Gordon Ryan Explains How To Improve Your Butterfly And Open Guard

Gordon Ryan took some time out of his eternal quest to prove himself the greatest No Gi grappler on the planet in order to sit down with Bernardo Faria and talk through some of the most important and basic concepts to keep in mind for both Butterfly guard and open guard in general. Open guard is often one of the hardest aspects of BJJ for newcomers to get used to and many white belts will cling to closed guard instead, due to the feeling of safety and reassurance that you’re an extra step away from being passed. Regardless, open guard is one of the most valuable tools in any grappler’s arsenal and Gordon Ryan’s coach, John Danaher, has even gone on record about what he thinks is the most effective form of open guard to use.

Butterfly guard is also important and although it may be less common in general, it has been used to incredible effect by many grapplers like Adam Wardzinski. It’s a very versatile guard with plenty of opportunity for sweeps, transitions to other guards and even a variety of leglock entries too. Of course, no discussion of Butterfly guard is complete without a mention of Marcelo Garcia, the original and undisputed Butterfly guard GOAT who used it to take out elite grapplers who held a significant size advantage over him time and time again. For anyone looking to take their Butterfly guard to the next level, Garcia has recently released a complete instructional of all of his most effective techniques from the position that is currently available at BJJ Fanatics.

The above video comes to us courtesy of the Bernardo Faria BJJ YouTube Channel, click here to follow him for more content.