Ringworm Guard is an advanced lapel guard variation that originated from the Worm Guard system popularized by Keenan Cornelius. The position involves threading the opponent’s lapel around their leg while maintaining control from bottom guard, creating a powerful control system that limits the top player’s mobility and creates numerous sweeping and back-taking opportunities. The name derives from the lapel configuration that wraps around the opponent’s leg, hence the creative nomenclature consistent with the Worm Guard family.
This position represents a highly technical approach to lapel-based guard systems, requiring significant coordination and spatial awareness to establish and maintain. The bottom player uses the lapel as an extension of their grips, effectively tying the opponent’s leg to their own body while using their free limbs to create off-balancing opportunities. The Ringworm Guard excels at neutralizing standing passes and creating angular attacks, making it particularly effective against aggressive passers who rely on pressure and forward movement.
Strategically, Ringworm Guard sits within the broader lapel guard ecosystem alongside positions like Worm Guard and Squid Guard, sharing similar principles of lapel manipulation and leg entanglement. It provides a pathway to various high-percentage sweeps, back takes, and triangle attacks while offering strong defensive properties against common guard passing sequences. The position requires gi-specific training and is most effective in IBJJF and gi-based competition formats.
The guard creates mechanical advantages through the lapel wrap, restricting the opponent’s mobility and forcing them into predictable defensive patterns. From the bottom perspective, practitioners focus on maintaining tension, creating angles, and executing sweeps or transitions to dominant positions. From the top perspective, the focus shifts to grip breaking, posture recovery, and systematic extraction from the lapel configuration while defending against sweeps and back takes.
Key Principles
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Maintain constant tension on the lapel wrap to restrict opponent’s leg mobility and prevent escape
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Use leg frames and hooks to control distance and prevent opponent from establishing crushing pressure
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Create angles by moving hips laterally while keeping the lapel wrap tight
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Combine lapel control with secondary grips on sleeves, pants, or collar for multi-directional control
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Stay mobile and off your back when possible to maintain sweeping mechanics and offensive opportunities
Top vs Bottom
| Bottom | Top | |
|---|---|---|
| Position Type | Defensive with offensive options | Defensive |
| Risk Level | Medium | Medium to High |
| Energy Cost | Medium | Medium |
| Time | Medium to Long | Short to Medium |
Key Difference: Lapel wrap trades stability for sweep leverage
Playing as Bottom
Key Principles
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Maintain constant tension on the lapel wrap to restrict opponent’s leg mobility and prevent them from escaping the configuration
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Use leg frames and hooks to control distance and prevent opponent from establishing dominant grips or crushing forward
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Create angles by moving your hips laterally while keeping the lapel wrap tight, forcing opponent to turn and exposing their back
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Combine lapel control with secondary grips on sleeves, pants, or collar to create multi-directional control systems
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Keep your shoulders off the mat when possible to maintain mobility and prevent being flattened, allowing quick transitions to sweeps or submissions
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Monitor opponent’s weight distribution and exploit moments when they commit weight forward or to one side by executing off-balancing attacks
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Be prepared to transition to related lapel guard positions if opponent begins to escape the wrap configuration
Primary Techniques
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Ringworm Sweep to Back Control → Back Control
- Success Rate: Beginner 30%, Intermediate 45%, Advanced 60%
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Triangle Setup → Triangle Control
- Success Rate: Beginner 25%, Intermediate 40%, Advanced 55%
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Omoplata to Sweep → Omoplata Control
- Success Rate: Beginner 20%, Intermediate 35%, Advanced 50%
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- Success Rate: Beginner 35%, Intermediate 50%, Advanced 65%
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Berimbolo Entry → Back Control
- Success Rate: Beginner 15%, Intermediate 30%, Advanced 50%
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Transition to Worm Guard → Worm Guard
- Success Rate: Beginner 45%, Intermediate 60%, Advanced 75%
Common Mistakes
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❌ Allowing the lapel wrap to become loose or slack during transitions
- Consequence: Opponent can easily extract their leg and escape the position, nullifying all control advantages and leaving practitioner in inferior open guard
- ✅ Correction: Maintain constant tension on the lapel tail throughout all movements, actively pulling it tight whenever shifting angles or attempting sweeps, treating the lapel as a primary control point rather than secondary grip
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❌ Remaining too flat on the back without creating angles
- Consequence: Opponent can establish strong top pressure and begin smash passing sequences, negating the mobility advantages that make Ringworm Guard effective
- ✅ Correction: Continuously move hips laterally and create angles by shifting your body position while maintaining the lapel wrap, staying on your side or shoulder whenever possible to enhance mobility and sweeping mechanics
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❌ Failing to control opponent’s upper body with leg frames or hooks
- Consequence: Opponent can easily posture up, establish dominant grips, or drive forward into passing positions despite the lapel wrap on their leg
- ✅ Correction: Always maintain at least one leg engagement on opponent’s upper body or hips, using butterfly hooks, shin shields, or foot frames to manage distance and prevent them from consolidating top pressure
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❌ Threading the lapel incorrectly or incompletely around opponent’s leg
- Consequence: The lapel configuration provides minimal control and opponent can simply step out of the wrap without resistance
- ✅ Correction: Ensure the lapel passes completely around the back of opponent’s knee or thigh with sufficient wraps to create friction and control, checking that the configuration is secure before releasing your threading hand
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❌ Neglecting grip fighting on opponent’s free hand
- Consequence: Opponent establishes strong collar or sleeve grips that facilitate passing sequences and neutralize your sweeping attempts
- ✅ Correction: Actively fight for sleeve or wrist control on opponent’s free arm using your non-lapel hand, preventing them from establishing the grips they need for effective passing while setting up your offensive attacks
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❌ Attempting sweeps without first breaking opponent’s base and posture
- Consequence: Sweeping attempts fail because opponent maintains strong defensive structure, wasting energy and potentially allowing them to counter-pass
- ✅ Correction: Use the lapel wrap in combination with leg frames to first compromise opponent’s balance and posture, waiting for them to react or adjust their base before committing to sweeping motions
Playing as Top
Key Principles
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Prioritize breaking the lapel grip before attempting aggressive passing, as the wrap severely limits safe movement options
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Maintain defensive posture and protect your back at all times, as Ringworm Guard creates numerous back-taking opportunities
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Use systematic grip fighting to control the bottom player’s hands and prevent them from establishing additional control points
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Create space and distance to facilitate leg extraction rather than forcing through the wrap with pressure
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Stay patient and methodical in your escape sequence, as rushed movements typically lead to sweeps or submissions
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Monitor your base constantly and adjust weight distribution to compensate for the restricted leg mobility
Primary Techniques
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Lapel Grip Break and Posture Recovery → Open Guard
- Success Rate: Beginner 25%, Intermediate 40%, Advanced 55%
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Leg Extraction from Lapel Wrap → Combat Base
- Success Rate: Beginner 30%, Intermediate 45%, Advanced 60%
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Stack Pass with Lapel Control Negation → Side Control
- Success Rate: Beginner 20%, Intermediate 35%, Advanced 50%
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Standing Guard Pass with Distance Creation → Headquarters Position
- Success Rate: Beginner 15%, Intermediate 30%, Advanced 45%
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Smash Pass Counter → Half Guard
- Success Rate: Beginner 25%, Intermediate 40%, Advanced 55%
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Standing Reset to Open Guard → Standing Guard
- Success Rate: Beginner 35%, Intermediate 50%, Advanced 65%
Common Mistakes
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❌ Attempting to pressure pass or drive forward while the lapel wrap is secure
- Consequence: Creates ideal sweeping angle for bottom player, typically resulting in loss of position or back exposure as forward momentum is redirected
- ✅ Correction: First focus on grip breaking and leg extraction, only attempting passing pressure after the lapel configuration is neutralized or significantly weakened
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❌ Ignoring the lapel grip and treating it like standard open guard
- Consequence: The mechanical disadvantage of the lapel wrap severely limits mobility and base, making standard passing approaches ineffective and dangerous
- ✅ Correction: Recognize Ringworm Guard as a specialized position requiring specific counters, prioritizing extraction over standard passing sequences
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❌ Failing to protect your back while working to escape the position
- Consequence: Bottom player capitalizes on back exposure during extraction attempts, transitioning to back control or completing sweeps
- ✅ Correction: Maintain constant awareness of back defense, keeping shoulders square and hips heavy while working grip breaks and leg extraction
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❌ Using only one hand to break the lapel grip
- Consequence: Insufficient force to break the grip while leaving other arm vulnerable to secondary controls from bottom player
- ✅ Correction: Use both hands in systematic grip breaking sequences, temporarily accepting other defensive compromises to prioritize lapel extraction
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❌ Remaining stationary and defensive without working toward escape
- Consequence: Allows bottom player time to secure position, establish additional controls, and set up their highest percentage attacks
- ✅ Correction: Maintain constant motion and systematic progress toward extraction, even if incremental, to prevent bottom player from consolidating control
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❌ Attempting explosive movements or sudden direction changes
- Consequence: The lapel wrap converts explosive energy into sweeping momentum, often resulting in dramatic position reversal
- ✅ Correction: Work methodically and with controlled movements, using gradual pressure and systematic techniques rather than explosive bursts