How To Beat Someone Up In Half Guard

Simplify and systematize your approach to beating half guard

Author

William
September 19th, 2023

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Table of Contents

Half Guard is One Big Problem in MMA

Half guard is one of the most popular guards in Brazilian jiu-jitsu. It makes sense; us guard players are lazy and a lot of us can’t fully commit to anything so we’ll settle for half the work. While this doesn’t always get grapplers in trouble in BJJ, in MMA it can be disastrous.

Half guard is proving to be a painful position to retain and use, and recently we’ve seen fighters’ half guards get abused through all sorts of submissions and ground pound. I love it.

I think top half is one of the most versatile positions to attack from, whether you want to pass, hit, or submit. I love teaching how to score from half guard and we’re going to synthesize attacking half guard today.

We’re going to discuss how half guard changes from BJJ to MMA, break down passing half guard into three distinct areas, and quickly illustrate which submissions are available. Let’s get into it.

Half Guard for BJJ vs MMA

The primary difference between half guard in MMA and BJJ is your ability to hit. This is obvious but still massively important.

Hitting and hurting is the name of the game in MMA. Too many grapplers neglect punishing their opponents in favor of looking to pin and pass. Half guard is especially valuable for hitting because you’re close to your opponent and literally sitting on one of their legs so they can’t stand. Let’s take a brief look at Alexander Volkanovski’s recent maestro performance against Yair Rodriguez to see this in more detail.

Alexander Volkanovski vs Yair Rodriguez

Volkanovski is hitting from half guard. All Rodriguez can do here is frame, try to block the punches, and turn to avoid damage. This gives Volkanovski a look at an arm triangle. When Rodriguez defends, Volkanovski hasn’t lost anything. Volkanovski has gained an under hook and chest to chest contact making it easier for him to start passing.

Hit, try to submit, and all the while tire your opponent out. Simple enough.

We can also look at a couple of sequences from Khabib Nurmagomedov’s masterclass against Michael Johnson to see two important points.

Nurmagomedov is in side control.

Nurmagomedov tries to hit but both of Johnson’s feet are free so he’s able to bridge and squirm back to half guard.

When they end up in half guard Nurmagomedov can posture up and really start to hurt him.

Nurmagomedov hits Johnson.

Johnson is trying to regain position by sitting up with an under hook and scooping Nurmagomedov’s leg, but Nurmagomedov’s base and ground and pound prevents it.

Johnson moves down the path of least resistance forfeiting mount.

It’s a simple point but it needs to be reinforced. When you’re in half guard you can sit on your opponent’s leg. That means it’s much harder for them to use their feet to bridge, go back to guard, or stand up. Derrick Lewis basically built a bottom game off of this principle.

Derrick Lewis vs Roy Nelson

Heavyweight BJJ black belt Roy Nelson is on top of Derrick Lewis in side control.

Lewis walks his feet out, bridges, and pushes Nelson away to make space.

Lewis stands up and escapes.

I’m not saying getting up from underneath someone is always this easy or that you should never go to side control. What I am saying is that camping low in half guard prevents your opponent’s ability to bridge and stand up.

Let’s move on and talk about how to get around half guard to get closer to more direct submissions from mount and back mount.

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