Why does Ryan Hall dis the Rubberguard?

[Jon Watkins]

I think Ryan's just not a fan of the basic path because he likes working off a higher hip bump like angles in full guard, but I've seen him use the Pyramid and the Flying Kung Fu move. Plus his style rarely involves the clinch. I've seen his DVDs and he doesn't directly insult the Rubber Guard. He just warns against using flexibility and a substitute for superior angles and postions He also warns against ending up flat on your back which will in fact shut down your Rubber Guard game- especially when the guy on top is good at stacking with a head and arm to the Tozi or Forearm Choke Gable gripped into an underhook to the Tozi Pass.

[Heidi McCreery]

I met Ryan at one of his seminars. He is far from close minded, and also a very nice guy. I am sure he has his own reasons for not using the rubber guard. Personally I enjoy the rubber guard and have had quite a bit of success with it, but I wouldn't dismiss anything that someone of his skill level says.

Absolutely. Everything does not work for everybody. You just have to find what works for you, which clearly he has done.

[Hector Ramos]

denny ftw

[Muhammad Abdou]

he never goes into detail about it and doesn't really even mention it by name, but he lists a few reasons on his triangle dvd. he briefly mentions things on the second dvd, he points out that kyra gracie injured her knee using it and explains his thoughts about it; here's an extract that might clear things up:
"do not try to just pull your feet in front of the guys face, i used to do all this kind of stuff man, it just stops working. it stops working against, when you get to a certain level, because even if i pull his arm to the mat, tim is still extremely strong here. his elbows are close to his side. he can just hold me here and if i start pulling my foot around, if 1. i get it in front of his face i can break my own leg off, and 2. he can posture any time he wants, yes i can squeeze my balls off and do different things that can make it annoying, but there's no true threat to tim. so my job is not to come up with a tricky way to beat him but to scoot out."

[Muhammad Abdou]

ahhh speaking of which his triangle dvd is super cool, it goes over all the other attacks from guard in detail to. he seems like an awsome guy, always looking for ways to advance his technique to the next level based on what he sees working.

[DBK]

just happened to come across this video. i've seen videos where he was sorta using 10th planet stuff but one could argue he wasnt, however this one at 50 seconds clearly shows he is using rubberguard.

[lates85]

just happened to come across this video. i've seen videos where he was sorta using 10th planet stuff but one could argue he wasnt, however this one at 50 seconds clearly shows he is using rubberguard.

Renato refers to that technique as the "high" guard...because it's high on your back...and invented from that guy....he is high.....is that like eddie bravo? das edgie bravo.

[Mikeox34]

i love the 10th planet system, tonight i drilled the twister Korean zombie got then i drilled the banana split, and ive seen Ryan use the rg in the video of him landing the gogo.

[David Stager]

Looks like he got into Mission Control and just abandoned it entirely after two seconds. Not exactly a ringing endorsement of the rubber guard from Mr. Hall.

[Mike Nall]

Looks like he got into Mission Control and just abandoned it entirely after two seconds. Not exactly a ringing endorsement of the rubber guard from Mr. Hall.

I believe he was a blue belt at that time as well. Jon Watkins said it well, he doesn't have a problem with it. He just feels that since it presses your own back flat to the mat, that he prefers to play an angle based closed guard. These days, he's never playing closed guard much so it really doesn't matter. It's mostly DLR, Reverse DLR, Deep Half, 50/50, and 1 Leg X. He doesn't even do many triangles anymore lol.