What the octopus guard is
The octopus guard is a bottom position in which you sit up beside your partner, tuck your shoulder under their armpit and reach one arm across their back to the far side. Your other hand posts on the mat. It is reached from half guard, often from a knee shield, and from closed guard. Our guide to BJJ guards places it with the half guards for that reason.
In half guard your partner’s chest usually faces yours, so their weight presses you toward the mat. In the octopus guard your chest is against their side and their back is open to you. To flatten you again, they have to turn back toward you, usually by winning a crossface.
The position is most closely associated with Eduardo Telles, a black belt known for unorthodox guard play such as his turtle guard, who built a well-known set of attacks from it. Instructors now teach it in both gi and no-gi.
Getting there from half guard and closed guard
From half guard, the opening usually comes when your partner reaches for a crossface. Keep one hand high, near your own head, so their arm passes over your head instead of across your face. Then sit up into their side while your legs keep their leg trapped, and reach across their back. The same opening appears when a partner turns their back to you to pass, as in a backstep.
From closed guard, first bring one of your partner’s elbows across their centerline, with a two-on-one grip, an arm drag or, in the gi, a sleeve grip. Then open your legs and sit up to the side that arm came from, with your shoulder under their armpit, and reach across their back.
Sweeps, back takes and front headlocks
The attack you choose depends on what your partner does after you sit up. The sheet lists the main options in the gi and in no-gi.
Grips
- Arm across the backYour hand reaches the far lat or hip. A grip in the middle of the back is easy to shrug off.
- Sleeve gripFrom closed guard, it pulls their arm across their centerline before you sit up.
- Shallow knee shieldKeeps their chest off yours in half guard until their arm comes over your head.
Main attacks
- Back take
- Hip bump sweep
- KimuraOn the arm they reach across your body.
Grips
- Arm across the backYour hand reaches the far lat or hip. A grip in the middle of the back is easy to shrug off.
- Two-on-oneFrom closed guard, both hands on one arm drag it across their centerline.
- Shallow knee shieldKeeps their chest off yours in half guard until their arm comes over your head.
Main attacks
- Back take
- Hip bump sweep
- Front headlockLeads to the guillotine, D'Arce and anaconda chokes.
- KimuraOn the arm they reach across your body.
- Wrestle-upStanding up when they give you space by backing off.
Distance
Half and knee shield
If your partner stays heavy and keeps their position, climb higher up their back with the arm across it, free your bottom leg and put your hooks in. If they reach an arm across your body to block the climb, attack that arm with a kimura. If they pull their hips back and away, move your arm from their back to their head for a front headlock. If they stand up, you can come up with them, keeping your arm around their waist as you work behind them.
The hip bump sweep starts from the same seated position: you drive into your partner with your hips and turn them over. Instructors differ on which of your partner’s reactions they treat as the cue for the sweep rather than the back take.
How partners shut it down, and common mistakes
The main counter is the crossface. If your partner gets their forearm across your face and turns their chest back toward you, they push your head below theirs and flatten you to the mat. Once that happens, stop trying to sit up into it and rebuild your half guard frames before they pass.
One common mistake is sitting up lower than your partner. Staying on your elbow instead of coming up onto your hand keeps your head below theirs, which is where the crossface works. Post on your hand and your foot so your head and hips end up higher than theirs. Another is leaving space between your reaching elbow and their back, which gives them room to turn into you. A third is letting go of the half guard as you sit up: once their leg is free, they can step through and pass.
What a reviewer looks for in octopus guard footage
On video, a reviewer can see what your hands and head were doing in the second before you sat up, which is hard to notice during the roll. They check whether you sat up as their arm came over your head or only after they had settled their weight, and whether the attack you chose matched how your partner reacted. In a roll review, a verified black belt marks these moments with timestamps on your footage.