Anyone who
has seen the UFC, videos fights on YouTube… knows that being on the bottom of
any position in a fight is bad. If you’re not sure what the guard position is,
it is when you are laying on your back on the ground with your opponent between
your legs, your legs are around their waist and your feet are crossed locking
them into position.
In grappling
the bottom position of the guard is typically stronger than the top position.
On the bottom you can attack you opponent’s whole body, whereas from the top
position your attacks are typically limited to leg attacks. There ARE other
attacks than just legs from the top of guard but you are still more limited
than the person on the bottom.
On the
street it’s very hard to punch with any effectiveness from your back. YES some
people do train to punch from the ground and are good at it but most (98% of
us) are not, we just can’t generate that much power while on our backs. Also
while on the ground it’s very hard to guard all our vital areas (head, throat,
floating ribs, diaphragm and groin) from attacks, much harder than it is in a
standing fight.
So how or
why would anybody in their right mind drag you down into their guard in a
fight? Maybe they believe their grapping skills are better than your striking
skills. Maybe that’s not really where they intended to end up after taking you
to the ground, there are many ways you could end up in this position.
Top of guard
in a fight is a good position to be, by far not the best but still good. You
may be tempted to respond with grappling techniques to open the leg and pass
the guard but this could be very dangerous. Remember if your attacker “jumped
guard” on you they probably know how to grapple. Even if you know how to
grapple, maybe even fairly good at it, always assume your attacker is better at
it than you. So why play into your attacks strength? Responding with grappling
techniques also breaks the first rule of ground self-defence, which is to get
to your feet as fast as possible and incapacitate your attacker along the way.
We never
what to get stuck on the ground in a real fight. Have a look at this article
from BJJ
Eastern Europe.
As always is
you are looking for more great videos or to learn the wonderful art of
jiu-jitsu please check out our web site at www.learn-jiu-jitsu-online.com.
Cheers,
Jamie Rickard (Sensei)
Head Instructor
Koketsu Kai - Tiger's Den Jiu-jitsu and Grappling
Located at:
The Academy of Martial Arts
851 Princess Street
Kingston, Ontario
