Mastering the Rubber Guard – Jiu Jitsu For Mixed Martial Arts Competition – Eddie Bravo

Eddie Bravo is a love him or hate him type figure in the BJJ world. He made history by making Royler Gracie tap in the ADCC No-Gi grappling tournament in 1993 becoming the first American to make a member of the Gracie family tap in competition.

Traditionalists and many Gracie instructors and students have totally dismissed the Rubber Guard as ineffective. However I believe they should view this book with an open mind as there are a number of techniques that they may find very effective indeed.

In the UFC and many other promotions a competitor will pull his leg across the back of his opponent and it’s instantly labelled ‘Rubber Guard’. After reading this book it feels as if these severely watered down efforts are nothing comparable to the actual Rubber Guard. It’s like having two wheels and a metal bar totally unconnected and calling it a bike. It’s led to many uninformed ‘experts’ bringing out instructional video’s on how to break/smash the Rubber Guard. If you believe these ‘experts’ then you will be in serious trouble if you roll with a 10th Planet practitioner and think you have the beating of them.

Back to the book!

The book starts off with an excellent flow chart detailing which positions you can move to in order to truly master the Rubber Guard. In viewing the flow chart alone you can see the vast and intricate system of movement that Bravo has designed to cover all aspects of the Rubber Guard. It is also a map that can guide you to victory from many situations. Studying the flow chart details the benefits of using a game plan as opposed to waiting for an opportunity to present itself.

There’s a large acknowledgement section that covers Eddie’s love of marijuana, his love of music, relationships and more love of his marijuana. It is actually a very interesting read, even if you are not interested in the subject.

There’s a Foreword by Joe Rogan that also emphasises the need for weed and then there’s the Introduction. The Intro is a collection of Bravo’s BJJ history, the Royler victory, Eddie’s philosophies on the subject, how the book came to fruition, useful tips about grappling and using the book as an aid to your grappling.

The first instructional section of the book is on stretching which most will find useful if they intend on practicing the moves described in the Rubber Guard section. Some of the stretches would be deemed contra-indicated in regards to compromising the knee joints however the Rubber Guard is an extreme style of Jiu-Jitsu.

The next is an expansive section based around the Half Guard. It showcases moves such as ‘The Lockdown’ that can change your Half Guard game overnight as well as some great sequences and sweeps that any traditional BJJ practitioner could add to their game.

Part three of the instructional focuses on the Butterfly Guard. There is a distinct focus in using an Underhook and an Overhook to secure the Cocoon position. This is the base of Eddie’s Butterfly game and once practiced you can see why. Again, this section is full of sweeps and transitions.

Part four is what separates this book from any other grappling book on the market. The famed Rubber Guard itself. For me this was the most exciting section of the book. The unique concept of using legs in a high guard is truly revolutionary in the fact that it is a comprehensive, highly detailed and researched series of movements to get the proper guard position. As mentioned before, it is not simply throwing your leg around your opponent’s upper back and holding it there. The sequence of breaking the opponent down then working through the movements of Mission Control, New York to Chill Dog is a very secure way of controlling your opponent before you decide to subject them to one of the numerous submissions in your newly found arsenal. Bravo has seemed to cover most possibilities of people trying to counter the Rubber Guard foundation and has given multiple alternatives in order to achieve these dominant positions. The Jiu Claw part of this section also encompasses a number of submissions and sweeps that can become useful to the reader.

Before coming to part five of the book there is a great troubleshooting section that answers a lot of scepticism that surrounds the rubber guard. It is broken into three mini sections – Dealing with the stack, Defending the slam and MMA tactics.

The fifth part of the book is called the Spider Web section and deals with the Straight Armbar submission, the ways to break the grips, and alternatives such as the Arm Crush all while maintaining control of your opponent.

The sixth and final section of the book deals with Escapes to the Guard. It includes a series of transitions in order to take you from an inferior position back to a guard, whether it is Half Guard or Butterfly Guard.

Over all, this book is quite simply a masterpiece in modern day grappling. The ingenuity is undeniable. Eddie’s whole bottom game is included in this incredible book. He doesn’t claim to have invented it all and often credits the grapplers that inspire the moves he uses. The names he uses for his techniques are unique and can make it easier for the reader to remember once they know the meaning behind it. The downside of this book is that to accomplish all the moves the book has to offer you may need to work hard on your leg and hip flexibility. However if you do work hard at it a whole new world of grappling has just opened itself up to you. If you would like to pull off submissions like Shinya Aoki then this book is for you. From the Loco Plata’s to the Tepee’s this book will open your eyes to a whole side of grappling you may never even have known existed. With 272 beautifully illustrated pages of top class multi-angled instruction Eddie Bravo and Victory Belt have created the standard by which all grappling books will aspire to. I look forward to more instructionals from Eddie Bravo and Victory belt. A five star rating just wouldn’t do this book justice.

Glad you agree with my assesment, The rubber guard is a huge secret waiting to happen in MMA. Aoki has used aspects in his matches and all of a sudden he's one of the most creative and impressive grapplers in all of MMA. Imagine how many awesome subs we'd get to see if other MMA fighters started training in it seriously. Im looking forward to dan hardy getting into a grappling match in the UFC.

The rubber guard soes require a lot of work on flexibility and I think this is the main reason its not so widely used, People don't want to put in the time needed for stretching.

I really like mastering the twister as well. I did find a few of the techniques more diffiult to grasp but definitly well worth it. When you train tenth planet against regular grapplers you may be amazed at how many great subs you can catch. My most common one at the moment is the bicep cutter from the spider guard when your opponent is defending the straight armbar. It works a lot for me.

Thanks Sterling, I think the gi pants or tights make a huge difference, I think it gives you way more grip and Eddie has a valid point about the grease and absortion. George Sotiropilous uses ankle protectors and copression shorts under his fight shorts. I think that's his way of getting around the tights/gi pants.

About strikes in the guard Eddie makes a great point in the book where he says you can still be open to strikes in the rubber guard but you are also susceptible to strikes in the traditional open/closed guard or any other guard you can think of. Mastering the guard for MMA by big Nog is an amazing book for positioning to defend strikes and still be effective with BJJ in an MMA environent.

When going for the zombie it depends on your oppnents positioning, I feel the key is to keep his head close to your chest as possible by pulling the leg down on the back of his head to take the power from his strikes via his broken leverage point and if his hands are on your chest use 'Retard control' (gable grip around his neck and behind your own heel) and control his arms with your elbows, when he tries to slip the arm out then transition to Zombie. That's what I try to do.

I thing sotiropilous should bring out a book 'negating strikes while utilising the rubber guard in an MMA environment' that would help us out haha!!!

Great point man, It really did change the instructional book format. So many were crummy black and white, single angle images that were difficult to follow. Good to see you over on this site buddy!

That's really cool, Thank goodness they didn't try to capture the Randori from under there hahaha!