The Open Guard offers you so much choice for setting up your attacking game! There are a number of ways to set up offense from here, and if you haven’t read our two articles about the Collar Sleeve Guard – one of the best Open Guards out there – you definitely should!
This guard grants you an opportunity to set up yet another powerful position, one with heaps of attacks within its disposal… The Cross Sleeve Guard.

THE CROSS SLEEVE GUARD ESSENTIALS

When you’ve set up the Collar Sleeve Guard, Vitor Shaolin explains that your opponent might try to break your sleeve grip. To prevent that from happening, you can grip that sleeve with your other hand as well; which will give you tremendous pulling power. You need this power to separate the opponent’s elbow from their knee, which is very important if you want to start setting up submissions!

This newly found pulling excellence, however, also means that you can use the second grip alone; and thus establish the Cross Sleeve Guard. Now, once you have that grip, Shaolin shows that you’ll use your other arm to underhook the opponent’s leg, getting their ankle into the creek of your elbow. You could try keeping your far leg on their body, Shaolin points out, but that isn’t terribly important; unlike the second leg, which needs to stay on their hip. This is the starting point for your attacks.

If you’re looking for awesome, yet old school BJJ setups – then you’ll love this Cross Guard to Side Control one!

BJJ legend Vitor Shaolin demonstrates:

BJJ & MMA Legend Vitor “Shaolin” Ribeiro Shows You His Signature Cross Guard That Can Help You Develop A System For Submission Offense Off Your Back With This Classically Powerful Open Guard.

• This cross cuff grip-based guard will help you swing into strong submissions and sweeps as you defend yourself using open guard fundamentals.
• Launch into armbars, triangles, omoplata, and more as you control the cross guard and get your legs into better finishing positions.
• Vitor “Shaolin” Ribeiro is a 3-Time IBJJF Black Belt World Champion and MMA legend who used this cross guard to huge success in his competition career.