In BJJ, closed guard is a great place to be for the one on bottom as you have so many options whereas your opponent has much less.
You might consider the Closed Guard as an „old fashioned“ position in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, but you can’t deny the fact that you still lock it up quite often. That is to say, no matter how much your Jiu Jitsu progresses and what the level of „fanciness“ you decide to add to it is, the Closed Guard will be side-by-side with you along the way. So why not revisit some of the attacks from there, and see how to make them work together?
Matt Thornton is a highly respected BJJ instructor and founder of Straight Blast Gym International, an association of over 35 gyms worldwide engaged in training athletes in Brazilian jiu-jitsu, boxing and mixed martial arts. He was among the first American-born practitioners to receive a black belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.
Matt likes to trap his opponent in the side closed guard and he has a game changing detail where he doesnt’t let his opponent set his grips, making his victim vulnerable to sweeps and submissions.
Learn from the most successful closed guard player ever with Roger Gracie’s closed guard system, totally explained in this 4-part series
- Lock on airtight submissions that work at elite levels, including cross chokes, lapel chokes, arm locks, and more.
- Roger Gracie is one of the most dominant grapplers in history, with 10 Black Belt World Championships and 2-Time ADCC Champion – and he did it with old school Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.
