Purposeful Connection

Your grips should always lead somewhere. They are not decorations. They are not placeholders. A grip is a line of communication with your opponent’s body, and every message you send should change the conversation.

When you establish a grip, think: What do I want this to accomplish? A good grip does one or more of four things: it breaks posture, disrupts balance, limits movement, or creates direction. If it doesn’t serve at least one of those purposes, you’re holding, not controlling.

Take the collar grip in closed guard as an example. Most people grab and wait. But if you use that grip to pull the head forward, you fold your opponent’s spine and collapse their posture. Their hands now work to regain alignment instead of attacking you. From there, a sleeve grip can redirect their base—push when they resist the pull, pull when they resist the push. You’re no longer static. You’re guiding. One grip shapes posture, the second shifts balance, and together they create momentum toward your attack, whether that’s an angle for a choke or the leverage to open the guard into a sweep.

This mindset doesn’t just apply from guard. On top, every connection should set the tone. A pant grip on the ankle pins mobility. A collar grip from standing forces your opponent into reactions that you can anticipate. Even something as small as a hand cupping over the tricep is more than contact—it’s direction, it’s pressure, it’s intent.

If your grips lead nowhere, your game stalls. You’ll feel busy, but you’re only clinging. The difference between control and holding is intention. With intention, every grip is a step toward control, every control is a step toward progress, and every progression opens the path to finish.

Train to ask yourself constantly: Where is this grip taking me? The answer should never be “nowhere.”