Guard

A grappling position where a fighter on their back wraps their legs around an opponent who is between them, using the legs to control distance, off-balance the opponent, and threaten submissions or sweeps. Despite being on the bottom, a skilled guard player is not necessarily losing the exchange, elite grapplers can attack constantly from guard and even reverse the position entirely. Guard is actually the starting point for a huge share of submission attempts in the sport, armbars, triangle chokes, omoplatas, all typically launched from some variation of guard rather than from top position. The rise of ground-and-pound-heavy wrestlers exploiting cage control has made "guard passing," working past an opponent's legs into a dominant position, one of the most valued skills in modern MMA, since neutralizing guard often takes away an opponent's only offense once the fight hits the mat. MMA Fighting covers grappling exchanges and positional battles in detailed post-fight breakdowns.