Great Options For Striking While Inside Your Opponents Closed Guard With Jared Gordon
Take A Look At Some Of These Great Options For Striking While Inside Your Opponents Closed Guard And Control The Pace Of The Fight With Jared Gordon.
Jiu Jitsu and striking arts on their own comprise so many different techniques for so many different scenarios. Therefore, when you merge them in MMA a different approach must be taken to complement all of the possibilities that are now available.
When you merge those two worlds, so much changes. A lot of Jiu Jitsu techniques that are drilled specifically for competition do not take into account defending against strikes. Additionally, boxing and other striking disciplines do not account for defending against takedowns and the ground game. When you enter into the world of MMA, you have to start thinking about all of that.
Opinions vary, but in Jiu Jitsu many believe that the person who has someone in their guard, even though they are on the bottom, have the advantage because of the amount of submission opportunities that are available. You watch good grapplers who fight MMA pull this off from the bottom all the time, but taking damage from strikes on the bottom will definitely diminish those submission opportunities if done effectively.
In this video, Jared Gordon demonstrates a series of strikes and goes over the philosophy of the top position inside the closed guard of an opponent in an MMA scenario. Check it out below!
The Technique
When a fight goes to the ground, the type of takedown you use will determine where you land. A lot of times when you go for a double leg takedown, based on how you land your opponent is likely going to go to a closed guard because it is where they feel they have the best chances of keeping themselves safe in that situation and position.
Jared makes the argument that a lot of people think the closed guard is a safer place to be as opposed to half guard or side control, but he disagrees with that. Jared believes that there are way more escape options from these other positions, especially in an MMA fight when everyone is sweaty and slippery.
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To begin this technique, Jared starts in his opponent's closed guard. The first thing he does is he gets a feel for his opponent and tries to read what is coming next. There are three possible plans of action from the bottom position in closed guard; submissions and sweeps, getups, or holding and controlling posture to avoid getting hit. You need to initially get a feel for which of these methods your opponent is going to use so you can address it properly.
If your opponent decides they are going to fight for sweeps and submissions, you need to play an extremely tight game. This means having short arms and constantly following your opponent's hips to prevent your opponent from getting underhooks or creating space to build the leverage for a sweep.
In order to control a fresh fighter, you need 4 to 6 points of contact. These points of contact can include your hands, elbows, thighs, and your head as means to control the bottom opponent. From this position, you and your partner’s spines are aligned and when he is straight like this he is very strong. This gives him a lot of opportunities to start hipping out to escape or to start climbing his legs high to go for submissions.
To prevent this, you need to make sure you are constantly controlling his chin and shoulder line, as well as contorting his spine. While doing this, Jared likes to establish bicep control on his opponent with both hands. These grips not only make it extremely difficult for your opponent to use their arms, but it also allows you to easily twist your opponent and work to keep that spine contorted.
In addition to his bicep grips, Jared also used his head elbows to control the hip line, pectoral/shoulder line, and the chin line. When you get all of these points of contact and establish good control of your opponent, you can start to use certain movements to stand landing strikes. A few options that Jared likes to use are pulling the head to one side and strike with his free elbow, or push the face and strike. The key to landing all of these strikes from this position is never letting his opponent's spine stay straight.
For context, Jared gives an example of using a bench press. If you bench pressed 125 pounds normally, you could do reps all day. However, if you were told to tilt your head and body all the way to one side and then try to rep 125 pounds, you are definitely not going to be as strong. This is exactly what you are doing when you contort the spine of your opponent; you are making it much more difficult for him to be strong enough to both defend against strikes as well as work for submissions and sweeps.
If you are able to get to this position in a fight and establish these points of contact, your opportunities for striking are essentially endless. If you keep everything tight it is going to be extremely difficult for your opponent to escape and you can start getting creative on the strikes that you land. Even if you can only get one strike in at a time, your opponent isn’t going anywhere and you can keep racking up the points.
About Jared Gordon
Jared Gordon is an American Mixed Martial Artist who was the featherweight champion for Cage Fury Fighting Championships, and he currently competes in the featherweight division in the UFC. His career started with boxing and wrestling at a very young age, and then he found an MMA school and began training Jiu Jitsu at age 17. He was then introduced to other disciplines such as Muay Thai and began his flourishing MMA career.
He signed with the UFC in 2017 and currently has a professional MMA record of 21-4. Having faced some big names in the organization, Jared has made a definitive name for himself. Jared is proud to share his struggles of overcoming addiction, and uses this art to give the world hope and do his part to help others who may be struggling as well.
About Jared’s Instructional
Jared has devoted this instructional to grapple boxing fundamentals. Included you will find techniques such as various chute box setup takedowns, getups from the bottom, perspective and techniques for both the top and bottom player in guard against the cage, and so much more.
Jared’s life story from his impressive career to overcoming some of life's toughest struggles is nothing short of amazing. He does an impeccable job of combining the arts of grappling and striking into a single discipline that covers everything you can imagine. Stop getting stuck in your opponents guard and have the proper plan to dominate from every position, check out his instructional here!