POSITIONS
Position is the prerequisite for submission. Every attack chain starts in a dominant position, and every escape ends by re-establishing one.
CLOSED GUARD
Guarda Fechada
Closed guard is the foundational guard of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and the position from which the entire art was historically taught. With the bottom player on thei…
HALF GUARD
Meia Guarda
Half guard is the position created when the bottom player has trapped one of the top player's legs between their own, leaving the opponent in a half-passed stat…
MOUNT
Montada
The mount is the most dominant top position in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and the position from which the highest concentration of submissions becomes available. With …
SIDE CONTROL
Cento por Cento
Side control, called cento por cento in Portuguese (literally one hundred percent, because of the unrestricted pressure available), is the position arrived at a…
BACK CONTROL
Pegada de Costas
Back control is the most dominant position in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and the highest-scoring position in every modern ruleset. With the attacker behind the opponen…
OPEN GUARD
Guarda Aberta
Open guard is the umbrella term for every bottom-position configuration in which the legs are not locked behind the opponent's back. Where closed guard relies o…
DE LA RIVA GUARD
Guarda De La Riva
De La Riva guard is the open-guard variant in which the bottom player wraps one leg around the outside of the opponent's same-side leg, hooking the foot behind …
BUTTERFLY GUARD
Guarda Borboleta
Butterfly guard is the seated open-guard position in which the bottom player hooks both feet under the inside of the opponent's thighs while sitting up onto the…
X-GUARD
X-Guard
X-guard is the open-guard variant in which the bottom player wraps both legs around one of the opponent's legs from underneath, with one foot hooked behind the …
KNEE ON BELLY
Joelho na Barriga
Knee on belly is the transitional top position in which one of the attacker's knees is planted on the opponent's torso (typically on the belt line) while the ot…
NORTH-SOUTH
Norte-Sul
North-south is the perpendicular pin in which the top player faces opposite the bottom player, with the top player's chest pressing down onto the bottom player'…
TURTLE
Tartaruga
Turtle is the defensive position in which a practitioner is on their hands and knees with the chest curled toward the floor, used as a transitional retreat when…
SPIDER GUARD
Guarda Aranha
Spider guard is the open-guard variant in which the bottom player establishes grips on both of the opponent's sleeves and places the soles of the feet on the op…
LASSO GUARD
Guarda Lasso
Lasso guard is the open-guard variant in which one of the bottom player's legs threads through and wraps around the opponent's same-side arm, with the foot poin…
SINGLE-LEG X
Single-Leg X
Single-leg X is the leg-entanglement position in which the bottom player captures one of the opponent's legs between their own in a figure-four configuration, w…