Mastering The Mount by Matt Thornton
32 reviews · 4.84 / 5
Matt Thornton · Combo
Survive and Escape by Matt Thornton reviews
Survive and Escape by Matt Thornton has 43 customer reviews in this archive, averaging 4.95 out of 5. 95% are five-star and 0 are one or two stars. Reviews run from July 10, 2021 to June 24, 2026. All of them are published below in full, unedited.
43
Reviews
4.95 / 5
Average rating
0
1–2 star
100%
Verified buyers
5 star41 (95%)
4 star2 (4.7%)
3 star0 (0%)
2 star0 (0%)
1 star0 (0%)
Who reviewed Survive and Escape by Matt Thornton
12 of these reviewers gave their belt rank when they submitted the review. BJJ Fanatics asks for rank, age and years training at the point of review, so this breakdown is self-reported by the customer.
| Belt | Reviews | Average rating |
|---|---|---|
| Blue | 4 | 5.0 |
| Purple | 4 | 5.0 |
| White | 2 | 5.0 |
| Black | 2 | 5.0 |
Where to buy it
Survive and Escape by Matt Thornton is currently listed on the BJJ Fanatics storefront at $159.00 USD. View Survive and Escape by Matt Thornton on BJJ Fanatics
The reviews
Good
Iron pillow saves my sh**ty position
Matt Thornton's Survive and Escape
When I started in Jiu Jitsu the original Gracie Basic series was new and cutting edge. I had a hiatus from the game for several years and had a heart stent in 2021. Following that I began rolling on Saturdays with a friend who is a black belt and I thought "This might **** me". My solution to getting squashed was this instructional video and it made all the difference. Within a month I was able to keep my head above water. Thornton's style of instruction is focused on the absolute more fundamental details of each position, the primary focus of the series is how to maintain safe posture while pinned and develop structure which allows you to get out from under your partner to a top position. It was so useful that I purchased the other instructional videos from Matt Thornton on the platform immediately.
30 minutes in and I have already learned something that can be immediately implremented!
I have watched a fair amount of Matt Thornton's content on YouTube and also content from his coach, Chris Haueter. I am really glad that I bought this instructional as it is a super detailed deep dive and at a rough guess is around 7-8 hours of content! Of what I have watched, it is not so much 'here is a technique now go do it', it is more 'this is why the technique works'. It goes a level deeper. Very happy with this purchase.
A wise investment
Matt hasn't made many videos bjj fanatics but the one's he has are essential. His YouTube channel is priceless and, as a rickson student, he has that slightly different style than the Gracie JJ everyone learned.
Defense Masterclass
Matt provides clear, step-by-step guidance that is easy to follow and apply. The detailed explanations make it an excellent tool for practitioners of all levels.
good solution. for escape.
after start train bjj. i never win guy who big and power. never escaped on big guy side position. this dvd give me some solution
Deep dive on escapes
Primarily bottom side 👍
Great course
The course is great (as expected) it contains fundamentals of both early and late escapes and position improvements. All the techniques are efficient and well explained. Thanks a lot for this great course!
Making jiujitsu effective again
When you're done with your blue belt phase of chasing techniques and counters, start the SBG courses to create your strong fundamentals and principles.
SBGI Rocks!
Matt Thornton gives "real" solutions to grappling positions. Great instructor!
Critical Knowledge Applicable Throughout Your Practice
Thornton illustrates fundamental concepts that will serve as the building blocks of your game if you're a newcomer to the art, and that will strengthen your existing game if you're an advanced practitioner. Chock-full of all-too often ignored essentials beneficial to everyone, regardless of grappling style or level of experience.
Great coaching
This is awesome course, similar to Akins and Whittier.
Pretty good
Pretty good
Response from BJJ Fanatics:hugging:Great detail :100:
Love how detailed this is. very good information to dial in those fundamentals that make us more efficient. 🙏�
Great explanations, but missing what I was hoping to get out of it
I purchased this after watching a youtube video where he was teaching mount escapes. I'm blue, nearing purple, and still get embarrassingly stuck in side control, even by lower belts once they figure out how to control their pressure, and figured based on his ability to explain on youtube and the length of this video that it would be a good library of info in which to find a better solution that what I was currently doing. Like in the youtube videos, he gives a great explanation for each move and there is a tone of info on here. However, for me I couldn't give it 5 stars because it doesn't contain the 2 most common forms of side control I see played and get stuck in so I wasn't able to apply it directly (some you can frame and work your way into positions he shows here).
excellent fundamentals
Absolutely wonderful fundamentals. Even upper belts can learn great things from this.
The Best Content. Period.
This was another fine instructional by Matt Thornton. The thing about him is that he only digs deeply into the fundamentals of jiu jitsu and he DOES NOT go into long winded talks of technique vs technique, counter vs counter. The whole point of good fundamental jiu jitsu is to attack the opponent's base and posture while maintaining the integrity of your own. Using very simple concepts of leverage, angles, connection, and body weight distribution, this greatly simplifies the complex topic know as BJJ and massively slows down the fight. Speaking specifically of closed guard, Thornton shows how you can develop a very legitimate game using very simple concepts. Basically, all you need is a pull to break posture and a hip bump sweep. It's so simple and yet so effective.
Response from BJJ Fanatics:hugging:Good stuff
I like this instructional, good concepts on how to apply pressure and how to escape in positions that ****. The audio could be improved sometimes but still a really good one
Response from BJJ Fanatics:hugging:C.J.
Cannot go wrong with this material! Like a good scientific experiment. The techniques repeatedly work!
Response from BJJ Fanatics:hugging:Side Control and Mount Escapes
Coach Matt Thornton offers an excellent strategical and movement based escaping gameplan. Based on the pillar position it is about turteling/dogfight position and shrimping and guard recovery as well as sit outs fro side control and turtle. It is also about defending/escaping armbar and kimura as well as the mount via upa/trap and roll/ elbow escape and how to combine it. There are always three coaches. Thornton explains and shows and the others demonstrating it. Absolute recommendation!!!
Response from BJJ Fanatics:hugging:Excellent as always from Matt Thornton
Great content, very conceptual as always from Matt, will change your game and and vastly increase your ability to escape bad situations as well as the pressure you put on opponents if you take the time to absorb and drill it.
Great. Matt Thornton always has
Great. Matt Thornton always has great content
Response from BJJ Fanatics:hugging::+1::skin-tone-2:Great Course!!!
This is a solid, in depth course with a TON of great info!! I would highly recommend this to anyone who wants to learn and has time to invest in perfecting their craft.
Response from BJJ Fanatics:fire:Great instruction
It's a very detailed course. I think the content will satisfy everyone from beginners to skilled people.
More reviewed titles from Matt Thornton
The Closed Guard Compendium by Matt Thornton
28 reviews · 5.0 / 5
Every number on this page is computed from the 43 reviews above at build time, out of 87,673 in the full archive. See the methodology for how the corpus is collected and what is excluded.