Key Takeaways
- A three-volume closed guard instructional built around the idea of always having a second answer when the first attack or sweep stalls.
- Best suited to grapplers who already like playing from their back and want a more proactive, layered way to attack from closed guard instead of just holding position.
- Strongest in its emphasis on guard pulling with immediate offense, classic sweep chains, and follow-up options when opponents start standing or pressuring to pass.
- The material looks especially useful for Gi players, thanks to topics like lasso guard and loop choke, even though much of the strategic logic carries over beyond one ruleset.
- Rating: 7/10
AVAILABLE HERE: CLOSED GUARD VALERIO MORI UBALDINI DVD
The Closed Guard Valerio Mori Ubaldini DVD is built on a simple but valuable premise: closed guard works best when you stop treating it like a stall position and start treating it like a command center. That sounds obvious, but plenty of instructionals still teach the closed guard as a set of disconnected moves rather than as a live system with contingencies, transitions, and immediate threats.
That is where this release earns attention. The “Plan B” theme is not just a catchy title. It runs through the structure of the material, especially in the way Valerio frames failed sweeps, standing opponents, and pass attempts as moments to redirect rather than reset. If you enjoy classic closed guard but want it to feel less static and more modern in application, this instructional has something real to say.
Back to the Closed Guard
The Closed Guard Valerio Mori Ubaldini DVD lands in a part of Jiu-Jitsu that many people claim to respect but do not always study deeply. Everyone knows the closed guard. Everyone has used it. But a lot of grapplers move away from it too early, either because they get bored or because they assume newer open guards automatically offer more options.
That is only partly true. The closed guard still gives you direct control over posture, distance, angles, and tempo. It is one of the few positions in Jiu-Jitsu where you can slow somebody down, force them to carry your decisions, and build dilemmas without needing explosive athleticism. For hobbyists, that matters. For competitors, that matters even more.
What usually separates a dangerous closed guard from a passive one is not flexibility or trickiness. It is timing. The best closed guard players do not wait around. They pull with intention, attack before posture settles, and flow from one problem to the next. That is why a system built around backup plans makes sense. The closed guard is rarely about one perfect move. It is about making your opponent increasingly wrong.
GB Instructor Valerio Mori Ubaldini
The Closed Guard Valerio Mori Ubaldini DVD is taught by an instructor who is a Gracie Barra coach and academy leader, with CanvasRebel identifying him as a black belt, head instructor, and co-owner at Gracie Barra Overland Park. He also shows him teaching a practical body clinch response when an opponent stands inside closed guard, which lines up neatly with the problem-solving tone of this instructional.
Ubaldini is not presented here as a pure highlight-reel specialist selling flashy closed guard tricks. He comes across more like a coach who wants students to understand how to stay offensive when the position starts changing shape. That is a useful mindset for this topic, because closed guard usually stops working when people freeze as soon as the opponent stands, drives in, or begins forcing a pass sequence.
Detailed Guard Valerio Mori Ubaldini DVD Review
The Closed Guard Valerio Mori Ubaldini DVD is a three-volume instructional with roughly three and a half hours of material. Structurally, it is laid out well:
Volume 1 – Pulling Guard
The Closed Guard Valerio Mori Ubaldini DVD starts in the right place: not with submissions, but with entry. That is a smart decision. Too many closed guard instructionals assume you are already there with grips, posture broken, and everything under control. Real rolling does not work like that.
Valerio spends the opening section talking about the closed guard itself, when to pull guard, and how to pull it with better timing. That already tells you a lot about the product. He is interested in the moment before the position is established, which is usually where a lot of guard players either win or give away initiative. From there, he moves into immediate attacks off the pull: armbar, triangle, and omoplata.
What I liked most here is that the volume does not stop at the obvious trio. It also branches into open guard such as De La Riva, tripod, lasso guard, Single X, and a super useful fake pull.
Volume 2 – Sweeps
The Closed Guard Valerio Mori Ubaldini DVD becomes more traditional in Volume 2, but in a good way. The focus here is on four familiar sweep platforms: scissor sweep, pendulum sweep, sit-up sweep, and flower sweep. On paper, that might sound basic. In practice, it is the exact sort of material that still decides rounds in gyms and tournaments.
The value is in the title concept: Plan B. It is framed more as a study of what to do when those classic attacks do not immediately solve the exchange. That is a much more useful way to teach the closed guard, because very few decent opponents will simply fall over on the first attempt.
This middle section is probably the most broadly useful part of this Valerio Mori Ubaldini instructional. It connects well with beginners who already know the names of the sweeps, but it also gives more advanced players a reminder that fundamentals become dangerous again when they are layered properly. If Volume 1 is about initiative, Volume 2 is about persistence without stubbornness.
Volume 3 – The Cool Stuff
The Closed Guard Valerio Mori Ubaldini DVD gets more eclectic in Volume 3, and that is where the set develops more personality. The listed topics include originals such as the De Luca Kimura, loop choke variation and Gargon sweep, to mention a few standouts.
The moves here show that Valerio is not trying to keep the guard frozen in a textbook shape. He is dealing with what happens when opponents begin standing, stacking, driving under the hips, or forcing you into adaptation. In other words, he is addressing the moments where many closed guard players lose the plot.
The body clinch material stands out especially well conceptually. It reinforces the idea that when someone stands in your guard, that should not automatically mean your offense is over. You can intercept, come up, and turn the exchange back in your favor.
A Plan B That Doesn’t Fail
The Closed Guard Valerio Mori Ubaldini DVD is the kind of instructional that benefits from being studied in chunks rather than binged once and shelved. The best way to use it is to take the first volume and work on entry plus first attack for two or three weeks. After that, move to Volume 2 and build two reliable sweep chains. Then use Volume 3 to solve the moments that keep breaking your rhythm in live rounds.
For most grapplers, that means positional sparring will matter more than endless drilling. Start from guard pull to attack. Start from failed scissor sweep to second attack. Start with the top player standing in your guard. Start with the passer threatening double unders. That is how this material becomes part of your game instead of remaining a list of remembered chapters.
In practical terms, this instructional can help three different things: your confidence pulling guard, your ability to keep attacking after resistance, and your capacity to stay calm when the position changes. That last part is the most important. A lot of closed guard players are good until the script changes. This set is at its best when teaching you not to panic at that moment.
CLOSED GUARD VALERIO MORI UBALDINI DVD DOWNLOAD
Who Is This For?
The Closed Guard Valerio Mori Ubaldini DVD is best for white belts with some mat time, blue belts, and purple belts who already like the idea of playing closed guard and want to become more assertive from it. It also makes sense for instructors looking for a teachable framework, because the progression from pull to first attack to backup option is easy to build into class structure.
Gi players are the clearest audience. The presence of lasso guard and loop choke gives the material a Gi flavor, even though the strategic concepts are broader than that. Competitors who pull guard regularly should get plenty out of it, but so should hobbyists who prefer a more methodical game from bottom.
The least ideal audience is probably the brand-new white belt who still struggles with basic posture breaking and angle creation. That person might still find value here, but some of the material will probably land better after a few months of real rolling. Likewise, a pure No-Gi player hunting a modern leg-lock-heavy bottom game may want something more specialized.
Pros & Potential Drawbacks
Pros:
- Strong central concept: the “Plan B” idea gives the whole instructional coherence instead of making it feel like a bag of unrelated closed guard moves.
- Good structure: the progression from entry, to classic sweep families, to adaptive problem-solving makes sense and is easy to study.
- Useful blend of fundamentals and secondary layers: scissor, pendulum, sit-up, and flower sweeps are familiar, but the surrounding follow-ups make them feel more alive.
- Practical handling of common reactions: standing opponents, double-under passing pressure, and posture shifts are all addressed rather than ignored.
- Coach-friendly material: this is the kind of system you can build into rounds and lesson plans without a lot of translation work.
- Broad real-world value: even if you do not adopt every chapter, the mindset of attacking immediately and chaining to backups is applicable well beyond closed guard.
Potential Drawbacks:
- Gi-leaning content: if you are mainly a No-Gi athlete, some of the specific material will not be as directly useful.
- Not a pure beginner primer: the instructional is logical, but it assumes you can already function from closed guard at a basic level.
- Some chapter titles are more intriguing than fully self-explanatory: that can be exciting, but it also means certain sections may take a little mat testing before they click.
The Secondary Closed Guard
The Closed Guard Valerio Mori Ubaldini DVD succeeds because it understands the real problem with closed guard for most people: not the position itself, but the dead space between first attack and second decision. Valerio’s answer is to build a game where the next option is already waiting. That makes this release more useful than a lot of technically solid but strategically flat guard instructionals.
