Answers to a lot of your guys questions:
1. General ground advice- Transition, transition, transition. There are several forms of transitions. The first is a minor transition. This is initiated by a flick and quarter turn of the R stick. Initiate a minor transition by flicking directly up, down, left, or right and then rotating the stick a quarter turn. Next is major transitions. These are accomplished by flicking the R stick at a 45 degree angle and then rotating the stick back to the horizontal or vertical axis. In other words, if you think of the R stick as a compass, a minor transition would be from North to East/West, a major transition would be from Northwest to East/South. The final form of transitions is signature transitions. Each form of groundfighting has its own signature transitions. These are activated by holding down the LB/L1 button and then attempting to perform a transition. The danger of performing transitions is that they drain your stamina and they can even result in losing ground when facing skilled opponents. Minor transitions can be blocked, but unlike major transitions, they cannot be reversed. Major transitions accomplish more and are inherently riskier because they can be reversed. Having a transition reversed puts you in a worse position than you started out in, sometimes by devastating margins. Probably the most important transition to know as a beginner on the ground is a major transition to standing from open guard defense. Once you've been taken down and your opponent postures up, perform a major transition to get back to your feet. Transition blocking and transition reversals are discussed more in the submission section (I typed that up first and dont feel like moving it here).
2. Submissions- To lock in a submission, either twirl the right stick or mash the buttons like mad, whatever you feel more comfortable doing, unlike sub escapes the two techniques are not based on different stats. As for successfully subbing people, you have to a.) be a good sub fighter and b.) have their stamina worked down to the point where theyre gassed or close to being gassed. It is also helpful to be in a more dominant position, he better your position, the better your chances of pulling off the sub. Now, stamina draining is pretty basic. Beating up on someone reduces max stamina and slightly reduces current stamina. However, the easiest (and best way), to sub someone when youre in a dominant position on the ground is to block or reverse their transition attempts. In order to block transitions, hold the R stick back. In order to reverse a transition attempt, flick the R stick towards or away from your opponent at the instant they start the transition. Alternate between this and strikes on the ground to drain their stamina and then go for the sub. It helps significantly if you have a high sub offense and your opponent has a lower sub defense.
3. Takedown defense- To keep from getting taken down first flick back on the R stick, then, if your opponent still gets to you and initiates the takedown attempt, you have to fight free by twirling like mad on the R stick. The higher your takedown defense compared to your opponents takedown offense, the easier time you'll have resisting the takedown.
4. Knees to the dome- Only Muay Thai fighters can accomplish this by engaging the MT clinch and using whip knees by flicking the R stick and then kneeing. The higher your clinch grappling offense rating, the more likely you are to be able to keep guys in your clinch during a whip.
