I’m sorry to break your heart but this post is not about the teenage mutant ninja turtles. It’s about the turtle position and its applicability in MMA or “self-defense” situations.

I’ll find myself bailing to turtle from open guard and am able to eventually re-guard (so I never lose points). However, whenever I’m in the turtle position I’m always thinking about the fact that in a real fight it is one of the worst positions you can possibly be in.

In fact, I wish that sport jiu jitsu rules reflected the danger of this position. For example, if someone takes me down into turtle, it’s not a takedown in most cases as far as I understand.

“Bailing” to turtle is a good way to avoid the pass, but I’m going to try to work the tight inverted guard like Roberto ‘Cyborg’ Abreu’s tornado guard, for example, as shown below. It’s definitely a major undertaking, but just the process of working it (even if I don’t bring it to competition) I think will improve my flexibility and general body awareness. And of course, it will make my half guard or open guard that much harder to pass while always keeping the opponent in front of me (which is the major flaw in my view of the turtle position).