So... who is starting to pass from the knees again?

[Badabing1234]

The standing guard pass/ knee slide/ long-step has been by go to for years now. But somehow i feel more comfortable passing on my knees from half guard now. There is no reverse de la riva to fight. No de la rivas. No spiders... just good ol half guard.

What i find interesting is that standing guard passes actually go with open guard sweeps because that is where you end up after sweeping - standing up. If you play more traditional style guards like butterfly or half, you will end up passing more on your knees!

Tell me some of your favorite guard passes from your knees!

 

[Russky]

I am lazy. If something as simple as pushing knee down does not work I attack. Amassa pao, Ezeqiel choke, armbar, even cross collar choke sometimes. Even if I do not get submission I get guard opened.

 

[Uchi Mata]

Demian Maia is my spirit animal.

 

[MaxMMA]

For fulll guard trapping their arm behind their back to pass, very easy to get even on big strong dudes if you know the right technique, very awesome pass for MMA to do some serious gnp.

For Half guard, I still use cut through pass and bear hug pass on browns and blacks. Those 2 are the most reliable by a long shot.

 

[Tebowned]

Train by day. Double under all night... all day.

 

[JosephDredd]

I never stopped passing on my knees because I don't want my opponent to be able to get up. I usually break guards on my kneess, too.

The one guard that gives me trouble is the knee shield. I regularly have to stand for that one.

 

[Uchi Mata]

I never stopped passing on my knees because I don't want my opponent to be able to get up. I usually break guards on my kneess, too.

The one guard that gives me trouble is the knee shield. I regularly have to stand for that one.

I have had a ton of success recently, with or without the gi, with pulling up on the bottom leg to put uke on his back while tripoding forward and then using that space to clear the shield and punch and underhook and go back into low passing. It does require you to stand, but not really stand up to the point where you're in a true DLR. It's based off how Maia pulls up on the legs to get his MMA passing started and it's tits.

 

[JosephDredd]

I have had a ton of success recently, with or without the gi, with pulling up on the bottom leg to put uke on his back while tripoding forward and then using that space to clear the shield and punch and underhook and go back into low passing. It does require you to stand, but not really stand up to the point where you're in a true DLR. It's based off how Maia pulls up on the legs to get his MMA passing started and it's tits.

That sounds great, but I'm having trouble picturing it. Going to look up the Maia vid BJJ Scout did to see if I an figure it out.

 

[kjg1672]

I pass from the knees more because I'm starting to get too old to keep standing up all the time.

 

[Uchi Mata]

That sounds great, but I'm having trouble picturing it. Going to look up the Maia vid BJJ Scout did to see if I an figure it out.

It's on there. Basically against RDLR or Z in MMA because your opponent is often trying just to get up, you have to pull up on the legs to keep his hip on the ground. Doing so also makes the shield hard to maintain and opens up the underhook. Basically from kneeling reach under the bottom leg at the knee and pull up while shooting your hips up and dropping your shoulder into his gut, now you're tripoding with one of his legs between yours. That's the staging position for the passes.

 

[rmongler]

That sounds great, but I'm having trouble picturing it. Going to look up the Maia vid BJJ Scout did to see if I an figure it out.

Its a lot like trying to finish a double on a guy scooting his hips out, basically.

 

[Uchi Mata]

Its a lot like trying to finish a double on a guy scooting his hips out, basically.

That's almost exactly it. I don't always use that analogy because many BJJ guys don't know what it means, but yes, that's it.

 

[Badabing1234]

Would also like to report that ever since i started smash passsing from my knees i have bruises on my face and my lips are all cut up. I also get caught in a lot more triangles.

I still enjoy getting to halfguard --> smashing to mount ---> murder death kill tho.

 

[JosephDredd]

It's on there. Basically against RDLR or Z in MMA because your opponent is often trying just to get up, you have to pull up on the legs to keep his hip on the ground. Doing so also makes the shield hard to maintain and opens up the underhook. Basically from kneeling reach under the bottom leg at the knee and pull up while shooting your hips up and dropping your shoulder into his gut, now you're tripoding with one of his legs between yours. That's the staging position for the passes.

Ok, i thought i understood until you guts compared it to a double leg. now i may be getting it again.

Are you guys talking about hugging his legs together at the knees instead of a double under /over under stack?

 

[Uchi Mata]

Ok, i thought i understood until you guts compared it to a double leg. now i may be getting it again.

Are you guys talking about hugging his legs together at the knees instead of a double under /over under stack?

Pulling up on the leg in between yours yes, but not necessarily hugging (though you can).

 

[yetanother]

Passing the half guard on the knees is great. Opening the closed guard from the knees is IMHO retarded and doesn't work on grown man unless you like escaping from subs and do a tozi pass.

 

[JosephDredd]

Pulling up on the leg in between yours yes, but not necessarily hugging (though you can).

I tried it tonight and I started getting the principle. Thanks for explaining, I really like it. It's my style.

 

[JosephDredd]

Passing the half guard on the knees is great. Opening the closed guard from the knees is IMHO retarded and doesn't work on grown man unless you like escaping from subs and do a tozi pass.

I'm doing it on black belts in my gym, I do the one Saulo shows in his Revolution DVD. But I do admit that half the time I break guard without posture. I've got about 4-5 passes I use when he pulls me down.

 

[SidRon]

Standing passing works best against people that don't want to stand up. Watch most BJJ matches and there are ample opportunities for the guard player to stand up against a standing passer but they choose not to because they would rather play guard. Against a guard player that wants to get up your standing passes have to have constant pressure which is why a lot of passers pressure pass from the knees against people that want to stand.

 

[sausageshop]

I have been moving away from knee cut left / smash pass right combinations for a while in favour of over-under/smash combos and a recent injury to my right knee has really stopped me from being able to squat in headquarters and pressure with my right knee forward so I almost exclusively start my passing sequences with over-under now. I can enter over-under from pretty much anywhere half guard related or around headquarters and I much prefer to not hang around in open guard since people started playing with lapels so much. I'm a featherweight purple belt but also approaching masters 2 and carrying a few injuries so generally prefer to avoid the kinds of scrambles that longer ranged passing tends to lead to. I found the BJJ Scout Maia and Terere studies super helpful for both over-under and smash passing and understanding how to combo the 2 effectively. Its worth investing in low passing sooner rather than later because there will always come a point where you'd rather smash through than run around the guard.