Hi guys and gals and welcome to the first blog post for our new and revamped blog on 12 Gauge MMA. I thought we would start our first post with a little video that me (Matt Thorpe) and Macclesfield head coach Carl Burton filmed a few weeks ago.

We decided to take a look at splitting the closed guard, a common guard used within MMA. We looked at it from a specific view of what position I want to put myself in for an MMA bout looking at optimum striking positioning.

Pay special attention to the pressure caused by the arm being pushed down towards the ground and the pressure caused by your leg next to the body turning inwards towards the hips. These pressures will help you gain a successful closed guard split.

Take a look and let us know your thoughts or questions….