B-Team on passing K-guard without getting leg-locked: the defensive priorities before any pass is attempted.
Concepts
Base
The wide, low, connected posture that stops you being swept or rolled - and how to recover it when it is broken.
Also called good base, keeping base, base and balance, not getting swept.
Where it shows up
- Standing · Standing (neutral) · Stance and Movement
- Closed Guard · Closed Guard Top · Posture and Safety
- Half Guard · Half Guard Top · Stopping the Sweep and Back Take
- Butterfly Guard · Butterfly Guard Top · Neutralising the Hooks
- De La Riva Guard · De La Riva Top · Killing the Hook
- Reverse De La Riva · Reverse De La Riva Top · Neutralising the Hook
- X-Guard · X-Guard Top · Base and Escapes
- Single Leg X-Guard · Single Leg X Top · Base and Escapes
- K-Guard · K-Guard Top · Defence and Escapes
- Open Guard · Open Guard Top · Passing Concepts
- Guard Passing · Standing and Speed Passing · Handling Counters
- Guard Passing · Pressure Passing · Staying Safe Under Pressure Passing
- Guard Passing · Headquarters (HQ) · Handling Guard Recovery from HQ
- Kesa Gatame (Scarf Hold) · Kesa Gatame Top · Control
- Mount · Mount Top · Maintaining Mount
- Fundamentals and Concepts · Principles · Core Principles
Related techniques
Resources
33 resources
YouTube videos
Gordon Ryan explains how he controls mount in no-gi, with the emphasis on hip position and reacting to the opponent's turn rather than sitting still.
Faria on avoiding the kimura while you over-under pass: the most common submission you give up from this pass.
Henry Akins on beating the whizzer from half guard so you are not swept or taken to the back.
Isaque Bahiense shows how he gets out of single-leg X, with an emphasis on posture and killing the hip foot.
Chewy on why people lose mount and the hip and hand adjustments that keep you on top while adding pressure.
Chewy on the best way to pass butterfly, which starts with controlling the hooks and the head.
Chewy on dealing with the overhook / whizzer when they try to come up from half guard into a dogfight sweep.
Stephan Kesting's simple approach to passing single-leg X guard, focusing on base and clearing the hook.
Firas Zahabi on killing the butterfly hooks: the first job from the top before any pass.
Pablo Lavaselli (AOJ) on hip and knee position that stops the DLR player elevating you, the grips that make the hook useless, and two ways out: sliding behind the hamstring or the shin slice.
Jon Thomas on the single principle that makes mount stable: keep your weight where their escape is trying to move you. Conceptual and clearly demonstrated.
Lachlan Giles on understanding guard passing: concepts and heuristics that apply standing or from the knees, including how not to get swept or entangled while you pass.
Lachlan Giles on passing K-guard: weight forward, freeing the underhooked leg and the passes that follow once the hook is dead.
Lachlan Giles on passing single-leg X safely: protect the foot, control their hip and free the leg before working around to pass.
Retention versus the knee cut from headquarters: what the passer has to beat and what the guard player is trying to do.
Giles on underhook half guard versus the D'Arce and guillotine: the submission threats the top player has to respect.
How to stop the over-under from the bottom, which is also a checklist of what the passer must prevent: frames, the kimura and inversion.
Passing headquarters from the other side of the ball: recovering when they have you in HQ and you are trying to get the hooks back.
4 Easy Ways to Destroy Any X-Guard (and Never get stuck Again) Big Oss
BIG OSS Jiu-Jitsu Channel YouTube
Four ways to neutralise X-guard from the top, covering base, killing the hooks and turning the escape into a pass.
Roger Gracie on the concepts behind his famous mount: weight placement, when to ride low with the legs and how to react to the bridge and the elbow escape.
How To Shut Down K Guard - with Black Belt Pan American Champion Julian Espinosa
Brian Glick YouTube
How to shut down K-guard before they invert, with Julian Espinosa and Brian Glick.
Kaynan Duarte shows how he clears the hooks and passes when caught in X-guard, prioritising base and weight placement before freeing the leg.
Learn proper #wrestling stance and motion for #BJJ, #MMA, and #grappling #wrestlingtechniques
Systematic Wrestling YouTube
Short on the wrestling stance and how to move in it for BJJ and MMA: knees bent, hands active, weight ready to change levels.
Matt Thornton on base, posture, connection and pressure: the SBG conceptual stack.
How base, posture and connection actually work together on the mat.
Warm-up drill for the penetration step and trailing leg so that a double leg finishes with running feet rather than one big push.
X Guard Escapes
Tarik BJJ YouTube
A longer lesson on escaping X-guard, working through the common positions the bottom player gets to and how to base and free the leg from each.
Aaron Benzrihem passes X-guard by floating the weight off the hooks and backstepping, with the details on why pulling the leg out directly gets you swept.
A Rafa Mendes guard study on defeating pressure passing: frames and hip movement the passer has to beat.
Fifteen solo footwork drills for stance and motion borrowed from wrestling. Useful warm-up material if your standing game feels stiff.
Jon Thomas on defending the toreando from the bottom, which is also what standing passers have to beat: frames, hooks and not letting them circle.
Marcelo Garcia teaching the backstep reset against De La Riva, how to counter the berimbolo when they reach for your belt, and the backstep pass that follows.