Search: “Guard Pass”

The Fundamental Guard Pass family covers the core guard passing techniques that form the foundation of every grappler's passing game — the essential methods for navigating past the opponent's legs to ...

Guard passing encompasses all techniques used by the top player to navigate past the bottom player's legs and achieve a dominant position — it is the yin to the guard's yang and arguably the most comp...

The Open Guard Stack Pass in MMA involves stacking the opponent's legs overhead while maintaining posture for strikes, transitioning from striking to passing in one movement. [1]

The Esgrima Pass is a half guard passing technique where the passer uses a fencing-like leg threading motion — sliding the shin forward and through the opponent's half guard like a sword being drawn f...

The backstep pass is a guard pass where the passer rotates their hips 180 degrees away from the opponent while maintaining weight on the trapped leg, converting a stalled knee-cut or half guard positi...

The stack pass is a fundamental pressure-based guard pass where the passer places the opponent's legs on their shoulders, rises onto their toes, and drives forward to fold the opponent in half — stack...

The Cartwheel Pass is a dynamic, acrobatic guard pass where the passer cartwheels over the guard player's legs, landing in side control on the other side — a surprise technique that bypasses the guard...

The X Pass is a fundamental open guard pass where the passer steps to the side and drives the knee across while controlling the opponent's legs. [1] It is one of the simplest and most effective open g...

The Pressure Pass family covers guard passing techniques that use heavy bodyweight, chest-to-chest compression, and methodical forward drive to flatten the guard player, immobilise their hips, and slo...

The knee-in-the-middle pass is a closed guard opening method where the passer drives their knee into the center of the opponent's guard to pry it open, then immediately transitions to a guard pass. [1...

The Toreando (bullfighter) Pass family covers the classic standing guard pass where the passer grips both of the opponent's pant legs (gi) or knees (no-gi) and throws them to one side while stepping a...

The cartwheel pass bypasses the opponent's guard vertically by executing a lateral cartwheel motion over the guard player's legs, inverting and landing in a dominant position behind or beside them. [1...

The Stack Pass is a pressure-based guard pass where the passer drives the opponent's legs over their head by walking forward with chest pressure, compressing the guard player's spine until their hips ...

The X-Pass is a quick standing guard pass where the passer steps one leg over the opponent's shin/ankle area while driving through to side control — named for the crossing leg motion that navigates pa...

The Double Under Pass is a classic pressure pass where the passer threads both arms under the opponent's legs, stacks them by walking forward, and passes around the compressed guard — one of the most ...

The Body Lock Pass is a modern pressure-based guard pass where the passer secures a body lock (arms locked around the opponent's waist/hips) and uses heavy forward drive to pass the guard — the techni...

The Backstep Pass is a guard passing technique where the passer steps backward and away from the guard player's legs, pivoting to pass from the back angle rather than driving forward through the guard...

The Stand-Up Wheel Pass is a standing guard pass using a circular stepping motion to bypass the opponent's legs. [1]

The DeSouza Special is an MMA-specific technique that converts a defended double-leg takedown attempt directly into a guard pass, bypassing the intermediate step of landing in the opponent's guard. [1...

The Knee Pass (knee cut / knee slice) family covers one of the most versatile and highest-percentage guard passing techniques in BJJ — driving one knee across the opponent's thigh while establishing a...

The X-pass is a foundational standing guard pass where the passer controls one of the opponent's knees with a cross-grip while kicking the same-side leg back to clear the opponent's hook, then quickly...

The body lock pass uses a gable grip or clasp around the opponent's waist or lower back, driving the chest into the opponent's torso to eliminate space, then incrementally clearing the legs to advance...

The double under pass is a fundamental pressure-based guard pass where the passer threads both arms underneath the opponent's legs, gable-grips the hands together near the hips, and stacks the opponen...

The Headquarters Pass family covers passing techniques from the 'headquarters' stance — the kneeling position with one knee up (foot flat on the mat) and one knee down, positioned between the opponent...

The Half Stack Pass combines stacking pressure with half guard passing, using the opponent's folded position to create space to extract the trapped leg. [1]

The No Hand Pass to Mount bypasses the half guard using hip pressure and weight distribution alone, without relying on arm grips or underhooks. [1] The passer uses their hips to slide through the half...

The Lemon Squeeze Pass compresses the opponent's half guard by squeezing the legs together like squeezing a lemon, forcing the guard open through pressure rather than technique. [1]

The Leg Weave Pass is a pressure-based guard pass where the passer weaves one arm through and around the opponent's legs, creating a configuration that pins one leg while clearing the other — a method...

The Guard Retention group encompasses all defensive techniques used on the ground to maintain or recover a guard position, preventing the opponent from passing to a dominant position. [1] Guard retent...

The Knee-In-The-Middle Pass is a guard passing technique where the passer drives one knee directly through the centre of the opponent's guard, splitting the legs apart from the inside — a fundamental ...

Headquarters (HQ) is a guard passing positional framework where the passer straddles one of the opponent's legs (shin trapped between the passer's legs), serving as a hub for chain-passing into multip...

The Leg Drag Pass family covers the technique of gripping one of the opponent's legs and dragging it across their body to clear the passing lane — one of the most dominant and controlling guard passes...

The Butterfly Pass in MMA context combines pressure passing with striking, using strikes to disrupt the butterfly guard player's hooks before driving through. [1]

The knee slice pass is the single most common guard pass in modern competitive BJJ, where the passer's shin acts as a wedge splitting the opponent's legs at a 45-degree diagonal angle while upper body...

The Guard Top group covers all positions, techniques, and strategies for the fighter on top when the opponent is playing guard — the offensive counterpart to the guard player's sweeps and submissions....

The Mike Pyle Special is a guard pass named after UFC veteran Mike Pyle, combining wrestling-based pressure with a specific leg threading movement to bypass the open guard. [1]

Xande's Flattening Pass is a half guard passing technique developed by Xande Ribeiro that focuses on flattening the opponent before extracting the trapped leg. [1] The emphasis is on crushing pressure...

The Inversion Recovery subfamily covers defensive techniques where the fighter inverts their body (rolling onto the upper back/shoulders with hips elevated) to recover guard position when the guard ha...

The No Hand Pass to Side Control is the side control variant of the no-hands passing concept, using pressure and hip movement to clear the half guard. [1]

The Opposite Side Pass exits the half guard by passing to the opposite side from where the opponent expects, using an underhook and hip switch to reverse direction. [1]

The over-under pass is a pressure-based guard pass where one arm goes under one of the opponent's legs (underhook) while the other arm comes over the opposite leg (overhook), creating an asymmetric le...

The Floating Pass involves hovering above the opponent's guard without committing weight, then quickly floating past the legs when an opening appears. [1] Used primarily against reverse De La Riva gua...

The Inverted Guard is an advanced guard position where the bottom player inverts (goes upside down on their shoulders/upper back) to create angles for guard retention, sweeps, and back takes — a high-...

The Full Guard Recovery subfamily covers techniques for re-establishing closed (full) guard — legs wrapped around the opponent's torso with ankles crossed — after the guard has been opened or partiall...

The Shin Slide Pass uses the shin to slide across the opponent's thigh while passing half guard, maintaining heavy pressure throughout. [1]

The Baseball Choke is a gi-based collar choke that uses a distinctive split grip — one hand gripping the collar palm-up and the other palm-down in opposite directions — creating a powerful rotational ...

The loop choke from guard is applied when the bottom player threads one hand behind the opponent's neck and grips their own collar or the opponent's collar, creating a loop of fabric around the neck t...

The guard is a ground grappling position where the bottom fighter uses their legs to control, defend, and attack the top player — widely considered Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu's most revolutionary contributio...

The Guard Position Standing family covers the standing guard positions used in grappling, where one fighter controls the standing opponent's posture or distance while seated or positioned on the groun...

Calf slicers from guard are applied when the bottom player catches the opponent's leg during guard passing attempts, threading a shin behind the knee and folding the calf. [1,2] Common entries include...