Position on the Ground 2: Position Harder

Last time we looked at the guard, side control, and the mount. Now, let’s look at half-guard, north-south, and rear mount.

Half-Guard

I know that last time I said guard was the best position to hold if you are on the bottom. Broadly speaking, some form of guard where both your legs control your opponent’s body should be the best situation if you are underneath someone. Personally, though, my guard sucks and my half-guard is pretty decent, so I prefer half-guard.

Anyway, in half-guard, the person underneath has both their legs wrapped around one leg of the fighter on top. This obviously makes it hard for the top fighter to pass to Half-Guard or Mount, but it is still more offensive for the guy on top. Many a BJJ practitioner in MMA has lost by TKO after getting GnPed by someone caught in half-guard.

The advantages of half-guard for someone underneath are several sweeping opportunities, including direct sweeps to rear mount, and a bunch of submission opportunities. Advantages of half-guard for the guy on top mostly have to do with improved striking capability compared to being in someone’s closed guard.

North-South

This position gets a lot of flack from people who know nothing about grappling because it looks… funny. The fighter on top has his head toward the feet of the other fighter, generally with his belly smothering the bottom fighter’s face. I don’t really like North-South, as the bottom fighter’s hips remain quite free, but ground strikers can unload some damage from this position, and submission specialists have something to go for from practically any position. I just use it to crush people and rob them of wind because I’m a lazy grappler with terrible fitness and a lot of weight, but good fighters use North-South much more effectively.

Rear Mount

When you hear someone say ‘He has his back!’ this is what’s being talked about. One guy is behind and has his legs and arms wrapped around the fighter in front. Getting into any more detail is tricky, as there are so many different ways to control a fighter in your rear mount. The most common for MMA is to have over-under hooks with the hands, and to hook your opponent’s thighs with your feet.

I prefer to put on an anaconda, which is one leg across the opponent, hooked under the knee of the opposite leg to squeeze your opponent’s mid-section. Everything I do is based on trying to make the other guy as tired as I am, however, so actually good grapplers will do more. For someone who likes chokes, this is the best position to be in, but strikers will likely try to move to mount, as rear mount isn’t a good position for delivering devastating strikes.

Well, that’s part two done with. Next time we might look at some rarer and more complex stuff, such as the baffling array of different guards, as well as some side control variants.