The Closed Guard is sometimes referred to as the Full Guard. It is considered one of the strongest positions in BJJ in terms of bottom positions. One reason for this is as it offers many fundamental sweeps and submissions. In simple terms, this is because it is an inverted mount, if you are to sweep in competition, you will receive 6 points. The closed guard is a very versatile position, meaning a variety of submissions and sweeps can be performed with numerous options.
Closed guard is considered one of the oldest positions in BJJ alongside being fundamentally solid. Most notably, Roger Gracie would often use the closed guard to devastating effect. In more recent times Kron Gracie also had great success using the position to attack guillotine chokes.
Table of Contents
Overview
The closed guard is when the bottom player manages to wrap their legs around the back of their opponent, locking their feet together. This traps the opponent in between the legs of the guard player. The closed guard can be separated into two areas, one where the opponent is standing and one where they’re on their knees.
When the opponent is standing in the closed guard, the person in bottom position is much more defensive. There are only a couple of basic sweeps from this position compared to a kneeling opponent. In addition to this, there are also a lot less sweeps available, since the opponents limbs and neck are a lot further away from you.
In terms of MMA, the position is also very common. Unlike BJJ it is mostly used from a defensive perspective since you can easily be punched in the head and knocked out. Whilst most MMA fighters won’t seek out closed guard entries, it is a good defensive option if you are put on the floor by punches or takedowns.
The bottom player may opt to get an overhook and clinch to break their opponents posture and stop strikes to the head. Not only this but if the opponent gets frustrated and has poor posture, it can lead to sweeps and common submissions such as triangles and armbars.
One advantage of using the closed guard is also the ability to unbalance your opponent with your legs. As the opponents legs are stuck underneath their own bodyweight, it can be difficult for them to find a solid base, especially if you are controlling one of their arms.
Fundamental Sweeps From Closed Guard
There are a variety of sweeps from the closed guard, perhaps even too many to mention. Here are a list of basic sweeps that everyone will learn.
How to do the Sit-Up Sweep
Usually performed when controlling the arm of an opponent. You perform a sit up to the side of the arm you are controlling, this way they are not able to base and have no option but to fall backward. This can be done using a normal sleeve grip, cross sleeve grip or even a kimura grip. This sweep can only be done when the opponent is leaning backward. or up straight.
With this, the Sit-Up sweep can’t be done with the opponent’s posture down or weight leaning forward. Sometimes you can time this to hit it when the opponent postures up from a collar tie to escape attacks. It is also known as the hip-bump sweep due to relying heavily on the use of your hips.
How to do the Pendulum Sweep
Once again, arm control is essential. By pushing the opponent’s wrist into their own body – they have no base. Once this is under control, you can use your legs in a pendulum motion. This will chop out the opponent’s legs underneath them (on the same side as the controlled arm) whilst simultaneously chopping their upper body in the same direction as the blocked arm.
Often, you will need to control the hand or sleeve against advanced opponents. This is because they can sometimes use this to post on the mat to defend the sweep. As the name suggests, you should try using your legs like a pendulum to swing and generate the necessary momentum to sweep the opponent.
How to do the Scissor Sweep
An extremely basic sweep. The scissor sweep requires you to open your closed guard, thus is not seen too often at the high level – especially as a high level opponent will see the setup coming. The scissor sweep requires you to control the opponent’s arms and kick away at their base with a scissor motion. You must follow the falling opponent into the top position to complete your sweep.
It is important to have the opponent’s posture broken or at least a dominant collar grip to bring them down. Further, you should try and balance their weight on your leg which helps move their body easier.
How to do the Flower Sweep
Best used in the kimono. The flower sweep is mostly effective using a pants grip on one side. The other side of the body must be used to control the arm of the opponent (this is to make sure they cannot base). On the side of the arm control, you must stamp down, completely blocking the opponent from standing up with their leg. If you lift the opponent’s leg, you should now be in a mount position. Similar to the Pendulum sweep, this requires holding the wrist to stop the opponent from basing and potentially recovering.
Taking The Back
Not technically a sweep. Roger Gracie successfully used the closed guard to take the back mount on many opponents. Once the elbow of a competitor has crossed over the centre line of your sternum and is blocked by your chest, it is incredibly difficult for them to get it back.
If you are in full control of your opponents sleeve with a cross grip, you are able to use your other arm to hook around to their far armpit. Once this position is secure, you should be able to spin yourself around the body of the opponent and latch firmly on to their back.
If you have both hooks in between the legs of the opposition, you will be awarded 4 points in an IBJJF competition. Not only this, but you are also in a significantly better position and have a variety of choke options with very low risk to yourself.
Submissions
Perhaps the best feature of closed guard is the sheer amount of submission options. To add to its versatility, other than a few chokes, almost all submissions can be used in either gi or no-gi. There are even a couple of submission options against standing opponents such as kneebars, although it is almost always best to focus on guard retention and only try to submit kneeling opponents.
Armbar
Certainly the most common joint lock in all of BJJ & MMA. The armbar can be applied from both top and bottom positions alike. The armbar from closed guard requires full control over at least one of the opponents arms and elbow. Once secured, your top leg is used to break the posture of your opponent. If their head is not able to look you in the face, then their posture is likely fully broken and you will be able to hip up to finish the attack on the arm.
Cross Collar Choke
The cross collar choke requires full control of the opponents posture. If the opponent is able to posture up and make you straighten your arms, you will not have enough power or angle to choke them. Like many other chokes, it has variations, but is most commonly performed by getting a palm up grip inside the opponents collar, followed by a palm down grip with a slightly off-centre angle to finish the choke.
Omoplata
The omoplata is probably one of the most difficult submissions for beginners to fully understand because it is so different from the other options. It requires full control of the opponents posture and ideally wrist control. Once you have these two things, you must swing your hips around to face the exact same way as your opponents hips.
Only then can you lock a triangle with your legs and start sitting up over their back. This shoulder lock submission has many sweep options, as well as escapes for your opponent, so will take a very long time to master.
Triangle
There are a variety of triangle entries from closed guard. Most common is from controlling an overhook. From this position you are able to jump your leg over the opponents shoulder and thus be in a triangle position with your legs. A key detail is to always keep the triangle locked whilst controlling your opponents posture. If they aren’t able to posture up, then they will almost never be able to escape the choke.
Kimura
Arguably the most simple submission from the closed guard. The kimura is a shoulder lock which requires full control of a single arm. It’s most often achieved by unbalancing the opponent and making them put their hands on the mat. As soon as this happens you must grab same side wrist control and then go over the top of their shoulder with your other arm. Once this is done you can move the opponents hand towards the back of their head, attacking their shoulder joint.
Summary
The closed guard is a key part of BJJ for both new and old practitioners. With a high number of fundamental sweeps and submissions available. It is definitely one of the better guards in the sport and is a solid route to mounting your opponent. Even though it has somewhat faded in popularity recently, it still has a place in sport BJJ due to the number of sweeps and submissions.
From a self defense angle, it is also fundamentally solid. It has been and will continue to be used in MMA for many years (often transitioning to rubber guard to stop blows to the head).
As a real-life example of it’s effectiveness, Roger Gracie is widely considered to be the greatest BJJ athlete of all time chose this as his main guard and destroyed almost everyone in his path, never being submitted in his black belt career. With this in mind the closed guard is a great option for all and can become a deadly tool if learned and practiced correctly.
