Rubber Guard, or most commonly known as Mission Control, is a popular term in Mixed Martial Arts to describe a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu technique. Rubber Guard involves high maintenance of control and flexibility by strangling the opponent’s body using his arm and leg. The Mission Control technique is a popular move that can be combined with other MMA techniques, such as the Sweeps, Submissions, and the Strike, so it could effectively trap the opponent’s head in the practitioner’s body.
Rubber Guard as an Innovative Technique
Rubber Guard is a staple technique originated by Eddie Bravo from the 10th Planet Jiu-Jitsu system. As time passed, modern variations emerged and coordinated the Rubber Guard technique with other MMA techniques. This also has a programmatic flowchart, which contains 6 levels of how Rubber Guard should be executed. One of the main purposes of the Rubber Guard is to control the posture of the opponent to prevent him from fighting back.
Why do Martial Artists need to Learn the Rubber Guard?
This technique is a traditional closed guard system, which concentrates on clinching down the opponent to the floor until he loses his strength. However, the practitioner has to be careful if his opponent knows how to counter-attack the rubber guard technique. In this case, either of them should’ve come to a stalemate and the practitioner’s attack would end up becoming his pitfall. In the end, the practitioner should learn how to visualize the outcome of the technique, so he could execute it against his enemy perfectly.
Learning the Rubber Guard
The practitioner has to ensure he is familiar with other basic techniques, such as the Chili Dog and Gogoplata. To carefully execute a common submission called the Gogoplata, the practitioner has to break his opponent’s posture and pull his leg against the opponent’s back and placing the opponent’s hand to the floor. He also has to execute the Chill Dog position by reconnecting his leg while clearing the opponent’s neck. When he already secured the Gogoplata, he has to apply more pressure on the neck and throat. This technique can make his opponent’s balance and composure, as he tries to counter-attack the Rubber Guard.