Does anyone here really "get" Leo Vieira's passing? Especially no gi.

[fanboysareevil]

I'm mostly referring to his system of pinning the bottom leg with a cross grip and using their defensive action with the top leg to transition, usually to a sort of proto leg drag or a smash pass, stack, or even just a half guard. Good, clear footage of Vieira passing is surprisingly uncommon, and the only guy a know that really does that much in the modern scene is Jackson Souza. Problem with Souza is that he overwhelming just goes for the smash from there and has a ton of matches that end with little or no scoring.

I've watched all of Leo's instructionals (they include very little of this) and have pretty much given up on Kevin Howell's book getting released, so I was wondering if anyone here had some insight. I know we have a few Checkmat guys here, is that style used a lot in their gyms?

 

[yetanother]

https://www.artofjiujitsu.com/library/pinning-the-wrist-leg-to-pass-the-guard/ - it's behing a paywall, but there is a free trial

 

[fanboysareevil]

Ah! My trial just expired. Any kind souls care to summarize for me?

 

[Dirty Holt]

I train under Pantcho at Checkmat who is a BB under Leo. We use this style of passing a lot, although I am not a huge fan of it. It is mainly predicated on being able to flatten out the top hip, then really manipulate the bottom knee to get to that kind of leg drag position. If they are defending that, you smash back the other way. It makes passing much easier if you are slow, which a lot of the Checkmat guys are really big and strong. I use a lot of speed and power on my passes so I really do my own thing. My coach can really start doing weird shit to you by how he manipulates the knee, and it takes little to no speed to do.

 

[yetanother]

Ah! My trial just expired. Any kind souls care to summarize for me?

Opponent defends go under the leg/leg weave/leg drag the top leg. Opponent doesn't defend get to half guard and knee slide.

 

[fanboysareevil]

I train under Pantcho at Checkmat who is a BB under Leo. We use this style of passing a lot, although I am not a huge fan of it. It is mainly predicated on being able to flatten out the top hip, then really manipulate the bottom knee to get to that kind of leg drag position. If they are defending that, you smash back the other way. It makes passing much easier if you are slow, which a lot of the Checkmat guys are really big and strong. I use a lot of speed and power on my passes so I really do my own thing. My coach can really start doing weird shit to you by how he manipulates the knee, and it takes little to no speed to do.

That helps a lot, thanks. Leo being, well, Leo, and Jackson Souza being fast too, I kinda worried it would be one of those things you needed to be super quick for and might take a million years to develop.

EDIT: Also, if you wouldn't mind, could you elaborate on manipulating the bottom knee?

 

[Uchi Mata]

Video example?

 

[mataleaos]

Ryan Hall's guard passing DVD actually has an entire section based on Leo's guard passing style:

19. Kneeling Pass: Leo Vieira to Near Side Leg Drag Pass
20. Kneeling Pass: Leo Vieira to Far Side Leg Drag Pass
21. Kneeling Pass: Leo Vieira to Front Headlock
22. Kneeling Pass: Leo Vieira to Flop Pass
23. Kneeling Pass: Leo Vieira to Knee Over Pass

You're right though. It would be great if there were more footage and resources. It combines the stability of kneeling passing with the speed of standing passing. I haven't seen many do it besides him. Rafa Mendes teaches a lot of Leo Vieira's guard passing stuff no gi but from what I've seen he uses far less than what he teaches of it. At least these days. I don't think that book is ever coming out. Victory Belt is focused on Paleo stuff now and they may not even be printing books anymore. The only resources I've found outside of studying tape are Ryan Hall's little series that I listed above.

 

[Dirty Holt]

That helps a lot, thanks. Leo being, well, Leo, and Jackson Souza being fast too, I kinda worried it would be one of those things you needed to be super quick for and might take a million years to develop.

EDIT: Also, if you wouldn't mind, could you elaborate on manipulating the bottom knee?

If you are passing around the outside, you kind of push it low and slide your chest over. If he defends that, you slightly raise it up, cut back the other direction, and you land in a kind of near side leg drag. If he defends really hard, you can smash back the other direction. You also have the option of flopping to the near side when they do that as well.

Like I said, I use more speed, so I flop or go around the outside 99% of the time when I use this passing system. I am not as good as those guys at manipulating the bottom knee. However, this guard passing system is proven and it doesnt take a lot of physical attributes to pull off.

 

[spiderguarda]

Ryan Hall's guard passing DVD actually has an entire section based on Leo's guard passing style:

19. Kneeling Pass: Leo Vieira to Near Side Leg Drag Pass
20. Kneeling Pass: Leo Vieira to Far Side Leg Drag Pass
21. Kneeling Pass: Leo Vieira to Front Headlock
22. Kneeling Pass: Leo Vieira to Flop Pass
23. Kneeling Pass: Leo Vieira to Knee Over Pass

You're right though. It would be great if there were more footage and resources. It combines the stability of kneeling passing with the speed of standing passing. I haven't seen many do it besides him. Rafa Mendes teaches a lot of Leo Vieira's guard passing stuff no gi but from what I've seen he uses far less than what he teaches of it. At least these days. I don't think that book is ever coming out. Victory Belt is focused on Paleo stuff now and they may not even be printing books anymore. The only resources I've found outside of studying tape are Ryan Hall's little series that I listed above.

I had emailed Kevin Howell with no response about this unreleased book. It was to also come with a DVD. Kevin had provided some draft pages to someone on another forum. He did respond quite awhile ago on this forum but it seemed for whatever reason it wouldn't be published. I asked if Kevin could self publish and use Kickstarter to fund it but he didn't respond. What is going on with Victory Belt? They had great books by BJ Penn, Anderson Silva, Fedor then focused on paleo books.

 

[fanboysareevil]

I think VB might be slowly dying. Maybe once they do Howell's projects will see the light of day.

 

[spiderguarda]

I think VB might be slowly dying. Maybe once they do Howell's projects will see the light of day.

It's not VB I think. It has to do with Kevin and perhaps with the split between Kevin and Leo, which Kevin posted on social media, Kevin didn't explain if he owned the rights to the material for the book and DVD as a roadblock for him to get the book published. I remember he was very proud and had so much material including video footage. It's sad this book and video won't see the light of day. I would even pay for an online video and PDF ebook. Kevin seems to be a good guy but maybe too busy with running his academy. VB was a great resource for Muay Thai, MMA, grappling books. Not sure why Paleo diet books takes up more effort producing "fight" related books. It shouldn't be mutually exclusive.

I purchased Renzo black belt Silver Fox's book. It comes with DVD online material with digitsu which has a separate cost. Is the book a must have? No. But I would like to support people trying to put out their material. I doubt he's going to get rich off of the book.