Grappling positions, explained for spectators

Ground sequences are the part of a fight most viewers tune out of, because a tangle of limbs is hard to read. It gets much easier once you know the handful of positions that exist.

In guard

The bottom fighter has their legs wrapped around the top fighter's waist. On top but controlled — and the bottom fighter can attack from here, which is why guard is not simply losing.

Half guard

The bottom fighter has one leg trapped. The top fighter is making progress and is usually working to free it.

Side control

Across the chest, legs clear. Heavy, hard to escape, and a staging post for everything better.

Mount

Sitting on the chest. Strikes land with full weight behind them and the bottom fighter can see very little coming.

Back control

Behind them, chest to back, heels hooked inside the thighs. The best position in the sport: every attack is available and almost nothing comes back the other way.

When commentators say someone is advancing position, this ladder is what they mean. A fighter who goes guard to half guard to mount in ninety seconds is winning the round decisively even if they never throw a punch.

Sprawl

The answer to a takedown: hips drop, legs kick back, weight lands on the shoulders of the fighter shooting in. A good sprawl turns someone else's takedown into your front headlock.

Front headlock

Head and arm controlled from the front, usually after a stuffed takedown. Chokes and knees both come from here.

Scramble

The few seconds where nobody has a position and both are fighting for one. Whoever comes out of scrambles on top is usually the better grappler, whatever the takedown tally says.

Cage wrestling

Takedowns and defense with a back on the fence. Less photogenic than open-mat wrestling and a far bigger part of modern fights.

• Hips, not the tangle. Whoever controls the hips controls the position.
• Whether the top fighter is doing anything. Holding a position is control; landing and threatening from it is what scores.
• How fast the bottom fighter gets up. Thirty seconds on the mat and back to the feet is a different round from three minutes of being held.
• Whether a submission attempt was real or a position change in disguise — a lot of leg entanglements are about getting on top, not finishing.