Guard Theory

Back Control

Attacking and maintaining the position behind the opponent, and the mechanics that keep you there.

Journal

  • Taking the back from turtle

    Three scoring tables define back control in three different ways, and what they disagree about tells you more than what they share.

  • The rear naked strangle from back control

    A strangle and a neck crank are separated by a small change in what the second hand is doing, which is why four rule books bothered to write the difference down.

Influential Figures

  • Marcelo Garcia

    He won at the top of no-gi grappling with a deliberately small set of positions, and then taught that set in public, which changed what a competitive game is expected to look like.

  • Roger Gracie

    He won at the highest level of the gi ruleset with the mount and the cross choke, the two things every beginner is taught in the first month, and made the case that the basics were never the problem.

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