A guide to Faris Ben-Lamkadem and finding the foot

 Faris Ben-Lamkadem is currently one of the best up and coming grapplers in the UK. Starting at 19, Faris has gone on to become one of Roger Gracie Academy’s top black belts, making a name for himself in the gi. It has only been fairly recently that Faris has entered the no gi grappling scene, but he has already had a great run in the second ADCC European trials last year, coming fourth in a stacked division. While Faris’ game is very complex, it is woven together by his use of simple principles, primarily finding foot control. These principles build into his game 

Faris’ guard passing is mostly staged around the knee cut, forcing his opponent into a knee shield and then pinning their leg with his knee in what is sometimes referred to as a split squat position. He will get to this knee cut half guard position through the foot control, controlling the far foot and using it to guide his opponent into accepting the half guard, giving them an illusion of control as they are likely comfortable using the knee shield in training. In this position he can look to camp, applying pressure until he can get to a chest to chest position or pass, posting on arms and armpits in order to shut down any counter offence. The use of foot control means that Faris can effectively funnel people into his passing game even if they don’t want to reciprocate. Any type of open guard from a supine (back to the floor) position can be guided with foot tracking into giving up position to move into the knee shield. By circling the guard Faris forces any guard player to follow him with their feet, otherwise he will just be able to stroll his way into side control. Ideally Faris likes to have the guard player in a supine position, as staging the split squat can be a lot more difficult if the opponent is seated. Faris solves this by simply pushing his opponent from the seated position until they fall over. While this strategy may seem crude the opponent’s response is often to just drive their torso forwards more aggressively when off balanced, at which point Faris will time a blasting knee cut while taking the underhook, gracefully slicing through the guard and into side control. This happened to a young William Tackett, getting caught with the off-balance knee cut when he met Faris at purple belt. Faris’ foot tracking plays an integral role in funnelling his opponent into his passing game, forcing reactions that play into his best interests.

Considering that he started out as a gi player, Faris has become very adept at dealing with leg lockers, excellently scrambling out of dangerous positions. A lot of leglock defence is centred around clearing the knee line, removing the finishing mechanics of the leg locker by removing their ability to secure the knee in place. Faris prefers to address the knee line before it is even an issue, grabbing the foot of his opponent and keeping it at distance so it cannot be used to trap his leg below the knee. While it is difficult to keep an entire limb in place, by using a c grip Faris is able to create a solid block to the foot, preventing any movement towards the top of his leg, funnelling any offensive action from the opponent into an area that they cannot really do much with. When Faris senses that a leg entry is coming, he will look to grip the foot, usually on the far side of his opponent, and pull his leg out of any exchange. Even when an opponent has a full entry, be it saddle, 50/50 or otherwise, Faris will still look for that foot, using it to break open the lock over the knee and extract his leg. Even esteemed leg lock artist Ben Bennet had difficulties with Faris’ tactics, having to abandon trying to capture the knee line and instead transitioning to the calf slicer, attacking lower down the leg. When the knee line is clear there will still often be connection between the legs, something Faris can take advantage of after his escapes, looking to counter attack. This will sometimes be in the form of his own leg lock attempt, dragging his opponent back into an exchange on his own terms. However, Faris has found a lot of success going into back takes to punish failed leg lock attempts, often wedging the knee and rolling into what Eddie Bravo refers to as the “truck”, pulling an opponent by their legs with your legs into back control. With his use of foot tracking, Faris not only makes himself very difficult to leg lock, but is able to punish his opponents for their attempts at offence, getting a lot of mileage out of a pretty simple principle. 

Faris will use a connection to the foot as an anchor point to his guard game. From an open guard position Faris will look to hand fight and then pull himself into a connection, either going shin to shin or a reverse de la riva guard. From this anchor point he will look to pull himself under his opponent’s base, looking ideally for an x guard position. This same concept applies even in half guard, where he is already anchored into the back leg, grabbing the far leg and pulling himself into deep half. From deep half Faris can extend his legs and put himself back x guard. Through these connection points, Faris can work his way into his preferred guard, allowing him to implement his game more effectively. From x guard Faris can look for sweeps, even going to a modified waiter sweep. If his opponent tries to flee the position he will stand and wrestle up with control of the leg. Faris will often attack the foot from bottom single leg x guard if they resist the sweep, mixing in heel hooks and ankle locks. While he may not get the leglock, it often presents a good opportunity to scramble on top, especially if they fall to their back to defend it. By establishing connections and finding platforms to advance offensively, Faris turns the often passive or reactionary role of the guard player into something more threatening and active.

A well rounded game is not just about being able to use a variety of techniques, but also being able to funnel opponents into the situations that you want to contest. Faris is very adept at this, mixing a deep technical knowledge with the ability to implement his game. Something as simple as looking for foot control can be leveraged into passing, guard play and submission escapes. In the arms race for the next “meta” it is often forgotten that what makes a combat sports athlete high level isn’t what techniques they know but how they implement it in a competitive environment. While it can be tempting to memorise a million techniques and save every post on Jason Rau’s Instagram, sometimes it is more important to work on the methods you use to tie your game together.