\n<\/p>\n
\n
The title is a joke, but the argument underneath it is serious. Modern No-Gi has spent a decade drifting away from closed guard \u2014 toward leg attacks, outside passing and distance management \u2014 to the point where a genuinely controlling closed guard can feel almost unfair. Sula-Mae Loewenthal is one of the few competitors who still plays it at the top of the sport, and Closed Guard Should Be Illegal is her argument, laid out over three volumes.<\/p>\n
What makes the series unusual is where it starts. Loewenthal does not open with submissions or sweeps; she opens with hand fighting and grip stripping, and she spends real time on stopping the opponent from standing up. That sequencing is the whole philosophy in miniature: the closed guard only works when you win the grip exchange and deny the posture. Everything after that \u2014 the sweeps, the submissions, the back takes \u2014 is a reward for control already established.<\/p>\n
Loewenthal\u2019s competitive arc is the strongest endorsement this product could have. Originally from Australia, she relocated to London, where she now trains and teaches at Gracie Barra. Her breakout came at the 2024 ADCC Asia and Oceania Trials, which she won to earn a place at ADCC 2024 \u2014 making her one of a select few British grapplers to reach that level.<\/p>\n
She has since become a regular on Polaris, where at Polaris 32 she beat Helena Crevar by clear decision in a squads match, a result many did not predict. That win set up a featherweight title shot against Crevar at Polaris 34 in November 2025, one of the biggest matches of her career. Crevar retained the belt with an arm-triangle choke, but the title shot itself affirmed Loewenthal\u2019s standing as a legitimate featherweight contender.<\/p>\n
\n
Her IBJJF record runs parallel \u2014 gold at the 2024 Nacional Open Portugal and the 2024 Dublin Fall No-Gi Open, silver at the 2025 London International Open, and bronze at the 2025 Pan No-Gi. A closed guard that has held up on those stages is a closed guard worth studying.<\/p>\n
Three volumes, tightly sequenced: win the hands, attack the submission, then finish with the sweeps and back takes that the threats open up. The credibility behind that argument is current and specific. Loewenthal is a black belt who trains and teaches at Gracie Barra London, an ADCC veteran after winning the 2024 Asia and Oceania Trials, and a Polaris featherweight title challenger. This is not a retired competitor selling nostalgia for a dead position; it is an active one selling a game she uses against the best women in the sport.<\/p>\n
The opening volume is the foundation and the most valuable part of the set. Loewenthal covers hand fighting and stripping grips in detail, then how to stop the opponent from standing to break the guard. From there she builds the sweep game: the waiter sweep, the sit-up sweep, and its chains into a kimura, a guillotine, and the guillotine-to-100%-sweep.<\/p>\n
\n
A fake sit-up sweep to triangle closes the volume, showing how the sweep and the submission feed each other. For a No-Gi closed guard, this hand-fighting-first order of operations is exactly right.<\/p>\n
The second volume attacks the shoulder and neck. The omoplata is taught with the follow-through when the opponent rolls, then the triangle and the Mir lock round out the submission threats.<\/p>\n
This is the pressure that makes the sweeps in Volume 1 work \u2014 an opponent worried about the triangle cannot post freely to defend the sweep. The connections between the two volumes are what make the series feel like a system rather than a list.<\/p>\n
The closing volume adds the back take, the flower sweep and the armbar, giving the closed guard a complete set of end-points. It is a shorter volume, but it closes the loop: every reaction to the sweep either gives up position or gives up a submission. The outro ties the three volumes into a single decision tree.<\/p>\n
The great advantage of this series is that the first volume is immediately usable. Hand fighting and grip stripping can be drilled in a single session and applied the next time you roll, and the sit-up sweep is a technique most grapplers can land within a week. The fuller game \u2014 using the triangle and omoplata to protect the sweep \u2014 takes longer to feel automatic, but the path is clear, and the techniques are all high-percentage fundamentals rather than low-odds flash. It rewards repetition over talent.<\/p>\n
The ideal student is a No-Gi grappler \u2014 blue belt through black belt \u2014 who wants a reliable, competition-tested closed guard, and anyone who has been told closed guard is obsolete and wants to see why it is not. It also suits Gi players, since the grip-fighting concepts and the sweep-to-submission chains translate directly. Who won\u2019t benefit: competitors building a leg-lock or open guard game, and anyone looking for a broad curriculum \u2014 this is closed guard only, by design.<\/p>\n
Closed Guard Should Be Illegal is a genuinely valuable niche product: a modern, competition-proven closed guard taught by one of the few top No-Gi competitors who still trusts the position. The hand-fighting-first structure, the sweep-to-submission chains, and the instructor\u2019s ADCC and Polaris credentials combine to make a strong case that closed guard is far from dead.<\/p>\n
The limits \u2014 no open guard, no passing, a compact move set \u2014 are the honest cost of a focused specialist course. For a No-Gi grappler who wants a reliable, high-percentage closed guard, this is an 8\/10.<\/p>\n