One of the most entertaining women in BJJ, and one of the toughest, if not the toughest (at present), competitors in white women’s divisions, Ffion Davies has decided to share her No-Gi guard secrets in her latest Ffion Davies DVD!
The famous Judoka turned BJJ champion and one of the top grapplers to ever come out of Europe, Ffion Davies is always fun to watch, both on the competition mats and behind the BJJ DVD instructional cameras. Her latest resource is all bout playing closed guard without the Gi, which is exactly what you’d like an ADCC champion to cover.
So as Ffion gets ready for her upcoming performances at the Craig Jones Invitational in August, we can take a look at the strategies, attacks, pass counters, and reversals that have made her guard one of the toughest spots to be in as a professional competitive grappler!
Key Takeaways
- Around 2 hours of competitive tactics, proven to work at the highest level.
- Taught by one of the European grapplers and ADCC champion.
- Ffion teaches how to create combos and dilemmas as she shows the moves.
- BJJ World Expert Rating: 9 out of 10.
GET THE NO-GI CLOSED GUARD FFION DAVIES DVD HERE!!!
The Best Guard for No-Gi?
Let’s be honest, playing guard without the Gi is a real struggle. Craig Jones’ controversial ‘just stand up’ tactics work extremely well when an opponent doesn’t wear a Gi you can attach to. So, if you can’t use your arms, the only logical thing left is to use the legs not just to keep the opponent away from passing, but also to lock them in place.
What I just described is the closed guard in BJJ. Gi or No-Gi, when you can wrap both your legs around an opponent’s waist, they’re going to have a tough time dealing with you. It can be the mount, back mount, an Ashi Garmi, triangle choke, or, the closed guard.
People often tend to shy away from the closed guard on account of its simplicity. BJJ is all about phases of learning, and I’d expect nothing less from blue and purple belts. However, if you want to be a successful No-Gi player, you will have to pick the closed guard up as a white belt and keep your skills crispy clean as you go through the belts. Otherwise, you’ll just get mauled from the top.
In all honesty, the closed guard is not without its drawbacks too. It simply does not work when people are standing, so you’ll need to add distance management and level breakdowns to your closed guard game to really be successful with it. You can learn all that in this Ffion Davies DVD.
Ffi Ffi From The Bronx
Ffion is a grappler born in Wales, UK. She is the absolute best grappler to ever come of the small island nation and one of the best European competitors of all time. At present, Ffion has switched her base from her roots in Cardiff to New York City, as it provides lots of versatility in terms of training partners and easy access to professional grappling events.
Grappling competitively her whole life Davis announced herself to the Jiu-Jitsu world by winning the CBJ Brazilian Nationals in 2019. From there, she went on to conquer the Europeans and Worlds in both Gi and No-Gi multiple times between 2019 and 2023, on either side of a stellar performance that won her the 2022 ADCC title.
Ffion’s competitive Judo background is very noticeable in her grappling style, which is as relentless and explosive as they come. Everyone who saw the 2019 ADCC remembers her crazy armbar finish over the number one favorite Bea Mesquita, which resulted in a broken arm.
Davies, now training with JT Torres, has never shied away from competing both with and without the Gi, although No-Gi seems to be her preferred choice. Her game has been improving in leaps and bounds since Darragh O’Conaill gave her a black belt in 2018, but we rarely get the chance to see exactly what she is doing to become so good. The No-Gi Closed Guard Ffion Davies DVD contains some useful insights!
Reviewing the No-Gi Closed Guard Ffion Davies DVD
The Ffion Davies DVD about the No-Gi Closed Guard is a four-part instructional, with each volume lasting around 30 minutes. The content is very easy to follow, mostly because Ffion shares how to combine the techniques as she demonstrates them:
Part 1 – Using Overhooks
I like a BJJ instructional that has a clean and precise outline, and this Ffion Davies DVD offers exactly that. Davies starts off by introducing the overhook closed guard, which, in my humble opinion is the best way to control the top person from close distance guards.
About half of the content in the first volume, apart from the short introduction, covers the overhook and all accompanying dynamics that prevent the top person from posturing and breaking the guard.
Naturally, submission and sweep attacks follow, as Ffion perfectly combines the 100% sweep with a triangle/Omoplata double submission threat. In typical Ffion Davies fashion, the attacks are relentless and only trap the top person deeper in the system as they struggle to beat them.
Part 2 – Omoplatas
Speaking of Omoplatas, Ffion is no stranger to using this staple BJJ move against high-level grapplers to get on top of the transition into her favorite rear naked choke. In this part of the instructional she demonstrates exactly that, but shows a much more practical short choke finish from the Omoplata which requires less tranistioning.
She also shares her devastating straight armbar finish, along with the complete setup from the Omoplata. As grand as Ffion is, she names the sequence after her inspiration for it, Michelle Nicolini.
A few follow-ups to the opponent’s rolling escape efforts from the Omoplata wrap this volume up, but not before she shares a very sneaky version of the Mir Lock and ties it all beautifully with an unstoppable flower sweep.
Part 3 – Shoulder Crunch Armbars
Armbars from guard were certain to feature heavily in a Ffion Davies DVD and they get an entire volume (almost) dedicated solely to setting them up and getting a tap from the No-Gi closed guard. Ffion turns to the Marcelo Garcia classic – the shoulder crunch to clamp down and isolate the arm.
Once in control, she shows how you can move freely to sweep, transition to butterfly guard, and wrap up ultra-tight armbars either directly or by forcing the opponent to roll (Ronda Rousey-style). The volume concludes with several chapters of Tarikoplatas set up from the shoulder crunch position.
Part 4 – Sweeps & Drags
A bit of classical Jiu-Jitsu mixed with some wrestling brings this incredible Ffion Davies DVD to a conclusion. She starts by offering improved setups of the hip bump sweep by tying it to the Kimura in the most efficient way I’ve seen to date.
Offering options in the opposite direction, Davies turns to the arm drag, opening up not just back attacks but also crazy effective Nelson variations that seem to confuse people in BJJ. Of course, a beautiful way to tie together drags and the hip bump sweep does not lack from this DVD, as Ffion wraps it all up.
The Closed Guard Always Works
I am a big proponent of the closed guard, be it for Gi, No-Gi, MMA, or even self-defense. It is a very strong position that is highly reliable since it offers a simple way to keep someone where you want them. On top of that, it takes away the power of the top person’s legs, which not many guards in BJJ can accomplish.
Obviously, there is no need to explain the attacking prowess of the closed guard in terms of sweeps and submissions, as everyone “knows” these and is already bored with it. Maybe it is worth another look, particularly from the perspective Ffion offers in her No-Gi Closed Guard instructional.
One aspect I am sure many are skipping over is how effective the closed guard is when used against powerful and explosive wrestlers. You have the choice of believing all the memes that claim guard pulling is not “manly” enough and getting crushed by young wrestlers, or doing the smart thing and pulling them into the endless pit of traps that is the closed guard. Your choice.
FFION DAVIES CLOSED GUARD DVD AVAILABLE HERE!!!
Outflank Your Opponents From the Closed Guard!
You don’t have to like the closed guard to see that it is the most effective guard in BJJ without the Gi. That simply means that you can be stubborn and try to Berimbolo your way into leg locks (we all know how that works) or accept that in creating situations, the “boring” basic guard is the perfect solution.
For those who are smart enough to admit how hard the closed guard can be to master, this Ffion Davies DVD offers the perfect shortcut to success. It will teach you competitive techniques that work at the highest levels, without any of the fluff that only ends up confusing you. Pick it up today and you’ll be able to notice the difference in just a few weeks!
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