The Core BJJ & Grappling classes runs on laid out curriculum on a week to week basis having what I like to call “flexible thinking” comes in handy.
This week while covering some more in-depth knee cutting style guard passes
When it really dawned on me we hadn’t touched on one of the arts strongest fundamental positions the over under pass.
Made famous recently by bjj kingpin Bernardo Faria the over under was a staple pass in the toolbox of so many of the GTA’s BJJ pioneers (Mark Bocek, Jeff joslin, Wagney Fabiano, Rob Discenso) and International practitioners. (Renato Miragia, Nino Schembri “personal favourite”,Fabio Gurgel, Wallid Ismail)
Details
Now don’t get me wrong everyone has their own take on the position and the beauty of Jiu-Jitsu is it is a “live martial art” so modification to body type & situation call for changes on the fly to help deliver max results.
In my experience and observation this is one guard pass you really don’t want to go without.
Video’s & Key points
We worked it 3 classes this past week so most of you have a general understanding but to really really own the position when watching videos keep an eye on a few key points
1- the grip used on the over leg with the hand / arm
2-use of passers own les to control the bottom leg, you’ll see everything from hooks to leg pinches at play here
3- depth and control of the arm being used to control the under arm elbow down is best”
4- how the leg maintaining guard is cleared to get side control
5- if they defender is early to try reacting to the pass pay attention to the passers east west motion and threatening /completing the stack to get side control going under the leg.
There is a lot going here and you’ll see it and other variations controlling the hip to a pass in everything from sport bjj in the gi to no gi and mma so this is a basic technique that gets as deep as you want to delve into it making a great first move off a clean opening of the guard when passing on the ground..
Take a look at some of the best in action with the below time-stamped video for the pass in action..
Old school–> Margarida vs Nino Superfight
“Nino’s timing was incredible vs the up Comer Margarida and one of very few to clean pass his guard in Margarida’s prime making for some memorable matches.
“whole match is great with lots of the pass in action but watch 2:40-2:55 for a very smooth example”
New school— > Bernardo Faria (pressure over under passing king today)
sorry not my choice of music but shows a lot of the details 🙂
P.s
White to green technique list drops this week so check back Tuesday or Wednesday for a download link.