Single-Leg X Troubleshooting

[yer man]

10 SLX entries
No details though

 

[ziggyholiday]

So over the last year or two I've been working on SLX and I think I'm getting ok with it. I generally don't have trouble getting standing people to their butt, can enter it from a good number of areas etc. my question is though, besides sweeping to come up on top and leg attacks, what else can I look for from the position? I've got Maia's material and I believe he covers it (scorpion guard?) but I haven't watched that yet.

Ideas appreciated!

 

[JagRoss]

So over the last year or two I've been working on SLX and I think I'm getting ok with it. I generally don't have trouble getting standing people to their butt, can enter it from a good number of areas etc. my question is though, besides sweeping to come up on top and leg attacks, what else can I look for from the position? I've got Maia's material and I believe he covers it (scorpion guard?) but I haven't watched that yet.

Ideas appreciated!

I just saw this leg drag off the single-x



Haven't tried it though.

Everything Rafa does is money though.

 

[trustdoesntrust]

So over the last year or two I've been working on SLX and I think I'm getting ok with it. I generally don't have trouble getting standing people to their butt, can enter it from a good number of areas etc. my question is though, besides sweeping to come up on top and leg attacks, what else can I look for from the position? I've got Maia's material and I believe he covers it (scorpion guard?) but I haven't watched that yet.

Ideas appreciated!

I would work on using single x to develop a high/low game. Single x flows directly into 50/50 and other leg entanglements, but those entanglements also flow directly into backstep, longstep, and leg drag passes (and vice versa). You should also get used to entering single x as a recovery position while escaping from mount and back, or just if you feel threatened while on top in your opponent's open guard. You can often fall back into single x and work to reestablish the top position on your terms.

 

[rmongler]

besides sweeping to come up on top and leg attacks, what else can I look for from the position?

Well really, at that point, you've pretty much won already. What else could you want?

Rather, the real prize is getting the luxury of being able to ask that question in first place.

 

[JagRoss]

I find it to be a very intuitive guard to play. I've received very, very little formal instruction on it but I've spent a ton of time working on it and troubleshooting, and I've had great success with it in competition just from that.

As far as I can tell, Marcelo almost solely uses the standup sweep if he can't immediately sweep to the side. In terms of guard retention, if you keep at least one knee between you and him you're usually doing all right. I love it so much because this position along with butterfly, closed, and full X has basically allowed me to have a super simple guard game that works well gi or no-gi on people of all levels. 90% of my guard play is 6-7 moves from those guards. But watching Roger Gracie or Marcelo himself and it becomes apparent that if you're good at getting to your positions that's all you need (probably less. As far as I can tell Roger has 4 attacks from closed guard and the entire rest of his guard game is about getting to closed guard. And probably 90% of the time from closed he just goes to the back or flower sweeps if they block the path to the back).

Maybe I'm being slow, but what's Roger's 4th move?

From what I can see it's:

1. Drag arm and try to take back
2. If posture -> armbar
3. If opp camps out -> pendulum sweep

 

[JagRoss]

How do you guys like to deal with the opponent clearing the foot from his hip?

I try 3 things when I have no foot on the hip:

1. If I have or can get the underhook -> full x
2. Try to get a cross grip on his hand (e.g. if slx on opp's right leg, then pistol grip opp's right with my right) and replace the foot on the hip. Then twist sweep is normally there.
3. Try to sweep overhead/backroll and recover when opp posts.

I'm still not too comfortable with this though.

When I get passed from slx, the first step is always the opponent clearing the foot from the hip.

 

[Rico]

Maybe I'm being slow, but what's Roger's 4th move?

From what I can see it's:

1. Drag arm and try to take back
2. If posture -> armbar
3. If opp camps out -> pendulum sweep

Cross choke?

 

[JagRoss]

Cross choke?

From closed guard?

 

[Uchi Mata]

How do you guys like to deal with the opponent clearing the foot from his hip?

I try 3 things when I have no foot on the hip:

1. If I have or can get the underhook -> full x
2. Try to get a cross grip on his hand (e.g. if slx on opp's right leg, then pistol grip opp's right with my right) and replace the foot on the hip. Then twist sweep is normally there.
3. Try to sweep overhead/backroll and recover when opp posts.

I'm still not too comfortable with this though.

When I get passed from slx, the first step is always the opponent clearing the foot from the hip.

Those are the main options, but one thing I'd add is that you don't necessarily have to underhook the leg to get to an effective full X. You can keep your overhook and go straight to full X and it still works, especially if you can control the far leg. Lo is really big on sweeping people like that.

 

[trustdoesntrust]

How do you guys like to deal with the opponent clearing the foot from his hip?

I try 3 things when I have no foot on the hip:

1. If I have or can get the underhook -> full x
2. Try to get a cross grip on his hand (e.g. if slx on opp's right leg, then pistol grip opp's right with my right) and replace the foot on the hip. Then twist sweep is normally there.
3. Try to sweep overhead/backroll and recover when opp posts.

I'm still not too comfortable with this though.

When I get passed from slx, the first step is always the opponent clearing the foot from the hip.

Peeling the foot on hip is one of the most effective and simple counters to the SLX, along with stuffing the knee (and the two work well in tandem). You should expect that every opponent will immediately counter you like this, so then you must be ready with your secondary attacks and guard recovery right away. For starters, make sure your hips are high off the ground and your legs are tight so that it's just that much harder for your opponent to get his counters off. Secondly, Marcelo recommends that you be ready to post your far arm on your opponent's far knee if/when he does peel & stuff. If you can keep this frame strong and hip aggressively away, then you should be able to deny the mount no matter what, at which point you can reenter the SLX and sweep. In addition to this mindful defense, be ready to drop your foot on hip to the mat and use your inside foot to kick your opponent forward. This will cause him to post forward to keep his balance, at which point you can renter SLX and sweep. If your opponent does not immediately try to pass your SLX, then go into your twist sweep right the fuck away. This will, at the very least, give you the tempo advantage that is vital to playing SLX against skilled opponents.