Foundations Block

In a sport where a match can end by submission at any moment, our ability to prevent, escape, and attack from bad positions is what keeps us alive in competition. These foundational defensive skills are what give you the confidence to try new positions — because when things go wrong, you know how to stay safe.

This block is intentionally bottom-heavy, with a heavy emphasis on pin escapes and open guard retention. The purpose is threefold: build genuine defensive skill, develop your ability to absorb and implement technique from video, and sharpen your discipline in training.

A roll following these skills should flow through a predictable cycle. The goal is to experience each phase — guard retention, being passed, escaping pins, sweeping, and attacking — as a continuous loop rather than isolated moments.

Your first priority from any pin is to get to half guard. These are your primary escape routes from the three main pins you will encounter. Study each video and drill the escape until it becomes your immediate instinct.

Once you have escaped to half guard, your job is to attack sweeps using underhook half guard (also known as coyote guard). This is your primary weapon from the bottom.

The emphasis here is on consistency and precision, not variety. Do not deviate from the grips, sweeps, and attacks outlined below — variations come in a later block.

Open guard is where we begin each cycle. The goal is not to passively hold your guard — it is to connect to a specific guard structure (like De La Riva) and actively maintain it. When your guard is passed, use retention movements to return to a stable position, not just reset to neutral.