The Rubber Guard.

[Striker & Grappler]

I just bought Eddie Bravo's Rubber Guard book. I am curious if any of you have any insights on training this rubber guard. I have obtained Mission Control, Crack Head Control, and Retard Control during rolling, but it's hard to transition between them.

1. How do you do it?

2. What positions do you find the most effective?

3. Any general advice, tips, or comments are appreciated.

[Titan]

I'm not too familiar with the terms, so I had to look some up, and I use "mission control" sometimes. My first attempt is always to go for the gogoplata. I think it's the most unexpected to do it immediately before they realize you're flexible enough to get the leg over their head. You can get a little wild there if you feel it not sitting, and try get your other leg free and on top of his head. That in itself can work as a choke with his head trapped between your legs, but it also sets you up for cranking his arm. All that fails, you can still move into the omoplata.


Since my omoplata is worthless and with almost all certainty fails, I know he's going to roll forward to roll out of it, so I try to control that roll as much as possible. I do that by keeping his arm tight so I have him close to me, and I keep some form of control of his body/hips/legs/anything so he can't roll too fast. You know, I do it so I can control when he rolls. When I'm getting absolutely nowhere, I know I'm flexible enought to go to the omoplata just to get him to roll. And once I get that controlled roll and he lands on his back, I can move into my favorite sidecontrol position, given that I'm close to him. With really good control of the arm, you can also choose to turn into him by swinging both legs over his head for the armbar. Or, if you really like the omoplata, you let him roll forward just so you can roll forward afterwards with a second omoplata attempt. I've on some very low-percentage high-risk occasions felt that I've had such good control of the arm that I'll try for the armbar immediately when he's falling forward in his roll and I get the open space to move for the armbar by moving my legs back up from around his waist. The idea is that when he lands on his back, he's already in the armbar, but it's very low-percentage because it requires him to be a bit asleep not to get out of it. :-)

The favorite part with "mission control" for me is that it sometimes will give you an opening to set up the triangle. In MMA, I think it's a really good position because you limit his ability to strike, and you can work for submissions.

[Chewbaca Joe]

I think Eddie Bravo is a joke. Who is it that has used this stuff successfully again? I mean exactly which guys at ADCC, Mundials or MMA have you seen use this stuff and win?

I've seen Matt Horwich hold Trevor Prangley for fifteen straight minutes with the rubber guard so I guess it works for something.

I've also seen more than one newbie ruin his first year of jiu jitsu because his instructor teaches him quality basic stuff that works at his level of experience but he can't stop trying to use those hot "new" (Nino Schembri is laughing out loud as I type) rubber guard moves when he rolls and he gets crushed by the dudes that remember what their teacher teaches them in class.

I could go on and on about why I think Eddie Bravo is a waste of skin and how 99% of his alleged "innovations" have been used in the past by many other people to win actual titles (you know, those awards and accolades from proper sport of which Eddie Bravo has none) but I'll just leave it.

Actually here, watch this video of THE CHAMP and get his philosophy on no-gi training: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kpm6nD0cN2s

[aubtin]

There's only one rubber man...
http://www.fcfighter.com/PICTURES/PRIDE14/ninostretch.jpg

[Punch Permed]

At first, it's all about breaking the person down and securing control. Once you've secured control, then you can transition to whatever move you want to attack with next.

My current setup is Gogo > Triangle > Omoplata.

The Gogoplata is purely to bait the guy to open his arm, so that I can slip my leg through as he's defending the choke, and attack with a Triangle. Generally, that's where I finish most of my matches... but I always have the Omoplata as a last-resort if he postures out.

Alternatively, if you get Mission Control and secure his arm to the mat... You can hit the Omoplata right from there, which is a simple yet effective way to catch guys off guard.