Open Guard Pass

Today Isaac ground us down to a pulp as usual, but we learned a really tight open guard pass. I appreciated the technique as well as the recovery to Position 1, Side Control. The image above should be two guys in their gis, but C'est la vie.

Choose this pass when you are standing, with your opponent on their back, feet on your hips. The first thing you do is grab their pants on the inside of the knees, gripping tightly with your elbows pressuring down on the inside of their shins. Squat down and get on the balls of your feet to protect yourself from being rolled or pushed and mounted.

Lean in ever so slightly to make them think extending their legs into you was their idea. When they push back, step a single foot back and force their knee to the ground, resting your fist on the ground inside their knee. Step over their leg, maintaining both grips. Your inside knee drops over their pinned leg trapping their leg between your toes and your knee which is now blocking their hip. Be sure to hold your grip and have your elbow under their shin raising it in the air. Your hip should be sitting on your foot and you should be laying on your opponents hips rendering them immobile.

Stretching their legs open will distract them from the pass completing to side control. To complete the pass, release your grip on the pinned knee and grab from the outside under their elbow and draw in the arm. Once this is secure, release the other grip and shoot your arm in for the under hook.

Lift the arm you picked at the elbow, sliding your knee through then switch your hips and recover to Position 1, Side Control.