Craig Jones Power Ride Review: A Hands-On Breakdown

The core idea: on the legs, not past the legs

Craig Jones’ Power Ride has an ambitious goal: to change how we pin people in Brazilian jiu-jitsu. Craig argues that we should pin like Khabib Nurmagomedov instead of how we do it now.

How we pin people now is according to the IBJJF point system. We use side control, mount, back mount and north south. But MMA fighters like Khabib use an entirely different system of pins, and in this instructional Craig Jones teaches you how to do that too.

The shortest summary of Craig’s new philosophy of pinning is this: don’t be past the legs, be on the legs. All the normal BJJ pins are past the legs. The problem is that the legs are then free, free to bridge, to hip escape, and cause all kinds of problems.

Craig’s new pins (which he stole from Khabib) are on the legs. This prevents all bridges, hip escapes, and really all explosive movements, so it is far superior for holding people down.

How do ‘on the legs’ pins work?

Craig shows many ways to pin the opponent’s legs. Sometimes you are literally on the legs.

Sometimes you split the legs.

Sometimes you shelf the legs.

Sometimes you twist the leg.

And eventually you want to get to a full belly down back mount, where you essentially cover, shelf and split the legs all at the same time.

So there is not just one way to pin the legs, it is a whole system. Craig does a great job of explaining how to do it and how to integrate it with your existing BJJ game.

Volume-by-volume breakdown

Volume 1 (~30 min) – Theory & philosophy. Craig opens with his thesis: points do not equal control. He breaks down why traditional BJJ pins (side control, mount, north south) all share the same flaw: your opponent’s legs are free. He analyzes how Khabib Nurmagomedov pins fighters in MMA and builds the case for controlling the legs instead of bypassing them. Pure concept, no techniques yet, but it reframes everything that follows.

Volume 2 (~30 min) – Leg rides & lower body control. This is where the system starts. Craig teaches the Turk (and reverse Turk variations), the leg shelf, leg splitting mechanics, and the crab hook. Each control immobilizes the lower body so the opponent cannot bridge, hip escape, or generate explosive movement. BJJKlar’s reviewer noted that even lower belts reacted noticeably the first time the leg-splitting control was applied.

Volume 3 (~40 min) – Upper body controls. Craig layers upper body controls on top of the leg rides: claw rides, crossface control, Nelson variations (half Nelson, power half Nelson), the Dagestani handcuff (wrist ride), and open elbow control. This is the volume that connects riding with submissions: the Dagestani handcuff forces people belly down, which opens rear naked choke entries. It was the volume I had to rewatch.

Volume 4 (~40 min) – Turtle solutions. Craig addresses the most common defensive response, turtling up. He shows diagonal rides, spiral rides, cradles, and underclaws for breaking down turtled opponents. Each technique creates submission loops: you threaten one attack, they defend into another.

Volume 5 (~40 min) – BJJ integration. This volume bridges wrestling rides and standard BJJ. Craig shows how to apply riding concepts from side control, mount, and knee on belly, with entries from common BJJ passing positions. It is what makes Power Ride practical for pure BJJ players: you layer the riding concepts on top of your existing game.

Volume 6 (~60 min) – Submissions. The longest and most detailed volume. Craig shows submissions that flow naturally from riding control: arm triangle setups, D’Arce choke entries, belly-down rear naked choke, arm-in Ezekiel, half Nelson submissions, the cow catcher, kimura pathways, gift wrap to triangle, and Spider-Man wrist control. The arm triangle and D’Arce are the highest-percentage finishes from riding.

My experience training Power Ride

Phase 1. I watched the whole instructional on a Saturday before training. I could immediately pin people’s legs, keep people pinned forever with no chance to escape, and get to the belly down back mount (once). Super happy about this.

Phase 2. Over the following weeks my experience stayed the same: the pins are extremely effective and people literally have no escapes for them. But it was hard to progress to a submission, so I watched the instructional again for more details.

Phase 3. The main thing I was not using yet was the Daghestani handcuff with the rear naked choke grip. These grips are how you force someone belly down. Without them, people can stall out in a defensive position on their side or back. I now tap out a lot of people using this sequence, some of whom are better than me. What I appreciate even more than the submissions is the control. I do not use the normal pins anymore when I roll with big, explosive, MMA-type people. I feel much safer riding their legs. I can really control and submit people now that I could not two months ago.

• Leg rides: the Turk and reverse Turk, leg shelf, leg splits, crab hook
• Upper body controls: claw rides, crossface, half and power half Nelson, the Dagestani handcuff (wrist ride)
• Turtle breakdowns: diagonal rides, spiral rides, cradles, underclaws
• Belly-down back mount: covering, shelving and splitting the legs at once
• Submissions: arm triangle, D’Arce choke, belly-down rear naked choke, arm-in Ezekiel, cow catcher, kimura, gift wrap to triangle

Wrestling ride philosophy adapted for BJJ. There are plenty of instructionals on passing and top control (Gordon Ryan’s Systematically Attacking from Top being the most comprehensive), but none teach wrestling-style rides. Power Ride fills a gap that literally no other BJJ instructional covers.

Khabib-inspired system. Craig did not just copy a few wrestling moves. He analyzed Khabib Nurmagomedov’s MMA ground control and reverse-engineered it into a systematic BJJ approach. The ‘on the legs, not past the legs’ framework gives you a mental model, not just techniques.

Dense and efficient. At roughly 4 hours, Power Ride packs more usable material per minute than most modern instructionals. Compare that to Gordon Ryan’s 8+ hour sets or John Danaher’s 15-hour series. Craig teaches efficiently without unnecessary repetition.

Fatigue scoring. Dan Jonaher on Substack credits Power Ride as the origin point for the ‘fatigue scoring’ concept in no-gi grappling: instead of chasing points, you exhaust your opponent with relentless ride pressure until they make mistakes. This concept has spread throughout competition no-gi.

Pin-to-submission transition is the hard part. The pins themselves work on day one, but turning that control into a finish requires real mat time. I spent weeks pinning people with zero ability to submit them from the riding position. Volume 6 covers submissions, but the transitions from riding to finishing are where the learning curve lives. Gordon Ryan’s Systematically Attacking from Top covers the submission-from-control pipeline more thoroughly, though without the wrestling ride component.

Not beginner-friendly. JitsMagazine noted that beginners can learn the concepts, but in practice you need existing top game skills to apply the system. If you cannot smash pass or leg drag yet, you will not be able to get to the riding positions Craig teaches.

The laughing segment. BJJKlar’s reviewer flagged one segment with prolonged laughing that breaks the instructional flow. For a $197 product, that is a valid criticism, though it is brief and the rest of the content more than compensates.

IBJJF competition limitations. Most Power Ride positions do not score points under IBJJF rules. If you compete primarily under point-based rulesets, you will get less direct competitive value. The system is strongest in sub-only formats and MMA.

“No doubt this is one of the best Craig Jones Jiu-Jitsu instructionals ever.”

Filip Zanki, BJJ World (10/10 rating)

“He has created a whole system of pinning and controlling an opponent from the top that borrows the best elements of wrestling and adapts them for use in BJJ.”

JitsMagazine review

“Controlling someone until they tap is a better long-term goal than just holding positions for points.”

BJJKlar review

“I tested a few concepts immediately, especially the leg-splitting control, and they worked surprisingly well. Even lower belts showed telling reactions to this style of wrestling-inspired pressure.”

BJJKlar review

“Power Ride by Craig Jones definitely changed my game a bit. Not so much any particular technique he shows, but the ideas it centers around like splitting the legs, keeping the hips and head facing different directions, encouraging preferable reactions from your opponent by making undesirable reactions extremely uncomfortable.”

u/imdefinitelyfamous on r/bjj

“Honestly my favorite instructional ever. I’ve never had people fight so hard just to be in bottom mount or side control.”

u/Bearjewjenkins2 on r/bjj

“Everyone should watch Craig Jones’ Power Ride as he covers the turk and a whole bunch of variations like the reverse turk and other forms of leg pins. It has changed my game more than any other instructional.”

u/JohnFatherJohn on r/bjj

Power Ride is the right buy if you are a:

• Blue belt or above with solid pressure passing (smash pass, leg drag)
• No-gi grappler who competes in sub-only or wants better top control
• MMA fighter who wants Khabib-style ground control
• Grappler who can already finish arm triangles and D’Arces (the natural submissions from riding)
• Grappler frustrated with opponents escaping traditional side control and mount

The pressure passes that lead to the pins are leg smash passes and tight leg drag style passes. If you cannot do these passes, it will be hard to access most of the pins Craig shows. My smash pass was already good, which is why I could implement a lot of the pins on day one. If your passing is weak, start with a guard passing instructional or a pressure passing set first.

The submissions opponents give up to defend the pins are mostly arm triangles and D’Arces. If you cannot finish these yet, the pins lose teeth, because opponents will defend in ways they could not if you could punish them. These techniques are not strictly essential (Craig shows many more entries and finishes), but they are the most important ones to have.

You can watch Craig Jones use the pins he teaches in Power Ride in the video below. He uses many of the techniques covered in the instructional.