Guard against a standing opponent

[SagaMask]

Hi, i'm looking for ways to sweep my opponent when i'm laying down or seated and he is standing trying to pass my guard.

I like sport BJJ but i want most of my technique to be effective for fighting and at the moment i don't know any laying-on-the-back tactics who works great when fighting a standing opponent,
Can i go for a shot or just stand up in BJJ practice ?

 

[Solidus Snake]

Hi, i'm looking for ways to sweep my opponent when i'm laying down or seated and he is standing trying to pass my guard.

I like sport BJJ but i want most of my technique to be effective for fighting and at the moment i don't know any laying-on-the-back tactics who works great when fighting a standing opponent,
can i just go for a shot or stand up in BJJ practise ?

I'd say basic de la riva to single leg/back or tripod would do the trick..

nothing wrong either in coming up for a double, single, ankle pick or whatever!

 

[Uchi Mata]

1 leg X is pretty good for real fighting, as it keeps them away from your face and gives you the option of attacking leg locks as well as sweeping, plus it works equally well gi or no gi. It's one of my go-tos against standing opponents. But coming up for shots is totally valid and an excellent idea against a standing opponent who isn't pressuring you onto your back.

 

[SagaMask]

Ok i see, so i need to learn DLR guard, that's dosn't look like what Rickson or Royce were doing back in the days but well if it does so work why not !

 

[Solidus Snake]

Ok i see, so i need to learn DLR guard, that's dosn't look like what Rickson or Royce were doing back in the days but well if it does so work why not !

If you really want to go basic there is the tripod sweep as I wrote in the first post, here is Stephan Kesting explaining it:

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1 leg x-guard is also a really good alternative as Uchi Mata said above

 

[yovan]

that's dosn't look like what Rickson or Royce were doing back in the days but well if it does so work why not !

The game done changed since then

 

[Toothless King]

DLR or RDLR Mendes style for standing opponent all day long

 

[SagaMask]

Thanks ! Stephan Kesting is a great instructor !

 

[ChainFlow]

Don't discount full x guard either. You'll quickly get a sweep in most cases.

 

[Shemhazai]

I play a lot of reverse De La Riva, and like to spin under for the 'Kiss of the Dragon' when the guy is coming in in a low knee-cut type pass, or has one knee down. (And if he comes in really low, I'll go tornado.) However, if he is standing kind of tall, like you see a lot in MMA, I find spinning under to be a bit dodgy as a primary attack, as the RDLR hook isn't as strong when the leg straightens, and he is very mobile in this posture. In these cases, I play this series:

 

[Einarr]

Nothing wrong with standing if they aren't pressuring you down adequately. I look to stand or shoot a double leg from Butterfly/Sitting Guard most of the time.

 

[Shemhazai]

Don't discount full x guard either. You'll quickly get a sweep in most cases.

A really good X-guard entry in this situation is actually the standard tripod sweep. If the sweep works, then no need for X-guard, but if you can't reach the far leg with your hook, or he just puts too much weight on it/turns his hips, you lift the near leg and hide your knee behind his, effectively putting him in overhook X with a near side hook on his hip. From here you can finish a modified tripod sweep, going straight into a Victor Estima style straight ankle lock if you want, or do all sorts of other X-guard stuff.

 

[Rivet L]

Ok i see, so i need to learn DLR guard, that's dosn't look like what Rickson or Royce were doing back in the days but well if it does so work why not !

Sure, but Rickson and Royce don't hold a pattent on "old school jiu jitsu." De La Riva developed his guard in the late 80s, getting notoriety by sweeping an undefeated Royler Gracie. It was developed with self-defense/mma in mind, as they apparently trained with strikes at Carlson's gym.

There's actually an old tape of De La Riva teaching BJJ for self-defense. It's very dated, but really neat to watch for historical reasons.

 

[Shemhazai]

Some video surfaced the other day of Rickson pulling 1 leg X guard and sweeping straight into an ankle lock back in 1996 or so. Let's not pretend all the old school guys did was the lumberjack sweep.

 

[BJJArsenal]

Don't discount full x guard either. You'll quickly get a sweep in most cases.

I do agree with this, but considering this is advice for someone who is inexperienced in open guard sweeps, I would also say that single leg x-guard is a better place to start. It's easy to see the progression from butterfly, to single leg X, to X-guard. I think when learning X-guard you should definitely learn first butterfly, then single leg x first purely to understand how to link the two guards first.

Not shitting on, you just putting in my 0.2$.

 

[Shemhazai]

The way I think about guard offense, X-guard (1LX or full) isn't really a guard, but more of a dominant sweeping position. IMO you need some other (actual) guard to set it up from, like shin on shin, butterfly, reverse DLR etc. - most of the time you can't pull straight to X-guard, since it requires getting underneath the guy somehow.

 

[BJJArsenal]

The way I think about guard offense, X-guard (1LX or full) isn't really a guard, but more of a dominant sweeping position. IMO you need some other (actual) guard to set it up from, like shin on shin, butterfly, reverse DLR etc. - most of the time you can't pull straight to X-guard, since it requires getting underneath the guy somehow.

Oh yeah, I agree. I see the same with deep half-guard; once you're in that position you should be sweeping them.

 

[Shemhazai]

Oh yeah, I agree. I see the same with deep half-guard; once you're in that position you should be sweeping them.

I think deep half guard is a lot weaker than X-guard if you're not controlling the distance. (If we're talking fully set up waiter sweep or elevating with the butterfly hook, it's a different story.) I do tend to agree, though.

Lately I've come to think of the guard game as having three 'stages': 1) General guard/open guard, where the opponent is in front of you, 2) getting yourself underneath the opponent's center of gravity by going between the opponent's legs (the X guard and deep half continuum) and 3) getting the opponent's hips on the mat (berimbolos and footlocks/'double guard'). Most of the time, unless given the chance to bypass the progression, I'm looking to go from 1 to 2 to 3 until I score.

 

[BJJArsenal]

I think deep half guard is a lot weaker than X-guard if you're not controlling the distance. (If we're talking fully set up waiter sweep or elevating with the butterfly hook, it's a different story.) I do tend to agree, though.

I definitely agree with this. It's why I choose to play X-guard over deep-half. Being able to extend someone is a great asset fighting bigger guys as a featherweight.

Lately I've come to think of the guard game as having three 'stages': 1) General guard/open guard, where the opponent is in front of you, 2) getting yourself underneath the opponent's center of gravity by going between the opponent's legs (the X guard and deep half continuum) and 3) getting the opponent's hips on the mat (berimbolos and footlocks/'double guard'). Most of the time, unless given the chance to bypass the progression, I'm looking to go from 1 to 2 to 3 until I score.

I would agree with this too, although a lot of my attacks are reliant on going straight to the back rather than directly attacking the sweep.

 

[Shemhazai]

I would agree with this too, although a lot of my attacks are reliant on going straight to the back rather than directly attacking the sweep.

Yeah, you can definitely do that. There are direct sweeps, direct back attacks and direct subs to be hit from plain ol' open guard with the guy in front of you. However, I find that when the opponent is able to defend against any of these, in a manner that doesn't just open him blatantly to another such attack, he tends to open the avenue to the second 'tier', i.e. the deep half/X-guard continuum, where your chances of scoring sweeps increase. (Then once you do sweep from here and put his hips on the mat, your chances of maneuvering yourself directly into a pass or back take, or a successful leg lock, become very high, provided you start with dominant leg positioning.)

Again, all of this is bypassed when you just hit a hook sweep to top, or come up and hit a single, or arm drag the guy and take his back, it's just a way of structuring the positions hierarchically. I may also just be over-analyzing things as usual. :icon_lol: