BJJ Knowledge Base
Explore positions, techniques, and the connections between them. Learn the fundamentals or dive deep into advanced concepts.
Guard / Bottom
12Closed Guard
The foundational bottom position where you control your opponent by locking your ankles behind their back. Closed guard ...
Open Guard
A broad category of guard positions where your legs are not locked around the opponent. You use your feet, knees, and gr...
Half Guard
You are on bottom with one of your opponent's legs trapped between yours. Half guard is a versatile position offering un...
Butterfly Guard
A seated open guard where both feet are hooked inside your opponent's thighs. Butterfly guard is one of the best positio...
De La Riva Guard
An open guard where one leg hooks around the outside of your opponent's lead leg with your foot on their far hip. Named ...
Spider Guard
A gi-specific open guard where you grip both sleeves and place your feet on the opponent's biceps. Spider guard creates ...
Lasso Guard
A variation of spider guard where one leg wraps around the opponent's arm from the outside, threading through and grippi...
Rubber Guard
A no-gi closed guard system popularized by Eddie Bravo where you use overhook control and high flexibility to trap the o...
X-Guard
A powerful sweeping guard where you sit underneath your standing opponent with both legs forming an X shape across their...
Single Leg X
Also called ashi garami or SLX, this position has you on your back with both legs controlling one of your opponent's leg...
Deep Half Guard
An advanced half guard position where you scoot deep underneath your opponent, hugging their trapped leg close to your c...
Turtle (Bottom)
A defensive shell position on all fours with elbows tight and chin tucked. Bottom turtle is used to prevent guard passes...
Top / Dominant
7Mount
The quintessential dominant position where you sit on top of your opponent's torso with both knees on the ground. Mount ...
S-Mount
A high mount variation where one leg is posted up near the opponent's head with your shin across their chest. S-mount cr...
Side Control
A fundamental pin where you are chest-to-chest with your opponent, perpendicular to their body, with no legs entangled. ...
North-South
A top control position where you are head-to-head with your opponent, your chest on theirs, facing opposite directions. ...
Knee on Belly
A dynamic top position where you place one knee on your opponent's stomach or chest while keeping your other foot posted...
Back Mount
Widely considered the most dominant position in BJJ. You are behind your opponent with your hooks (feet) inside their th...
Turtle (Top)
You are on top of an opponent who has assumed the turtle position (all fours, elbows tucked). From turtle top you work t...
Neutral
2Popular Techniques
Armbar
A hyperextension attack on the elbow joint using hip pressure.
Triangle Choke
A blood choke using your legs to form a triangle around the opponent's neck and arm.
Kimura
A shoulder lock using a figure-four grip to rotate the arm behind the back.
Guillotine Choke
A front headlock choke that wraps around the neck and squeezes upward.
Rear Naked Choke
The highest-percentage submission in grappling, applied from back control.
Bow and Arrow Choke
A devastating gi choke from back control using the collar and pant leg.
Heel Hook
A devastating rotational knee attack gripping the heel and twisting.
Scissor Sweep
A fundamental closed guard sweep using a scissoring leg motion.
Berimbolo
An inverted spin-under back take from De La Riva guard.
Knee Slice Pass
The most fundamental guard pass, slicing the knee through the middle of the guard.
Double Leg Takedown
A power takedown shooting on both legs to drive through the opponent.
Hip Escape (Shrimp)
The most fundamental defensive movement in BJJ, creating space by shooting the hips away.
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