete the triangle choke.
But it would have to be a super quick reaction before he
gets your face
pressed against your
arm that he is holding(in this case we had said your right arm to use as an
example.)
D9
Let's say your opponent is passing your guard (let's say
he's passing from your
right side for example).
He puts his right arm between your legs with his palm
facing the ground and
his left arm under your
head (as if he's holding your head).
When his right arm goes between your legs and as soon as
his right palm
plants unto the ground,
you will trap his right palm
by pressing it with your left hamstring crossing your right
leg over your leg
(also crossing your feet).
And than applying pressure downward with your right leg,
while your left
hamstring is
pressing down and inwards towards his wrist
thus keeping his palm planted toward the floor
and applying uncomfortable pressure against his wrist.
Take your left hand and (you will make a V-shape with
your left hand, 4
fingers pointing one way,
thumb pointing the other way)between the area of your
left hand between the thumb and four fingers(the middle
of the V-shape) you
will place against
the bottom of his
nose and push upwards, your 4 fingers will wrap around his
cheek bone for
base, and your
thumb will press directly into the
middle of his left eye ball to make him go back.
Your right arm will be wrapped around his back and you will
than bite into his
upper bicep or front
shoulder muscle, whichever one is closer and more
convenient.
A few things are happening, his right wrist is trapped and
feeling a tremendous
amount of uncomfortable
pressure (if your strong enough, you can break it), His
nose is being pushed
upwards posibly getting broken
while his eyeball is getting jabbed straight in the middle
and inward while your
right arm is holding him
from retreating from this and he is also getting bit either
on his bicep or
shoulder.
At this point when you feel the time is just
right, you can push him off all together and roll
into a stand up position, but you have to be fast and you
have to do it at a
time you know
he just wants to get away because when you push him
off, he'll just be thinking of getting distance and regrouping
mentally so this
split second gives you time to roll into a stand up or
whatever you choose as
your MA requieres of you.
To recap: First trap his palm to the ground,
second push up against nose and eye gouge
while simultaneously holding him with other arm and biting
him.
Let's say you tried to trap your opponents right hand
between your legs but
he was too quick
and pulled it out and has based it to the floor over your
left side.
You will immediately hug him (your right arm around his
back and your left arm
between
his right arm that is based and his head, with your upper
shoulder under his
jaw so he can't bite you)
and either bite into his upper shoulder muscle or neck,
whatever is closer.
If in a panic, he tries to knee you in the ribs, quickly turn
your body,while still
hugging and biting him,
towards his kicking side and try to bring your knee up to
block it, but this is
very difficult depending on your
flexibility and size of your opponent, if you were very
flexible, you could fully
extend your
leg while he is bringing his knee back to kick you and knock
him off balance
thus further enabling you to sink your teeth into his neck
or shoulder and
tightening your
hug, but realistically, this kind of flexibility is difficult and
that move is very
difficult, it
is more realistic to just bring the knee up for the
block. But whatever you do, DO NOT let go of your hug
and slide your arm
that's closest to his
kneeing leg down to block his knee because he can than
trap your arm.
You'll notice that on most of these biting techniques, the
main thing is to
make less manuevering space, keep as close as possible,
clinched and than
bite. Don't worry
about other technicalities.
The most important thing is to never let go of your hold or
submission bite until
you
are certain of escape.
If he were to originally get a side control with his arm
between your face and
his neck and shoulder
(in other words, your head under his elbow and arm) you
can bite his tricep
and simultaneously
push up against his nose with the V-shape hand technique
again, when he brings his arm up, quickly stick your head
in between and you
will be in the position
that we started in at the top of this post and than you
know what to do from
there, close his
space by hugging him and go for the bite.
Your opponent is in the side control (we had said from
your right side to use as
an example).
You still have him hugged (it is important to not let go of
your hold and
submission bite
if you have it sinked in). If he tries to put his
knee on your stomach or already has put his knee on your
stomach,
immediately cross your leg (the
same way a man crosses his legs)so that the leg that is
crossed over has its'
foot facing him.
This ensures two things,
1.)to protect your balls and
2.)you will need it very
soon to
push him off before he mounts you, I will get to that part.
First he may attempt to uppercut punch you with his right
arm between where
your arms are holding
him. What you will do is keep your hug as tight as possible
to make as little
space as possible
and take your left arm(while still hugging him)
and position it as if you were elbowing someone, in other
words elbow
facing in the direction of his uppercut fist. Your four
fingers will be wrapped
around his neck
with your thumb digging between his jugular and adam's
apple pushing in and
diagonal upward.
(Have a bite to his left upper shoulder or bicep sunk
in if possible) The thumb will cause uncomfortable pressure
as will the bite,
when you
feel he won't punch anymore and will probraly try to grab
your thumb to pull it
out his neck,
than slide your thumb into his right eyeball
with the other four fingers sliding to the back of his skull,
and push his eyeball
from the
bottom of the eye, upward and in while kicking
him off with the foot that was crossed and facing him.
He will just want to get out of this situation of getting bit
and eye gouged so
the kick will
come at a good time.
While you kick him off you simultaneously roll out into a
standing position or
whatever it is
your MA has you do.
Quick note: You have to train yourself to always be aware
of a possible heel
hook-ankle submission
attempt by your opponent when trying to kick him off. If
so, quickly pull your
foot out and follow
up with a heel strike to the face or just pull out and get
out to a standing
position while
he is still trying not to be near your eye gouge or bite
attempts.
This knee on stomach escape is for when your opponent
already has a side
control and you have hugged
him. If he tries a knee on stomach while his upper body is
upright and towering
over you,
do not let him mount you by kepping your crossed leg and
take both hands and
grab his ears while
sliding your thumbs into his eye balls(fish hook
style, thumb between outer eye ball and socket)
and bring your head up possibly butting him
in the jaw if you can but really,you bring it up to not
get punched too much or too accurately. He won't want
to be here and will
want to close distance where
you than let him get closer and hug him. Than you are in
the position we
started at the beginning
of the post and you know what to do from there, sink in
the bite, etc.
You must remember, when applying a bite, it should be
with the intention of
wanting nothing
more than to take a piece of flesh out of him (ala Mike
Tyson style). It's the
same concept
like they teach in Muay Thai, when you kick, do it with
force and to kick
through your opponent.
Never throw a half assed kick or elbow or punch. Every
single one
must be with authority and with the intention to hurt. It's
the same with
biting, every one must be
with the intention to rip off and to hurt. Later I will discuss
training for
developing better adrenaline
distribution in your biting.
Also,
In my post on escaping from the rear naked choke(scroll
up to find it), there's
one thing
I forgot to put in: When you have the bite sunk in his
wrist, you must also remember to cover your open ear with
your open hand.
The correct way to cover your ear is with a closed fist.
Your four fingers will
hold on
to the top rim of the ear, while your thumb will be placed
INSIDE of the fist,
not outside, and there
will be a little hollow space inside your fist
so that your ear hole is NOT pressed against your palm,
(this is important)the bottom of your fist(where your palm
connects to your
wrist) will rest on the
under the lower ear lobe.
This technique is doing a few things: your fingers holding
the top of your ear is
protecting it
from being grabbed or ripped, the thumb inside of the fist
is preventing your
thumb from being
pulled out of its' socket or broken by your opponent,
the small space inside your fist where your ear hole is
against and not flat
against is so in
case your opponent slaps your fist, your
ear will not get the impact and will prevent you
from getting your ears painfully rung or even worse,it will
prevent you from
getting vertigo.
You must keep in mind that first you must have the bite
sunk into his wrist
before you want
to think about protecting your ear, because
you may need both hands to grab and control his forearm
and he won't be
thinking of an ear
attack right away when his main focus is the choke. But
when you are sure
that you have the
bite sunk in very securely, than you want to
protect the ear with that free hand as he will be
looking for other options, and use your other hand (the
one on the side where
his choking arm is)
to hold on to his forearm you are biting.
D9
To Be Continued, next topic: Eye Gouging