Gordon Ryan is one of the most successful athletes in the history of Jiu-Jitsu and if you’re going to take advice on guard retention from anyone, he would be a fantastic choice. He’s undoubtedly the pound-for-pound greatest no gi grappler on the planet right now, so naturally his advice is tailored to competing without the gi on. This comes around the same time as he is releasing his latest instructional based solely on guard retention, something he has announced as in the works for quite some time.
It’s actually a topic that seems to be receiving a lot of focus lately by the greatest minds in the sport, as Lachlan Giles and Ariel Tabak teamed up just recently to deliver a massive amount of content on guard retention too. This is because guard retention is undoubtedly a vital aspect of the sport, not only because it allows you to prevent your opponent from scoring any points under various rulesets but it also allows you to stay in a position where you are able to attack frequently.
There are even a number of high-profile Jiu-Jitsu practitioners who have dedicated a huge amount of their career to going in depth on guard retention, like Priit Mihkelson. Gordon Ryan recently sat down with the co-founder of BJJ Fanatics, Bernardo Faria, to talk through his approach to guard retention in depth. Not just that, but Ryan also demonstrated his methods of defense against two of the most common guard passes in a video that was later uploaded to Faria’s official YouTube channel:
