Fedor Emelianenko's guard

[HoneyBadgerKBS]

So I'm no grappling genius or anything like that but I'm pretty sure closing your guard and attacking from it is from BJJ. I noticed from watching a lot of Fedor's fights that he never really closed his guard yet he was still able to very successfully defend passes, execute sweeps, and control his opponents even the high level grapplers. I'm aware he gets his grappling from Sambo and Judo and that he thinks jiujitsu is inferior. What are people opinions on playing that style of guard? And does anybody have any tips or experience with it?

 

[lechien]

honestly, I wish I could train people to not use closed guard.

I met one korean guy that did not know how to do closed guard and that was pretty awesome.

 

[PEB]

Fedor is ridiculously strong for his size so when he got you in his guard he is still able to control his opponent. He rarely feels like he has to close his guard I imagine? I think his skill is that his opponent really ever feels confident that they can successfully pass his guard without getting in trouble. That is why people like big Nog seem to take less risks with Fedor. When a fighter faces Fedor you throw out much of the way you would fight lesser opponents. Kinda like boxing Mike Tyson you knew you where going to get hurt even if you had a shot a winning. Fedor demanded that level of respect of his fighting game.

 

[Chungungo]

So I'm no grappling genius or anything like that but I'm pretty sure closing your guard and attacking from it is from BJJ. I noticed from watching a lot of Fedor's fights that he never really closed his guard yet he was still able to very successfully defend passes, execute sweeps, and control his opponents even the high level grapplers. I'm aware he gets his grappling from Sambo and Judo and that he thinks jiujitsu is inferior. What are people opinions on playing that style of guard? And does anybody have any tips or experience with it?

Is just that guard per se is present in Judo and Sambo as takedown are present in BJJ but not as practiced (don

 

[selfcritical]

Closing your guard in Sport Sambo is considered stalling. He was probably just playing the guard the way he had trained it.

 

[kenetics]

honestly, I wish I could train people to not use closed guard.

I met one korean guy that did not know how to do closed guard and that was pretty awesome.

Really ? I have a pretty good open guard but I still believe having a great close guard is the best. I hate breaking out of a good guys closed guard in a competition.

 

[randomg1t]

honestly, i always thought his guard was very lacking. who did he sweep from guard, and which guard pass did he defend so well? when nog got on top, he passed like the guard wasn't even there. arona passed a bunch of times if i recall correctly and antonio silva passed pretty quickly, too. hell, mark hunt got sidecontrol from a failed armbar attempt on him, then moved to mount and back to sidecontrol, while fedor just lay there.

i'm a huge fan of fedor, but apart from the really nice armbar he slapped on coleman (and coleman was begging for it, to be honest), his bottom game has always looked pretty bad.

 

[snakeybizz]

am I the only one here who thought he played closed guard quite alot?... whenever he got took down or botched his own takedown and ended up on bottom he always clinched up in closed for 10 - 20 seconds before working...usually attempting to stand up, throw strikes from bottom, sweeps and subs etc

 

[No1 Stunna]

He has a good armbar from the guard, I don't see much else that impresses. Fedor has pretty good standup grappling and throws, hits like a truck, and has good cardio.

Werdum tapped him quickly, Nog I am sure would submit him in a sub match yet gets killed when punches are included, like anyone his style is based on his training, I don't think bjj even exists in Russia.

 

[SuperSuperRambo]

So I'm no grappling genius or anything like that but I'm pretty sure closing your guard and attacking from it is from BJJ.

You're already wrong. No style "owns" a technique in most cases, so 90% of the time it doesn't make sense to say that technique X or position Y is from a particular style. Judo for example, while having far less ground grappling than BJJ, includes a lot of closed guard to the extent that guys are grappling on the ground.

Even in BJJ, closed guard isn't much favored anymore. For example in sport competition, very very few competitors use a closed guard as their primary guard. BTT guys (Sperry, Bustamante, and many of the Carlson Gracie lineage in general who teach BJJ for fighting) don't teach closed guard at all.

As for Fedor's guard, he does have a good armbar, no denying that. I don't know about anything aside from that, I really haven't seen him doing much from his guard besides the armbar. Many Judo and Sambo guys have a decent armbar from the guard, often it's their main or only attack from there so they become very good at that one thing. But I don't mean to generalize, many might have more developed guards, or a better A move, or might not be good at anything at all from that position.

Discalimer: these are all generalizations, and that is my intent.

 

[Dayman1984]

BTT guys (Sperry, Bustamante, and many of the Carlson Gracie lineage in general who teach BJJ for fighting) don't teach closed guard at all.

That's very interesting. What's the reasoning behind that?

 

[SuperSuperRambo]

That's very interesting. What's the reasoning behind that?

Well, it's based mostly on an interview I read with Bustamante, but if you watch Sperry's old instructional videos he chides people for hanging on to closed guard when your opponent is standing.

Their reasoning is that they don't think it's optimal for fighting to hang out in closed guard. In my experience, closed guard is the best guard for keeping someone in your guard. Open guards are better for attacking and standing up. Not that you can't attack from closed guard, but it's a defensively-minded guard. Sometimes there's a place for that.

 

[Dayman1984]

Well, it's based mostly on an interview I read with Bustamante, but if you watch Sperry's old instructional videos he chides people for hanging on to closed guard when your opponent is standing.

Their reasoning is that they don't think it's optimal for fighting to hang out in closed guard. In my experience, closed guard is the best guard for keeping someone in your guard. Open guards are better for attacking and standing up. Not that you can't attack from closed guard, but it's a defensively-minded guard. Sometimes there's a place for that.

Ahh okay. I have heard the "if you want to attack, you can't hang out in closed guard" line of reasoning before. Thanks.

 

[BJJArsenal]

Well, it's based mostly on an interview I read with Bustamante, but if you watch Sperry's old instructional videos he chides people for hanging on to closed guard when your opponent is standing.

'even my mother wouldn't do this!'

 

[B0l0joe]

honestly, i always thought his guard was very lacking. who did he sweep from guard, and which guard pass did he defend so well? when nog got on top, he passed like the guard wasn't even there. arona passed a bunch of times if i recall correctly and antonio silva passed pretty quickly, too. hell, mark hunt got sidecontrol from a failed armbar attempt on him, then moved to mount and back to sidecontrol, while fedor just lay there.

i'm a huge fan of fedor, but apart from the really nice armbar he slapped on coleman (and coleman was begging for it, to be honest), his bottom game has always looked pretty bad.

agree. Fedor was great at submissions but according to bjj standards, positionally he was very average.

 

[snakeybizz]

agree. Fedor was great at submissions but according to bjj standards, positionally he was very average.

this just in...the GOAT was average

 

[ozyabbas]

Its rare to see a good closed guard anymore. In the rare case of encountering a good closed guard, it can be very dangerous. Especially the people that are constantly attacking and creating angles.

I have found the shawn williams guard to be a very effective type of closed guard.

I don't really watch mma anymore but it seems to me that it is not effective in mma. Butterfly guards seem to allow the person to stand up more easily and stops the opponent from punching because they feel they may be swept.

 

[snakeybizz]

how come when someone from his back completely avoids getting KTFO in closed... this isn't considered a good guard?

closed guard is king and stronger then ever

 

[Difeco]

Fedor's guard was mediocre...I don't even know why we are arguing about this

 

[snakeybizz]

Fedor's guard was mediocre...I don't even know why we are arguing about this

never once got ko'd via ground and pound.... had a ton of arm bar submissions ... and was known for being to hard to keep down

the GOAT is the GOAT because the GOAT is the GOAT