Open Guard

What it is

Open guard is any guard where your ankles are not locked, so your feet, knees and grips manage the distance instead. It is more dynamic and more dangerous in both directions, because nothing is holding the top player in place. The rule that makes it work is connection: the moment nothing connects you to them, the pass has started.

What you want from here

• On bottom: your closed guard has been opened, or they have stood up, and you need to keep them in front of you.
• On bottom: you want to sweep from the feet, or move between guards such as butterfly, spider, De La Riva and half guard.
• On top: break the grips and the foot connections one at a time, then pass with pressure or speed.
• On top: control the legs before the hips, and the hips before the chest.

Key details

• Keep two points of connection at all times: a foot on a hip, a hook behind a knee, a grip on a sleeve or ankle.
• Stay on your side or seated, never flat on your back with your legs in the air.
• Head toward them. If your head falls back, your hips follow and your legs float away.
• Replace a lost connection straight away. Retention is not holding on, it is swapping one connection for the next.
• On top, strip the grips first. A grip on your sleeve or ankle lets them sweep before you move.

Common mistakes

• Mistake: lying flat with both feet in the air and no grips. They push your legs aside and are in side control.
• Mistake: turning your back or your hips away to chase a sweep. They go straight to your back.
• Mistake: on top, charging in with your hands on the mat. Your arms become sleeve grips and you get swept.

How it is escaped or passed

• Toreando (bullfighter pass): grip the trouser legs or shins, push the legs to one side and move the other way.
• Knee cut and leg drag passes once they have broken a connection.
• Smashing the legs together and stacking when the hips come up.

Gi and no-gi

Without the gi there are no sleeve or trouser grips, so open guard runs on hooks behind the knees, feet on the hips, and grips on the wrists, ankles and the back of the neck.