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I personally prefer having someone else in my guard. I'm a lot more comfortable, feel in control, and have an arsenal of moves to chose from that work efficiently. Though I've realize I'm limited to submissions when I'm in someone's closed guard. I'm not talking about opening it and going for a leg or passing it, but actual submissions. And I do very well with countering, but if they didn't work to improve their position or no mistake to take advantage from I just get out and move on. Being in someone's guard is seen as the more dominant position, right? I just do so much better the other way around and wanted to know your opinions on which position you prefer and submissions you do from inside closed guard; no gi.

[Noob]

Books could be written on this subject, so I will just share a couple small tricks that I like to do and that I don't see many other people do.


From guard, assuming you're able to posture well, you can throw knees to the butt and upper hamstring. They're not overly damaging, but they're relatively simple to do and don't cost much energy. It also keeps you moving, so you're less likely to be stood up if you want time to work on the ground.


Also from guard, elbows to the body. I find these particularly effective because they are short and choppy. People expect punches to the face, hammer fists, even hooks to the body, but very few people expect or know how to deal with short elbows to the body. Depending on the rules, you usually can't throw elbows from 12 o'clock to 6 o'clock to the stomach, but you can almost always throw them 3 o'clock to 9 o'clock or reverse, to the ribs. Similar to a Muay Thai elbow, but to the body while you're in the closed guard.


If you can strike with the point of the elbow, you can also throw them to the quadricep. This doesn't do much if you are in someone's open guard, but it's a good weapon from someone's closed guard.


Good luck with your training.

[Brandon]

That's definitely a good thing to feel comfortable on your back. But I wouldn't go as far as to pull guard in mma. It's just too risky.

From inside my guard I usually control the head and keep their posture down. The first thing I look for is the triangle. Next I'll try and see if I could pull off any sweeps. After going threw those two options I'll start looking at all my other subs. There's also a neat little trick to cause some serious pain to your opponents ribs just by using your knees, I've even seen people tap from it.

While inside someone else's guard in mma I try and give them a few punches before going for the pass. Just recently I've found a new love for leg locks. When I'm doing mma I try and control the hips and throw fast, short, snappy punches. I try not to get carried away with flaring my arms out too wide, but that is a bad habit that I need to break. My favorite pass is definitely the double under hook. If they roll out you have them in a body lock or if they fight it they just end up having their guard pass.

Considering the knees to the thigh/butt while on top, wouldn't that make you more susceptible for a sweep? I mean, if your partner had really good timing. Or were you thinking of a shorter strike?