Watch any of the early UFC’s and you see Royce Gracie submitting people left and right and some of the most memorable tap outs were from closed guard. It made the world realize that a smaller guy on his back was a dangerous threat. You watch a street fight with a BJJ practitioner and the BJJ practitioner almost always submits the opponent from closed guard if a top or back position is not taken.
Now fast forward to 2018 and you almost never see the closed guard in the UFC end in a submission or even a sweep. In BJJ competitions the majority of submissions are coming from leg attacks, back attacks, side control, mount and open sports guards. Not many closed guard submissions at all. So what’s happening? Is closed guard as a submission position still effective or is it outdated?
No it’s not!
You can even tap your opponents from closed guard. Carlos Farias shows how he submits guys by squeezing his legs on his opponent’s ribcage. The opponent either taps or defends and leaves an opening for you to transition to something else like a sweep.
Check out the great combination:
Closed guard is going to be one of the first guards that you learn, and one of the last that you master. There are so many sweeps, submissions, grip combinations, and options from the closed guard. Learning closed guard will assist you in developing a strong foundation to build the rest of your bjj around. If you want to learn some extremely high level attacks from the closed guard, check out 5x World Champion, Bernardo Faria’s 4 DVD set, “The Closed Guard.”
