The 50/50 (fifty-fifty) Guard is a grappling position commonly used in the sporting environment of Brazilian jiu jitsu. A guard is classed as 50/50 once two athletes involved in a grappling match become locked, with their legs intertwined (i.e. competitor A’s right leg around competitor B’s right leg,) thus providing the same set of circumstances for both players, which is the reason behind the “50-50” designation.

This guard is often associated with stalling in BJJ’s competitive platform, particularly from the 2010’s decade onwards, when the complex rules of the sport where the ban on “knee-reaping” and the heel hooks allowed for the 50-50 to thrive under strategic purposes, and not to advance positioning as in the majority of other guard systems.

the 50/50 guard was frowned upon by many, much like it had happened with previous additions to the Brazilian jiu jitsu game during the 1990’s, including positions now deemed “traditional” such as the Spider-Guard or the Toe-Hold. Slowly the 50/50 became accepted as just another chapter of the BJJ curriculum.

With the acceptance of this guard, many of the sport’s top athletes began studying the position, adding their own imprint to the 50/50. One of the more popular uses for this leg entanglement became the “Botinha” lock, a variation of the Straight Ankle Lock.

As Brazilian jiu jitsu is an ever evolving sport with new circumstances occurring every year, the International Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Federation (IBJJF) – the sport’s main ruling body – issues regular changes to its rules in an attempt to tackle imperfections in the scoring system. This was the case for the 50/50 Guard.

On March 2015 the IBJJF changed their rules as a reaction against the stalling witnessed from the 50/50 context. The change banned advantages from being scored for “almost securing top position” (sweep). The intent of this rule was to force the competitors to implement a more fluid/forward thinking game, and penalize fighters who were contempt to stall and win matches on advantages.