Rubber Guard in the UFC

[Switchblade180]

Hi,

I'm fairly new to this whole Rubber Guard thing, but after watching a few videos and practicing it a bit with a few friends, I find that the Rubber Guard seriously amps up my game. I felt confident that the Rubber Guard would work most of the time if I used it.

But I just recently watched UFC 86 and saw a few people try to use Rubber Guard... unsucessfuly. Not only did their opponent slip out, but the person using Rubber Guard couldn't even get to Chill Dog, which brings me to question Rubber Guard's effectiveness in the "heat of battle". Why does it not work? Why did it not work for them? Was it because they're not experienced enough, not hugging their knee tight enough, or is it because their opponent was too aggressive for them to pull off the rubber guard? I saw a few Aoki videos of him using the rubber guard and it was very effective at "locking down" his opponent, but he usually just ends up triangling them or... in one video, breaking their arm (ouch).

Thanks.

[JayC]

Maybe it's because they aren't experienced enough with it yet. Aoki, as you say, has lots of experience with it and is fantastic with it.

[Switchblade180]

Hmm. That's interesting. How long has the Rubber Guard been around, then?

[LongV]

Maybe 3-4 years, I think Eddie started it around 2003-2004. yeah JayC right. Aoki had some private lessons from Eddie himself and has mastered it pretty well. I'm suprised I havent seen Dean Lister use it in a match yet.

[gooch]

hazlett used it pretty awesome a few fights ago, pretty well done for an mma match

[JayC]

LongV, maybe Dean wants to make sure that he can use it like second nature before letting people on to the fact he knows it so they can prepare to defend it.

Hazlett was good with it yes

[Switchblade180]

Do you guys know of an MMA fight where someone using the Rubber Guard actually submitted someone with a Rubber Guard Technique? (i.e. Cali, Far sided armbar, Baby armbar, Gogoplata, Straight Jacket, etc)

[swgillan]

Do you guys know of an MMA fight where someone using the Rubber Guard actually submitted someone with a Rubber Guard Technique? (i.e. Cali, Far sided armbar, Baby armbar, Gogoplata, Straight Jacket, etc)

This is one from Aoki when he fought Hansen in Pride.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0tLG-8rb8Y

Just put the sound down, the commentary really sucks.

[BSUAlum2007]

I love how the commentators call it a victory by triangle choke

[swgillan]

The worst part was all the unncessary banter about his pants. I wished the clip would have showed his entrance, I always liked how he danced and lip-synced down the platform.