Michael Langhi teaches a De la Riva guard pass

Langhi.

Today, world champion Michael Langhi shows how to pass the De la Riva guard without exposing yourself to reach side control, in this exclusive video for Graciemag.

In the lesson, he teaches how to take away his opponent’s control, in the posture and grips, to then rid himself of the hook and advance to side control.

“Gabriel’s hand on my collar here,” he says 38 seconds in, “serves to create a sort of swing, to make me uncomfortable and create an unbalancing. So every time he swings me, he succeeds in unbalancing me. What I need to do to shut down this unbalancing is to get my hand on the line of his shoulder and separate his shoulders from the ground. So I put my weight backward [0:58] and get his shoulders off. My remaining hand goes to the ankle, I take a diagonal step to relieve this pressure he is applying against my hip, I throw his leg to the middle, and I return to the original position.

“When I get here [1:19], he will probably want to unbalance me, both with the grip and the leg here. In order for me to shut down this unbalancing, I take the step, get my leg back in the original position, I get my hand on my knee, I’m gonna close my knee here [1:34], and I come in with my hand under his arm. Not over, otherwise he obtains control. I control his collar and open my elbow.  I open my foot and control Gabriel’s shin [1:49], and now I walk to the side, to make his grip weak. Once his arm is stretched, I kick to break the grip, I go around with my leg (all my weight on my arm), always low, I put my weight on the chest and I stabilize the side control.”