Back to Systems

Marcelo Garcia: Butterfly Guard

Guard SystemIntermediate

13 related references (techniques and positions)

The Complete Butterfly Guard

By Marcelo Garcia

View course on BJJ Fanatics

Marcelo Garcia’s The Complete Butterfly Guard develops seated posture and sweeping before expanding into upper-body attacks and engagement. The four volumes include elbow control, shoulder-clamp sweeps, armlocks and the Marcelotine. Distance-closing and standing-opponent material address exchanges where the passer does not stay in front of the butterfly hooks.

Is this for you?

• You want seated butterfly offense with ways to engage opponents who stand, retreat or pressure forward.

Also consider

Marcelo Garcia: X-Guard Entries and Sweeps — Choose The Marcelo X Guard for getting underneath into X guard, completing sweeps and responding to leg pummels.

Coverage and limits

• Hand, foot and elbow positioning; butterfly sweeps, shoulder clamps and upper-body submissions.
• Closing distance, shin-to-shin against standing opponents and responses to forward pressure.

Limits

• Butterfly and seated engagement are the focus; full X-guard entries and sweeping finishes are not the course’s central subject.

Go to this course: The Complete Butterfly Guard

Related guides and principles

These related references are not a claim about what the course teaches or evidence of practical mastery.

Grips

Control Maintenance

Kuzushi

Hooks

Fork Attacks

Marcelo Garcia: The Marcelotine

Marcelo Garcia: X-Guard Entries and Sweeps — Compare for entries underneath the opponent and a dedicated X-guard finish collection.

No-Gi Competition: IBJJF and ADCC

Understanding Guard Changes

Review related technique cards

• Butterfly Guard (Position)

• Butterfly Hook Control (Position)

• Butterfly Sweep (Transition)

• Basic Butterfly Sweep (Transition)

• Arm Drag Sweep (Transition)

• Arm Drag to Back (Transition)

• Single Leg X-Guard (Position)

• Single Leg X Entry (Transition)

• Back Control (Position)

• Guillotine Control (Position)

• Arm in Guillotine (Submission)

• X-Guard (Position)

• Deep Half Guard (Position)

Sources Expand for evidence and notes

Independent BJJGraph guide. Not authored or endorsed by the instructor.

The preview's content has not been reviewed by BJJGraph.

The Complete Butterfly Guard by Marcelo Garcia — official listing; checked 2026-09-19. Verified posture/control, sweeping, distance, standing-opponent and pressure sections in four volumes. Listing and official sample iframe inspected; player content not reviewed. On 2026-09-19 UTC, verified the introductory player in the product banner and the course cover image. Muted inline autoplay was verified on https://bjjgraph.org by observing advancing video time. The introduction content was not reviewed.

The Marcelo X Guard by Marcelo Garcia — official listing; checked 2026-09-16. Verified butterfly/shin-to-shin entries, sleeve/collar examples, stand-up finishes and pummel/backstep counters. Listing inspected; course video content not reviewed.