Every club has one of those long limbed, super flexible gumby guard players who can put both of his own legs behind his own head without using his hands.
Passing the guard of these kind of guys sucks. You fight, fight, fight to get past the legs and then, just as you’re about to solidify your pin, a leg pops out of nowhere and – BAMM – you’re back in the guard where you started. Nothing has changed except now you’re just more tired and frustrated.
It’s the jiu-jitsu version of the Michael Corleone’s lament in Godfather 3, “Just when I thought I was out, they drag me back in!”
So, what can you do? How do you pass the guard of these super-flexible guard players?
As with most problems in jiu-jitsu there are multiple solutions.
In the video below my friend Ritchie Yip (from Infighting MMA) and I show you three different passes that work great vs gumby guards.
Briefly the 3 passes we break down for you in the video are…
- The over-under pass focusing on pinning the hips to the ground (from 0:20 to 2:00)
- A modified version of the knee cut pass, driving much higher up on the chest than one often does with this pass (from 2:00 to 5:56)
- The crossing the leg pass vs inverted style guards (from 5:58 to 8:08)
Then, after the third guard pass, we then spend a couple of minutes riffing about who should learn to invert and when you should do it.
I think you’ll find these techniques useful, so check out the video below.
Stephan
P.S. In the video I make reference to the over-under guard pass playlist I’m putting together. Well that’s live now – click here to go to Over Under Guard Pass Playlist on Youtube.
Related Articles, Videos and Techniques
How to Stop Your Opponent From Turtling During the Guard Pass – Some players love to roll over to their knees and assume the turtle when you’re passing the guard. This stops you from getting points in competition and can allow them a better position to defend, reverse and attack. Here’s what to do about that!
A High Percentage Half Guard Pass for Gi and No Gi – This is one of my bread and butter guard passes to cut through a tough half guard and you see almost every BJJ champion use some variation of it too!
My New Favourite Butterfly Guard Pass – This guard pass is 90% in the setup and 10% in the execution. And when you pull it off it’s so quick it makes your head spin. Check it out and see if it works for you too!
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