My fellow grapplers,

The debate around pulling guard in BJJ is one of those things that'll ruin friendships. Let's get one thing straight—when you pull guard like this, you can bet Joe Rogan will be roasting you...

You either love it or hate it, but there’s no denying that guard pulling is a major part of the game. For those who come from wrestling or Judo or any other combat sport that understands the necessity of take takedowns and takedown defence, it feels like cop-out. Why work for a takedown when you can just sit down and start grappling? For others, it’s a smart strategy, a way to play to your strengths and avoid the risk of being taken down into a bad position.

John Danaher, one of the most respected voices in BJJ, sees the value of a strong ground game in BJJ, but he’s also critical of its limitations when transitioning to MMA. In MMA, getting the fight to the ground and keeping it there is a much bigger challenge. Guard pulling might work in BJJ, but in the world of MMA, it’s a risk that often doesn’t pay off. Danaher believes BJJ needs to evolve, especially in areas like takedowns and maintaining top control, to remain effective across all combat sports.

But whether you’re for or against it, guard pulling isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. The real question is, how do we keep it from slowing down the action and turning matches into a snooze fest? Let’s dive into how different organizations handle guard pulling and why it’s time to make it more of a challenge.

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Guard Pulling in ADCC: A Necessary Evil

The Abu Dhabi Combat Club (ADCC), known for its intense no-gi matches, doesn’t ban guard pulling, but it makes you think twice about doing it. If you pull guard in an ADCC match, you’ll get hit with a negative point. The idea here is to encourage more aggressive stand-up exchanges, which makes for more exciting matches.

But ADCC athletes have historically abused this rule. If you’re confident enough in your guard game, you might decide that taking the penalty is worth it. Maybe you’re a beast off your back and you know you can sweep or submit your opponent from there. So, even with the penalty, guard pulling still happens. It’s not ideal, but ADCC’s approach does put some pressure on athletes to engage on the feet, which is a good start.

Guard Pulling in IBJJF: The Path of Least Resistance

Now, in IBJJF competitions, guard pulling is basically a standard practice. There’s no penalty and no reward—it’s just part of the game. If you pull guard, you don’t score any points, but you don’t lose any points either. This has led to a lot of athletes relying heavily on guard pulling, sometimes at the expense of developing a strong takedown game.

For some like myself, this feels like a betrayal of BJJ’s roots in Judo and wrestling, where the takedown is king. If you're really in a street fight, are your seriously going to sit down and let your head get kicked in? But for many BJJ athletes in competitions that allow guard pulling, it’s just smart strategy. Why risk getting taken down into a bad spot when you can pull guard and start working from a position where you’re comfortable? It’s a valid tactic, but it’s also led to a lot of matches that are heavy on guard play and light on the kind of dynamic, high-energy exchanges that make the sport exciting.

Guard Pulling in Craig Jones Invitational (CJI): Flipping the Script

And then there’s the Craig Jones Invitational (CJI), where things get really interesting. Craig Jones, always the innovator, has introduced some cool twists to the traditional BJJ format, and that includes how guard pulling is treated. First off, CJI uses angled walls—a concept borrowed from Karate Combat’s pit design. These walls keep the action moving by making it tough to stall or play defensively.

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In the CJI, guard pulling isn’t banned, but the environment makes it a lot less attractive. The angled walls and the round structure force competitors to stay aggressive, which naturally leads to more stand-up exchanges and fewer lazy guard pulls. It’s a setup that rewards the bold and discourages playing it safe.

But still, this didn’t stop Levi Jones-Leary from sitting down on the mat for 25 minutes in the finals, trying to secure that $1 million prize (which, spoiler alert, he didn’t win). Even in a format designed to keep the action high, there’s always going to be someone looking to bend the rules.

The Middle Ground: Keep Guard Pulling, But Make It Count

So, where does this leave us? Guard pulling is a part of BJJ, and it should stay that way. It’s a legit tactic that can be incredibly effective in the right hands. But let’s be real—if we want BJJ to continue growing and becoming more exciting to watch, we need to push athletes to engage more on the feet and not rely so much on pulling guard.

The solution? Let’s take a page from ADCC and CJI. Keep guard pulling in the game, but make it come with a cost. Whether it’s a penalty point or creating an environment that naturally discourages it, we need to make sure that athletes are motivated to work for takedowns and keep the action flowing. This way, we keep the sport dynamic, exciting, and true to its roots in grappling.

It’s true that some grapplers use guard pulling as a crutch to not work on their takedowns or takedown defences, but this isn’t possible at the highest levels of the sport. Even the best BJJ athletes on the planet have had to develop a strong standing game in order to stay at that level, and to have the ability to choose what path to the ground to take. At the end of the day, guard pulling is and should always be a part of Jiu-Jitsu, no matter what the wrestlers think.

If you need to improve your guard pulling game, Keenan Cornelius has an awesome video on the subject uploaded to his official YouTube channel:

So let’s not ban guard pulling—let’s just make sure it’s earned. That’s how we keep BJJ evolving while staying true to what makes it great.