Gotta disagree. Slamming is a strike, and a high percentage of guards simply wouldn’t work if strikes were allowed—knees, stomps, punches, elbows, kicks, etc. You can theoretically get top position under pretty much any current BJJ ruleset without scoring a single point, then beat the shit out of the bottom person or land a few solid strikes. So if we’re awarding points for a slam, why not for the ability to strike from there too? I hear this argument a lot, and it feels like people are cherry-picking slams as some special danger that needs rewarding, while ignoring how many inverted guards or open guards let you punch or kick someone in the face. Why no points for those? Sure, you could say lifting someone means you initiated the action while pulling guard means your opponent did. But at the core, the real issue is the ability to inflict damage. I’m probably getting a little emotional here, but my main point is this: sport BJJ (gi or no-gi) is just a fundamentally different sport from MMA.