With 2025 finally here and another exciting year of grappling coming up, it's worth taking some time to take a look at what's happening - and what could be coming up. One of the funnest parts of jiu-jitsu and submission grappling is how positions and strategies evolve over time, and how moves will go in and out of style.

This was probably best seen in the mid-2010's when leg locks became much, much more commonplace in no-gi grappling until they became a staple of the game. Since then, we have seen a big leveling up in the standing position as submission grapplers became much more capable wrestlers.

In the gi, we saw a few years where berimbolo was king, followed by a lot of lapel guards. Now, we are in an era of top game dominance, with the top players often using outside passing, cross grip passing, crazy dog passing, and more to impose a safe but steady pressure.

So what's next? We looked at where things are and made five predictions about where they might be going:

Better Guard Pulls

In both styles, we are seeing a lot of top players doing well against the guard. With outside passing and camping strategies becoming so strong across the board, and with top players so quick to eject from any entanglements they don't like, it is tough for guard players to build a strong position over time. With this in mind, it's becoming more and more important to land in guard already having a strong position.

To combat the edge that top players have found, the guard players will need to do a better job of not just sitting down immediately but pulling into a more established guard or offensive attack. Someone who already does this very well is Mica Galvão, who rarely spends much time in a neutral guard position - when he lands on the mat it is already in a place where he has a distinct edge in what happens next.

In no-gi, this might mean more jumping and sliding entries into the legs or more wrestling until you have a solid upper body control that you can pull with (for example, double unders or a head pinch). In the gi, this looks more like taking time to establish strong grips, off balancing an opponent, and pulling directly to a guard that you can attack from. In 2024, quick sitters were often at a disadvantage. In 2025, we could see that change.

More Duck Unders

This one is pretty no-gi specific, since the friction of the gi makes the duck under tough, but I think in 2025 we will see more and more of this wrestling takedown in grappling. I nearly included the arm drag but since that is pretty ubiquitous in jiu-jitsu already, I am focusing on the duck. It's an ideal way to get to the grappler's favorite position (the back) and works well as a combination attack with offense to the legs or other throws.

Someone who does this really well already is Jay Rodriguez, who often uses a double wrist grip to attack in both directions. With low threat of reattacks, low risk of submissions, and a good chance at the back, the duck is really well suited for jiu-jitsu needs. Plus - maybe someone will hit the vaunted super duck and get a sick clip out of it?

More Reverse Closed Guard

Reverse closed guard is here to stay (for now). I'm really not sure if it's just a trendy move or a more permanent position but this has likely been the breakout technique of 2024 with guys like William Tackett, Owen Jones, and Abe LaMontagne using it in high-profile ways. I think in 2025 we will keep seeing it until people start to figure it out and nullify this leg locking entanglement.

What will be interesting to see will be the evolution of entries into reverse closed guard. One place that people could start is looking back at what Jeff Glover did with donkey guard. While he was often adding a level of showmanship with his style choices, Jeff was ahead of the game on this position and his standing entries could be useful today. We could also see the adoption of the full kani basami into a similar entanglement, rather than the single leg/half kani that is mostly used now.

Guard Players Figure Out The Chest Wrap

We finally started to see the chest wrap, a traditional freestyle wrestling move that Olympians like Kyle Dake and Abdulrashid Sadulaev regularly use, emerge in grappling when Mica Galvão started using it against guys like Kody Steele and Jay Rodriguez at WNO. There's no doubt that the front headlock has become a super popular position in no-gi, and I think we could see the seated guard players start to use the chest wrap much more in 2025.

Once the head is tucked under the chest, the chest wrap compresses the neck and forces the person over. It's traditionally used as a defense to a shot but it's a useful move anywhere that people can lock up the front headlock - which has become more popular from guard. Another big positive - it begins to offer opportunities for darces and other arm triangles (including some interested Dead Orchard-style double arm darces that have been popping up sparsely).

The Woj Lock Explodes

I predict a big year for The Woj Lock, a move being popularized by B-Team's Chris Wojcik. The ADCC placewinner has developed into a great leg locker and he has found a method for attacking the straight ankle lock from 50/50 positions that has been drawing big results. Rather than using the straight ankle/achilles pressure, he's gripping more like an Aoki lock and forcing the ankle into a bent position for the tap.

It's really been catching on in many of the no-gi gyms that stay up-to-date with everything and I expect that it will be showing up consistently throughout the year (potentially in both styles). Hopefully we see Chris himself in some more high profile opportunities where he can show off his namesaked technique.

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