So Meta: The MMA Guard Game

The guard has been a part of MMA since its founding days, and for a long stretches of the sports history it was seen as a potent offensive position. As the sport has progressed the role of the guard has changed a great deal, it is a position practiced by every MMA fighter but used in a variety of different ways. This article will look at the boarder use of the guard in MMA and theory behind it.

The Original Use of the Guard and Evolution with-in Grappling

While the guard is often viewed as an offensive position by fans, it is in fact, as the name suggests, a defensive position. In the positional hierarchy observed and practiced by Brazilian Jiu Jitsu practitioners the two best positions to attain are the mount and back control, and the worst spots being the wrong end of those positions. The ‘dominant positions’, which normally include mount, the back, side control, and knee-on-belly are desirable because of the offensive advantages they provide the top player. Bottom positions are generally considered to be lesser than the top positions, with the guard being position from which the bottom fighter has the defensive and offensive options available.

In the early days of Vale Tudo and No Holds Barred fighting a bottom player’s goal was to get back to guard and not expose one’s back. Once back in the guard the bottom player’s first objective was to keep the opponent from passing or striking, and then look to sweep to the top position or submit the opponent. Sometimes this could take quite a while, and the guard was used in an attritive fashion mean to slowly tire out an opponent. In Vale Tudo matches in the mid-20th Century this could result in matches that were over an hour long as the guard player wore down his opponent’s ability and will to fight.

As Brazilian Jiu Jitsu continued to grow as its own independent sport, the overall theory of the guard hasn’t altered a great deal. It’s first job is to prevent the opponent using their weight to put down the immobilizing pressure that is a key aspect of most guard passes. In matches between two well schooled grapplers submissions from the one’s back are rare, so often the goal of the guard player in sport grappling matches is sweep directly into a dominant position. All the evolutions in guard in sport grappling have been specific responses to styles of passing, made to divert the pressure and set up a sweep. Matches between black belts are often 10 minutes or longer and often it can take more than half a match for a guard player to attain the right combinations of grips and positioning to hit a proper sweep.

Here is a BJJ Scout breakdown of the mechanics of combating and diverting pressure in the modern guard play of one of sport BJJ’s best, Leandro Lo.

So while many of these evolutions in guard are dismissed as ridiculous, such as Bermibolo sweeps or the spider guard, they are in fact practical responses to certain situations and conditions. In MMA however that are additional factors that impact guard play.

Influences on Guard Play in MMA

The two biggest influences on the guard in modern MMA are that it is a no-gi sport and that ground striking is legal. In sport no-gi grappling the removal of jacket grips reduces the effectiveness of several guards and attacks. The lack of gi grips also makes controlling and passing the guard of the bottom player more complicated. Strikes further limit a guard player’s options because they have to devote a portion of their guard work to strike prevention as well as preventing pass attempts and setting up offense.

Another influence is how MMA is judged, the consistent awarding of rounds of fairly close, and sometimes not so close, grappling to the top player sets a strong precedent that position matters over actual offense in MMA. Additionally the 5 minute rounds in MMA mean that after the time spent striking and fighting for takedowns, when a bout does hit the mat it often isn’t for more than 2 minutes, giving guard players a very limited window to work offense. The cage also plays a big role, learning how to operate against the cage is a must for most guard players as it has sever impact on hip mobility.

A not often discussed difference in MMA is that in sport grappling there are rules mandating engagement from a top player, they top player is expected to be aggressive and engaging the bottom player. However in MMA there are no such rules and a common tactic for a top …

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