Dimitri Dragin is one of the World’s best practitioners of Ashi waza.

Throughout his competitive career the list of those he foot-swept is like a who’s who of Judoka.

He was able to execute his De Ashi Barai from almost any position

Although intending to attack with De Ashi barai, in competiti...

Dragin’s De ashi Barai is executed off a sleeve and lapel grip.

He starts by bunching up the sleeve, making it tight on Uke’s arm. With this strong grip, Dragin pulls their arm across the front of his body, making contact with his chest.

He then leans forward a fraction, applying tension down ...

From the triangle position, Dragin can move onto the next stage. He says there are 3 really important things to remember, to make sure Uke ends up in the correct position: Sleeve, Lapel, and hips.

To be able to attack the leg, Dragin needs to break Uke’s balance, positioning them up on their toe...

Dragin states that ‘the timing for the sweep is of utmost importance, it must come right at the last second.

Uke is almost up in the air before the contact is made.

Dragin wants the under-side of his foot to connect with Uke’s leg.

In order to do this, he needs to make sure that he opens his h...

Now let’s look at Dimitri Dragin using his De Ashi Barai in competition against opponent’s in an extreme right handed stance.

At the 2011 World Team Championships in Paris, Dragin executes what is considered to be one of the greatest pieces of Ashi-Waza ever seen on the international stage.

Af...

Here is Dimitri Dragin’s De Ashi Barai from a standard right vs right position.

Of all of Dragin’s De Ashi Barai variations this was his most successful.

It’s a perfect example of what Dragin’s Judo is all about.

Using his whole body to apply pressure onto his opponent, getting a reaction and ...

Dragin’s De Ashi Barai in a standard right vs right situation, is off the Sleeve and high lapel grip.

Dragin starts by bunching up the sleeve, making sure he has a strong grip on it.

He uses this grip to build the tension on his opponent’s arm.

Then pulls the sleeve down and across the front ...

When Uke starts to move, Dragin makes sure he keeps his lapel hand relaxed, while gripping tightly with his sleeve hand

He also needs to continue to apply his bodyweight down onto Uke’s arm.

It’s crucial however that he doesn't put too much pressure down onto the arm, as this could break their ...

To execute the throw, Dragin wants to attack as Uke’s legs start to move towards each other.

He wants to use the base of his foot to make contact, keeping his leg slightly bent.

He doesn’t mind whether he connects with one leg, De Ashi, or 2, Okuri Ashi. In both sce-narios he drives his leg th...

Dimitri Dragin’s De Ashi Barai was designed for competition, as it was based around capital-izing on reactions. Let’s see how it worked in practise against some of the best in the World.

At the 2011 Paris World Team Championships, Dragin executed this bit of magic against Russia’s Khan-Magomedov...

The thing that made Dimitri Dragin so dangerous with his feet, was his ability to execute Ashi Waza against both right and left handed opponents from a wide variety of positions.

Even when up against a strong left hander who has a dominant grip over the top, Dragin could find a solution. And thi...

When facing a left handed opponent with a dominant grip over the top, Dragin needs to create enough space to be able to get his right hand on the inside lapel.

Having the space enables him to use that lapel to start to apply pressure.

Dragin wants to pull down and then push into Uke’s pectoral ...

With Dragin in his playground area, he needs to free up space on his right arm. He raises his elbow to knock Uke off balance – ending in a perfect position for him to sweep their leg.

As he steps, Dragin performs a shoulder roll.

To do this he moves the top half of his body away from uke. This ...

Dragin’s variation of De Ashi against a left handed opponent with an over the top grip can al-so work if they are on the lapel.

These 2 variations are very similar. The main difference is Dragin doesn’t need to execute the shoulder roll to get the distance between himself and Uke.

Dragin needs...

When Dimitri Dragin finds himself in an uncomfortable right v right situation, he has ways to change it.

Dragin doesn’t look to escape, but instead he chooses to use it to his advantage, it was a scenario he trained for.

With both fighters being in a right handed stance all their weight is on ...

Starting in a Right v Right position, Dragin applies pressure down through his sleeve grip, just like with all of his Kumi Kata.

This is done by pulling the arm down and into your body, followed by bringing your bodyweight down onto the sleeve.

Keeping distance between himself and his partner,...

Dragin starts by bringing pressure down on Uke’s sleeve.

He pulls it down and into his body, and then brings his chest over it.

Like with a traditional Sasae, you must step around onto your left leg, next to Uke’s foot.

It’s important for Dragin to keep distance from uke when he steps around....

Most Judoka will look for any way to escape when their opponent has an extreme cross grip, Dimitri Dragin is not one of them.

Instead he looks to attack with his thigh variation of the Front Leg Sasae.

With Uke having an extreme cross grip, Dragin starts by creating some distance.

Doing so rem...

Due to how often Dimitri Dragin drilled the Front Leg variation of his Sasae, it became second nature to him. Now let’s see how he put it to work on the IJF World Judo Tour.

Dragin used his foot variation to great effect in the 3rd round of the 2009 Paris Grand Slam against Britain’s Miller.

He...

Dragin’s Left Ippon Seoi Nage is an attack he executes from a right stance.

To make it happen he has to create distance between himself and his opponent and have a lapel grip.

Dragin can do it against right or left handed opponents. But he says it works best against opposite stance opponents, w...

Dragin’s Seoi Nage starts from a right stance and a right lapel grip. You can feed the lapel from left to right if necessary.

He says you should keep distance between yourself and Uke, and does this by straightening the right arm.

With the lapel grip and distance from Uke, you step into what Dr...

From the Jigotai position, Dragin says to start pushing off of the right leg. Forcing your hip further into Uke and switching you weight onto your left leg.

This starts to lift the opponent up. It’s at this point that you want to step back with the right leg.

Notice how as he steps, Dragin sen...

Having learnt Dragin’s Left Ippon Seoi Nage, now let’s take a look and analyse how he executed it in competition.

The first round of the 2011 Paris Grand Slam saw Dragin send the home crowd into raptures with this spectacular example of his Left Seoi against Turkey's Uzun.

While side stepping, ...

Against right handers, Dimitri Dragin’s focus is getting Uke out of their right handed stance. But when against left handers feels he can attack without a large set-up - his favourite technique in this situation is a Left Drop Seoi Nage.

Dragin will only do this attack if he is dominating the K...