Brazilian jiu-jitsu

Jiu-jitsu is a hierarchy of positions, and the whole art is climbing it. Back control is the top of the hierarchy, then mount, then side control, then half guard, then guard. A fighter moving up that ladder is winning the exchange even when nothing visible is happening.

It is also the one style that makes being underneath a workable plan. A grappler on their back can be attacking, which is why a round that looks one-sided can end in three seconds.

Guard retention

The bottom fighter's legs constantly re-establishing a frame as the top fighter tries to pass. A fighter whose legs are flat is in real trouble; one whose shins are always in the way is fine.

Hip escape

Small, repeated hip movement to create the inch of space a sweep or a submission needs. Almost nothing on the ground works without it.

Grip fighting

Hand and wrist control before any attack. Watch wrists, not limbs — the submission is decided by who wins the grips.

Posture on top

A top fighter who is pulled down onto their opponent's chest has lost the position, whatever the scorecard says.

The scramble

The two or three seconds after a position breaks down. Whoever comes out of scrambles on top is a better grappler than their record suggests.

• By finishing. A submission does not need judges, which makes it the cleanest way to win a round you were losing.
• By threatening constantly from the bottom, so the top fighter has to defend instead of strike.
• By being unloseable on the ground, which lets a grappler take striking risks a pure striker cannot afford.

• Pulling guard gives away control time, and control time is what judges reward. A grappler who cannot get the fight down on their own terms can lose every round while being the better grappler.
• Strikes change everything. A guard that works beautifully without punches can be opened up by elbows from a fighter who is not trying to pass at all.
• Against a wrestler who declines to go to the ground, the style never gets to exist. This is the most common way an elite grappler loses.

Note how a grappler gets the fight to the ground, not just what they do once it is there. That is the difference between a submission threat and a submission win, and it is the thing most often missing from a Fighter File.