Pulling guard is such a common place in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu that you see it in almost every competition video known to man. We’ve seen with the high level grapplers like Rousimar Palhares all the way down to children in their first ever competition.
However, We’ve seen it time-and-time again where someone pulls guard and just doesn’t know what to do from there. Willingly pulling guard means that you have to be aggressive enough to work from this position, and not just sit there like a fish out of water.
When to pull guard:
- Your opponent is a high level wrestler, or a Judo black belt.
- Your opponent is much bigger than you.
- You’re injured and can’t fight on your feet.
- Strategy: your guard is much better than your top game.
In Judo you’ll often see Judoka talking about “Sacrifice Throws” which if they do it wrong, can lead to a self-inflicted loss.
That is not the case in BJJ, where the match continues when you fall to your back.
In this video, Keenan Cornelius shows how we can use the mechanics of a Sacrifice Throw in order to effectively pull guard and maybe even sweep them with Yoko Tomoe Nage (sacrifice throw).
Use these throws to safely launch fighters in BJJ, using judo principles and concepts.
- Flores is the head coach of the National Judo Team and a former All-American, D1 wrestler for Nebraska.
- Learn to fuse grappling’s best techniques into takedowns for jiu-jitsu.
- Take your opponents down with greater ease while not exposing yourself in the process.
