Counter offense: one of the key themes of our approach to jiu jitsu is a heavy emphasis upon counter offense. Whenever your opponent goes to attack, he must to some degree open himself up in order to initiate that attack. If the initial attack can be contained or nullified, he will, for a short period of time, be left in a vulnerable state of extension and open to your own attacks. Some of the most frustrating experiences we can have in jiu jitsu involve attacking an overly defensive opponent who will not open up at all. Counter offense gets around this problem by allowing him the initial attack so that his defensive posture is broken. Most people are happy enough merely to defend any given attack – BUT THE BEST DO NOT SEE AN OPPONENT'S ATTACK AS SOMETHING TO DEFEND, BUT RATHER AS AN OPPORTUNITY TO LAUNCH THEIR OWN ATTACK. This requires more than technique. It requires a mindset that is not satisfied with stopping an opponent from doing what he wants to do, but only with using that as an opportunity to do what WE want to do. Here, Gordon Ryan stops the single leg takedown attempt of the great Keenan Cornelius and is already thinking about how he can use his opponents over extended position to his advantage – in this case via a combination of Kimura grip and sumi gaeshi throw. Always remember that there are two main families of attacks in jiu jitsu – direct attacks and counter attacks. If you do not fully exploit the latter you are losing half of your attacking opportunities.
