Pretzel Foot Pass

This is an open guard pass to use when your opponents has their feet on your hips and a same side collar sleeve grip set.

Start standing. Your opponent is on the on the ground, feet on your hips, gripping your right arm, with their left,  and your collar, with their right.

1. Grab their lapel with you right (trapped) arm.

2. Stuff their foot on your free side between your legs and prepare to smash their knees down.  -grab their foot above their toes -step back with your leg on that side as you push the foot down between your legs. -When their foot’s between your legs, clam them together so it doesn’t pop out.

3. Smash their legs down. grab the top of their knee with your free hand as you drop your right knee down, stapling their left leg. Keeping your lapel grip with your right hand, move yoru elbow so that it is up on top of their knees, pinning their knees down to the side. Next, slide your left knee up behind their knees. Once you’re heavy, on top of their knees, reach around and grab the back of their jacket with your free have.

4. Free your trapped right leg by kicking it back as you keep your other knee, your left knee, up behind their knees.

5. Pretzel time. (This details is awkward, but important and protects you from ending up in half guard or back in guard.) while keeping your left knee behind their knees, rotate your left foot and ankle over and across both their feet so that you ar stapling them down.

6. Finish the Pretzel. Now move your right knee (this was the trapped leg) up and over their legs. Placing your right knee down between their knees and your left knee.

7. Unstaple and roll them back to side control. Keep your lapel grip. kick your feet around. sag heavy on their chest as you roll them back towards you with the lapel grip and establish side control. (the lapel grip stops them from turtling away from you.)

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Here is a flashy but effective finish shown by Josh Griffiths at Jiu Jitsu Inc. First the guy passing is pushed away, when he enters again he is elevated and then caught in an oma plata.

Gi, Guard, Open guard, videos »

Here is another way to get to the triangle choke from the open guard as shown by Jiu JItsu Inc Instructor Josh Griffiths. From this set you can easily transition to the arm bar as seen a few weeks ago.

Arm Bar, Choke, Gi, Guard, Open guard, Triangle, videos »

Start in your opponents butterfly guard. You are pinning their feet and back down, and have your head on their chest and your arms holding their side. Your head is facing to the side you will pass towards. For this example face your left.

1. They try to extend their legs and sit up to attack. React by posting up on your toes and taking an underhook on the opposite side that your head is facing, so under hook with your right arm. (By posting onto your toes, you are very hard to sweep. You are a tripod and your head is pinning their chest down as well.)

2. Start your pass by dropping one of your hips, your right hip. This will lose the hook on that side.

3. Continue the pass by pushing down their remaining leg with your left hand, to avoid half-guard, as you walk your legs out towards the passing side.

4. Finish and establish side control.

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Jiu Jitsu Inc Head Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Instructor, Josh Griffiths, shows a sweep into a guard pass.

De La Riva, Gi, Guard, Open guard, passing, sweep, videos »

Start in your opponents open guard. They have the butterfly hooks and an under hook and are probably getting ready to sweep you.

1. Grab their knee on the opposite side as their underhook and push it down flat against the ground, locking your outstretched arm.

2. Grab the back of their gi with your underhooked arm as you step forward with your foot on that side. When you step, try to step a few inches past their knee on that side.

3. Slam your knee on that side down forcefully onto their leg just above the knee. You are trying to push that leg down to flatten it on top of the other pinned knee.

4. Once you’ve done this, quickly switch your grip so that you are gripping the knee of their top leg. Keep this arm outstretched.

5. Walk your legs around to end in side control on the underhooked side.

Open guard, butterfly guard, passing »

Passing the open guard can be very frustrating. Shortly after starting BJJ, I can remember a class when I was rolling with a short stocky guy (who was much much better than me). Having a wrestling background (high school), I found it very frustrating that I was unable to pass to side control and was kept away at a controlled distance by this guys legs as he effortlessly rotated and pushed me away. Here are a few methods for passing some common forms of the open guard, and not being “that standing frustrated guy.”

Start standing, your opponent is on the ground in front of you in open guard.

Scenario 1 – They have their feet on your hips and are grabbing one of your sleeves:

Grab their pants leg with your free hand.

Push that leg down between your legs, as you kick your leg on that side back, stepping it around out to that side. (You’ll want this leg to land about a half a yard away from them out to the side. make sure you don’t step too close to their arm. You don’t want them to be able to grab your leg.)

Kick the other leg back and swing it around to land with that knee on their belly.

Scenario 2 – They have the Delariva Guard with one leg(their foot is grapviend around one of your legs pushing against the front of the thigh of your other leg), their other foot is on the other hip.

Grab their lapel on the delariva side.

Sit into Horse stance and lean heavy into the delariva leg. This will be very uncomfortable for them.

Kick the other leg back, the one not in the delariva, stepping it around out to that side.

Kick the delariva leg back and swing it around to land with that knee on their belly.

Scenario 3 – They have a butterfly hook inside one knee, the other leg is on the other hip.

River dance – press your knee down on top of their hook. When your knee is lower than their hook, windshield wiper your ankle toward your butt as you step, landing with your foot between their legs.

Kick the other leg back, the one which wasn’t hooked, stepping it around out to that side.
Kick the hooked leg back and swing it around to land with that knee on their belly.

IF they connect their near elbow to their knee and you are having trouble establiching knee on belly

THEN step behind their butt with your far leg and drop that knee in between the back of their knees. This will staple their bottom leg and have them facing away from you. Continue to lean down heavily on their hips as you grab their far lapel with your bottom hand. Lean back, pulling them toward you with this grip as you roll them towards you to establish side control.

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