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.

This is by no means a guide to learning ground technique. It is simply an overview of what the positions look like and what they mean for each fighter. Hopefully, having some idea of what’s happening on the ground will help many new spectators to develop more of an appreciation for fights that hit the mat.

There are many different positions, but we’ll start with three of the most important: guard, side control, and mount. We’ll get to more later, but an understanding of these positions should be a good start.

The Guard

When you see one guy on his back holding the other fighter between his legs, that’s guard. If the legs are crossed over, it’s closed guard. If they are open, it’s an open guard. Simple enough, right?

If you are on your back, this is the most advantageous position you can be in to perform submissions or to control your opponent. Being on top is always more advantageous, but this is the least disadvantageous position on your back.

Closed guard. Note the legs are crossed.

Open guard. Note the legs aren't crossed.

A fighter in someone else’s guard will normally attempt to pass to side control. This generally means having to get past one of the legs of the guy on his back. While this may seem straightforward enough, guard can keep the fighter on top tied up for a long time, and this can lead to the referee standing the fighters up again in a UFC match.

Side Control

Side control

Side control is when the top fighter has passed to one side of the bottom fighter and is now generally lying chest to chest, with legs perpendicular to that of the bottom fighter. From here, striking is more effective, and knees can be used to devastating effect. There are also many submissions possible from side control, but lots of fighters will focus more on trying to move to a mount from side control rather than risking the loss of position that a failed submission could lead to. Quite often this is a very temporary position, as the fighter on top can do more damage mounted while the fighter on the bottom has to work toward moving back to guard or half-guard. Escapes and reversals are other options open to the bottom fighter, but anything more offensive is quite difficult.

Mount

The mount. Note the ownage.

From side control, a fighter on top is likely to work towards a mount. This has the top fighter essentially sitting on the bottom fighter. From here, the top fighter has the best reach and power advantage for striking on the ground, while also being in an excellent position to take advantage of any other opportunities. The fighter on the bottom will think of practically nothing but attempts to escape from here. Often, this will mean rolling over into a curled up position on elbows and knees, at least at first. This is generally referred to as giving up your back. Upsetting the top fighter’s balance is crucial to the defence of the bottom fighter, and maintaining balance is crucial for the top fighter to remain on the offensive. Once mounted, a fighter on the bottom will have to work hard to escape the situation, or else the fight will quickly finish.

In the next part, we’ll look at half-guard, north-south, and rear mount.