Felipe Pena: Open Guard Attacks

By Corey Kuropas, November 23, 2016

Felipe Pena, lovingly nicknamed Preguica is one of the best Jiu Jitsu competitors in the world. His dominance in the light heavyweight divison has taken him far. He is a multiple time Abu Dhabi Grand Slam champion, a Worlds champion and Copa Podio champ. His style is one of the reasons of his dominant nature. Felipe is a master of open guards, in particular x guard, single leg x and de la riva guard. He has some innovative techniques that win him the big matches. Here are just a couple of his techniques that make him a champion…

Sweep from x guard –

X guard happens to be one of the open guard positions that Felipe Pena exceeds at. He likes the position due to the control that it gives over an opponent and for the high probable sweeps that are available. And that’s what he shows in the video below. After playing some slx (single leg x), he goes into full x guard. After getting to x guard, and having an overhook on the opponent’s nearest leg, he begins to work for the sweep. Felipe stretches the opponent out and then brings him back close. When close, he will grab the opponent’s pants with his free hand. When controlled, he will raise his legs and hips high to make the opponent easily fall over. Now he can begin to work for a guard pass.

Toe hold from single leg x –

While you can transfer to single leg x (slx) from some different positions, Felipe shows his favorite, which is going from de la riva to slx. What he will do, is put his own hand on his knee of the leg that is on his opponent’s hips. He will push his own knee to make the opponent’s hips and leg to turn away. This will make the opponent’s foot go off of the mat and stay light. From there, he will use his hands to lock up that foot into a toe hold. He will push the foot close to the opponent’s hip and then twist the foot to finish the technique.

Felipe Pena is an amazing Jiu Jitsu competitor to watch. What he does, at times, seems to almost be effortless. He is able to completely stop his opponents in their tracks, and is able to get the finish quite a bit. If you’re curious about the open guard game and how to improve, you have to check out Pena’s DVD set, Triple Guard Submission Vortex which goes over open guard attacks.

Felipe Pena’s Triple Guard Submission Vortex for only $47!