An owner asked Master Carlos to rank what matters when you’re on the bottom, from worst to best. He started with keeping your guard, and he put a time on it.
He put one thing first.
“Retention is always number one.”
Retention means your partner is trying to pass your guard and you’re keeping it. Master Carlos didn’t say you’ll stop every pass. He asked how long you can make it last.
“So the question always is, it takes five seconds, 10 seconds, 15 seconds, 20 seconds. I always say 20 seconds is the rule of thumb.”
If you can’t keep someone in your guard that long, he was blunt about what that means:
“…for at least 20 seconds without passing. You don’t have a guard.”
Then he moved to the next step down the list.
“Now, in the hierarchy of what comes next, transition beats submission. Okay. You should always work against the guy’s balance first.”
He named the mistake he sees most.
“And one of the things that’s the most common thing is people try to go for the submission right away, but they don’t know how to break the stance.”
And he gave the owner one thing to keep in mind every time he’s on his back.
“Always think about what can I do to sweep this guy and get on top.”
