Terunofuji is the strongest rikishi in today’s sumo. At 6’3” and 176 kilos/388 pounds, he is consistently strong in the clinch, durable, and notoriously hard to put away. With the state of his body, Terunofuji has had to develop a game that is almost exclusively reliant on upper body strength.
Today we are doing some film study on the 73rd Yokozuna, Terunofuji. We will look at how he attacks the arms of his opponents to gain the upper hand.
What is the overhook?
In the sport grappling, the overhook position is when two wrestlers are in a clinch situation and our wrestler loops his arm over the top and around his opponent.
The underhook, which is the inverse, is largely seen as the dominant position but sometimes a wrestler will forgo the better position for control of the arm and/or to throw from there.
The whizzer occurs when said wrestler lifts up from the over hook position, something we will discuss with Terunofuji shortly.
Famously, Jon Jones, the UFC light heavyweight and heavyweight champion, cranked the arm of Glover Teixeira from the overhook position.
On day one of the Hatsu basho of 2024, Terunofuji returned to action after three straight basho with injury. The Yokozuna roared back and reminded everyone that he was the top dog in the division with a crank on the shoulder of the ever athletic Ura.
Off the tachiai, (1) Terunofuji will reach for the overhook and (2) pull the arms of Ura upward, similar to a whizzer. From here, Terunofuji looks to grab the back of the mawashi. But here, he wasn’t able to get a grip.
In our next example, Terunofuji tries to push Ura to the edge of the dohyo, (1) Ura will plant and have a good strong base. Instead of overpowering Ura with his shot knees, (2) Terunofuji steps back with his right foot and keeps the overhook. He also locks his hands to sink in the grip and locking in Ura’s arm. (3) He will then switch hip direction and look to throw Ura by the arm.
While the Japanese announcers in this match were worried about the arm of Ura snapping, the real danger lies in the shoulder. It’s the same lock Frank Mir used against Pete Williams, except from the guard. That was all the way back in 2002.
Terunofuji and the arm drag
Terunofuji doesn’t only look for the whizzer and overhook. While they are the bedrock of his game, he will commonly work with a lethal arm drag that he suckers people into. There are two main variations he will go to.
The first is a straight up arm drag. This involves Terunofuji going two on one and pulling the opponent’s arm across his body for a throw.
(1) Terunofuji will read an opponent extending his arm and (2) the Yokozuna will grab the wrist with his right hand and behind the tricep with his left. (3) He pulls the arm across the opponent and pushes with his left hand for the throw.
Terunofuji will also grab the wrist and the back of the mawashi to toss his opponents off the dohyo.
We start our next look (1) with Terunofuji having already pulled his opponents arm across his body. (2) He follows up by corralling the close side arm with his right and reaching behind his opponent. (3) In our last frame, we see the belt grip he’s snagged just before he throws his foe out.
In another look, we can see (1) as the two rikishi are set, (2) Terunofuji shoots his right arm all the way across his body to grab his opponent’s right arm. He uses this along with the left hand grip to (3) pull his opponent across his body and get a grip of the mawashi.
If it’s not apparent, Terunofuji’s knees are absolutely shot. He’s undergone many knee surgeries in both of his knees in the last decade that has seen him sidelined for longer lengths of time. Terunofuji has adapted his game to be an upper body-centric one that he’s utilizers his way to the rank of Yokozuna and beyond.
When it comes to attacking the arm, Terunofuji didn’t just have to become good at it. He had to become proficient if he wanted to become Yokozuna. He did just that. The ability to adjust your body to what you’re given is what makes good athletes great. Conquering mental health led Tyson Fury to his comeback in boxing. Adapting to his own destroyed knees allowed Kamaru Usman to become UFC champion. Terunofuji had to do the same.
