MMA Guard vs BJJ Guard

After a recent discussion with a student on tactics in combat I thought I would talk a little about some differences in the way I believe we should approach the guard depending on the scenario. As with everything it is important to note that there are no “right or wrong” answers, just different opinions. In a recent interview with Rickson Gracie on the Joe Rogan podcast both men showed very different opinions on guard use in MMA.

On listening, it seemed to me that Joe Rogan favoured an attacking guard, locking the opponent down and hunting submissions, in the 10th planet style, but was surprised when Rickson discussed using feet on hips to create space. Rickson hoped to prevent an opponent from causing serious damage until he was able to regain his feet, he discussed the famous match between Mark Kerr and Fabio Gurgel as one of the reasons he considered this strategy. It is worth also noting that in most of Rickson’s Vale Tudo fights he avoided the bottom position as much as he could and fought very hard to get takedowns to the top position.

I have embedded the video of the interview here, the parts relating to Rickson's thoughts on Vale Tudo guard are from 1:30:29 - 1:40:38, although if you haven't heard the whole interview I highly recommend it (along with anything else Rickson related for that matter).

Of course for some people one strategy may be more effective than for another, Paul Sass for example is quite effective in MMA when he pulls guard, but he is certainly in the minority. Very few others have the level of guard skills to be effective enough to make this strategy work.

In the BJJ world we often see a preference for guard with people happy to work from this position and even to go directly to it by pulling guard to negate the opponent the opportunity to score takedown points. Due to this preference I sometimes need to discuss different strategies for different situations. I have broken this into possibilities, BJJ Guard and MMA Guard, for the purposes of this article I am rolling “Street guard” and MMA Guard into the same strategy.

BJJ Guard 

Strategy Heirachy:

1. Sweep
2. Submit
3. Stand up

In a BJJ sense I believe it is generally best to strive for top position, largely because the opportunities for winning are increased from top. There are scoring opportunities through Passing, Knee Ride, Mount and Back Control as well as the associated advantages (in addition a sweeping in itself is a scoring move). There are also arguably more submission options from the top in that you have more positions that you can submit from.

Picture courtesy of Josh Stebbings Photography

Assuming that you are unable to sweep or a very good opportunity arises the submission is the next most important option. Notice I prioritise submission lower in priority than sweeps due to the importance of top position, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t attack with sweep and submission combinations from your guard.
The last option in BJJ is to try and stand up; one of the main issues with this strategy is that this can be seen as passivity in a sporting sense. However, sometimes when an opponent is trying to stall or you are under heavy attack on the bottom, getting up, or at least creating a scramble in the attempt can be a great opportunity.

MMA Guard

Strategy Heirachy:

1. Stand up
2. Sweep
3. Submit.

MMA is a bit of a contrast and the main reason for this is urgency. The dangers to you in any bottom position in MMA are so much greater that you need to heavily limit your time there. As mentioned above Rickson preferred to create space and keep the opponent off him until he was able to regain his feet. As such the first priority is in my opinion to get up.

Picture courtesy of Josh Stebbings Photography

If simply standing up is not an option or if you are working a combination of the two then sweeps are your next best bet. A successful sweep gives you the choice of fighting from the top position or disengaging to fight on the feet. I believe that Half Guard and Hooks Guard are the two best options to combine sweeps and stand ups in MMA.
While a submission will end the fight, the risk you place yourself in by deciding to stay on your back and seek them out is very high. The damage you are very likely to take will dramatically reduce your effectiveness on your back, we have all hard Carlson Gracie’s view on what happens when you punch a Black Belt in the face….

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