Reviewing ADCC And CJI's Great Guard Play

Analyzing what isn't making headlines, but deserves a second look

Author

William
August 23rd, 2024

First Things First

We’ve spent the better portion of the past few weeks discussing ADCC and CJI. We reviewed the winners and losers from the event on Tuesday. Today I want to talk about some techniques we didn’t discuss but deserve a second look.

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Now let’s get to today’s piece!

Technique Talk

This past weekend was ADCC and CJI’s submission grappling extravaganza. Generally people say ADCC is more of a wrestling tournament than a jiujitsu event. This philosophy has pushed people away from playing guard.

That doesn’t mean there is no place for good guard play at these grappling events. To the contrary, both ADCC and CJI had some incredible guard work and over looked submissions.

Today we’re going to review some of the interesting guard play that deserves a second look.

ADCC’s Knee Bars

At ADCC there were a few interesting knee bar finishes from the first day. Generally speaking when you’re defending leg locks you want to stand up and keep your feet planted. This puts weight on your legs making you harder to finish.

The simplest way to thwart that defense is by controlling the leg you aren’t attacking, the secondary leg.

Taza is trying to pass. Ramos wrestles up on a single and Taza rolls through his legs. Notice how he grabs the secondary leg with his hand while his legs lock Ramos’s primary leg? Now Ramos is stuck, forced to tap.

Oliver Taza vs Davi Ramos

In another match at ADCC, we saw an athlete attempt to stand and stop the knee bar. Unfortunately this became a point to exert more leverage over the leg.

Negromonte elevates Michel’s hips. Negromonte grabs Michel’s leg and rolls under. Michel stands but Negromonote over hooks Michel’s leg to close it under his arm pit. Negromonte briefly grabs Michel’s secondary leg to slow him so he can extend his hips and get the tap.

Charles Negromonte vs Izaak Michel

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