Key Takeaways
- A three-volume closed guard system from Sula-Mae Loewenthal, an ADCC veteran and Polaris featherweight title challenger who still uses closed guard at the highest level of No-Gi.
- Built around hand fighting and grip stripping first — control before attack — then sweeps, submissions and back takes layered on top.
- Core techniques include the waiter sweep, sit-up sweep, triangle, omoplata, Mir lock, flower sweep and armbar.
- Best suited to No-Gi grapplers who want a competition-proven closed guard game, plus Gi players looking to strip their guard back to grips and posture.
- Compact and closed-guard-only; no open guard, passing or leg-lock material.
- Rating: 8/10
AVAILABLE HERE: Closed Guard Should Be Illegal Sula Loewenthal DVD
The title is a joke, but the argument underneath it is serious. Modern No-Gi has spent a decade drifting away from closed guard — toward leg attacks, outside passing and distance management — to the point where a genuinely controlling closed guard can feel almost unfair. Sula-Mae Loewenthal is one of the few competitors who still plays it at the top of the sport, and Closed Guard Should Be Illegal is her argument, laid out over three volumes.
What makes the series unusual is where it starts. Loewenthal does not open with submissions or sweeps; she opens with hand fighting and grip stripping, and she spends real time on stopping the opponent from standing up. That sequencing is the whole philosophy in miniature: the closed guard only works when you win the grip exchange and deny the posture. Everything after that — the sweeps, the submissions, the back takes — is a reward for control already established.
Sula Loewenthal: From ADCC Trials to a Polaris Title Shot
Loewenthal’s competitive arc is the strongest endorsement this product could have. Originally from Australia, she relocated to London, where she now trains and teaches at Gracie Barra. Her breakout came at the 2024 ADCC Asia and Oceania Trials, which she won to earn a place at ADCC 2024 — making her one of a select few British grapplers to reach that level.
She has since become a regular on Polaris, where at Polaris 32 she beat Helena Crevar by clear decision in a squads match, a result many did not predict. That win set up a featherweight title shot against Crevar at Polaris 34 in November 2025, one of the biggest matches of her career. Crevar retained the belt with an arm-triangle choke, but the title shot itself affirmed Loewenthal’s standing as a legitimate featherweight contender.
Her IBJJF record runs parallel — gold at the 2024 Nacional Open Portugal and the 2024 Dublin Fall No-Gi Open, silver at the 2025 London International Open, and bronze at the 2025 Pan No-Gi. A closed guard that has held up on those stages is a closed guard worth studying.
Closed Guard Should Be Illegal Sula Loewenthal DVD Review
Three volumes, tightly sequenced: win the hands, attack the submission, then finish with the sweeps and back takes that the threats open up. The credibility behind that argument is current and specific. Loewenthal is a black belt who trains and teaches at Gracie Barra London, an ADCC veteran after winning the 2024 Asia and Oceania Trials, and a Polaris featherweight title challenger. This is not a retired competitor selling nostalgia for a dead position; it is an active one selling a game she uses against the best women in the sport.
Volume 1: Hand Fighting, Grips and the Sweep
The opening volume is the foundation and the most valuable part of the set. Loewenthal covers hand fighting and stripping grips in detail, then how to stop the opponent from standing to break the guard. From there she builds the sweep game: the waiter sweep, the sit-up sweep, and its chains into a kimura, a guillotine, and the guillotine-to-100%-sweep.
A fake sit-up sweep to triangle closes the volume, showing how the sweep and the submission feed each other. For a No-Gi closed guard, this hand-fighting-first order of operations is exactly right.
Volume 2: The Omoplata, Triangle and Mir Lock
The second volume attacks the shoulder and neck. The omoplata is taught with the follow-through when the opponent rolls, then the triangle and the Mir lock round out the submission threats.
This is the pressure that makes the sweeps in Volume 1 work — an opponent worried about the triangle cannot post freely to defend the sweep. The connections between the two volumes are what make the series feel like a system rather than a list.
Volume 3: The Back, the Flower Sweep and the Armbar
The closing volume adds the back take, the flower sweep and the armbar, giving the closed guard a complete set of end-points. It is a shorter volume, but it closes the loop: every reaction to the sweep either gives up position or gives up a submission. The outro ties the three volumes into a single decision tree.
Easy Closed Guard Tactics
The great advantage of this series is that the first volume is immediately usable. Hand fighting and grip stripping can be drilled in a single session and applied the next time you roll, and the sit-up sweep is a technique most grapplers can land within a week. The fuller game — using the triangle and omoplata to protect the sweep — takes longer to feel automatic, but the path is clear, and the techniques are all high-percentage fundamentals rather than low-odds flash. It rewards repetition over talent.
Closed Guard Should Be Illegal Sula Loewenthal DVD DOWNLOAD HERE
Who Is This For?
The ideal student is a No-Gi grappler — blue belt through black belt — who wants a reliable, competition-tested closed guard, and anyone who has been told closed guard is obsolete and wants to see why it is not. It also suits Gi players, since the grip-fighting concepts and the sweep-to-submission chains translate directly. Who won’t benefit: competitors building a leg-lock or open guard game, and anyone looking for a broad curriculum — this is closed guard only, by design.
Pros & Potential Drawbacks
Pros:
- A proven No-Gi closed guard. Taught by an ADCC veteran who uses it against the best featherweights in the world, which is rare and valuable.
- Correct sequencing. Hand fighting and grip stripping first, attacks second — the order most closed guard instructionals get backwards.
- High-percentage, connected techniques. The waiter and sit-up sweeps, triangle, omoplata and armbar all work together as a decision tree.
- Immediately applicable. Volume 1 is drillable in a day and usable within the week.
- Gi and No-Gi friendly. The grips are wrists and posts, not lapels, so the material carries over.
- Honest, compact pricing. Three focused volumes at a fair price, with no filler.
Potential cons:
- Closed guard only. There is no open guard, passing, or leg-lock material, so it is a specialist purchase.
- Compact for the depth-minded. Fifteen core techniques across three volumes is a tight set, not an exhaustive library.
- Less relevant to extreme guard-skippers. Anyone who deliberately avoids closed guard entirely will find limited use for the framework.
The Verdict: Should You Buy “Closed Guard Should Be Illegal?”
Closed Guard Should Be Illegal is a genuinely valuable niche product: a modern, competition-proven closed guard taught by one of the few top No-Gi competitors who still trusts the position. The hand-fighting-first structure, the sweep-to-submission chains, and the instructor’s ADCC and Polaris credentials combine to make a strong case that closed guard is far from dead.
The limits — no open guard, no passing, a compact move set — are the honest cost of a focused specialist course. For a No-Gi grappler who wants a reliable, high-percentage closed guard, this is an 8/10.
