In this video, BJJ world champion Matheus Diniz shows a fundamental closed guard pass that every jiujitsu player learns at white belt. The technique is basic, but super effective and a pass that Matheus commonly uses in competition.
(Note: Though Matheus is demonstrating this as a no-gi pass it’s equally applicable to the gi)
The Technique
Diniz shares three principles before showing the guard pass. Always have strong posture, use your hands to prevent your opponent from sitting up, and keep your legs tight to control their hips. Adhering to these 3 principles alone will help advance your guard passing game.
For the technique, Matheus starts by controlling his opponent’s ability to sit up by holding their biceps. He then gets to his feet, showing that you can either come up one foot at a time or hop up.
After he stands up, Matheus places two hands on the opponent’s knee to open their guard and pass his own knee past theirs. To pass, Diniz cross-faces his opponent, gets his knee to the mat, places the far side underhook and cuts in his back leg into side mount.
He finishes the technique establishing side control by walking into the opponent’s hips and pulling them in towards him to tighten the position.
Though it might seem like a fairly simple technique, some of the greatest jiujitsu players have games based on these core fundamentals (Roger Gracie anyone?). For more techniques, check out our technique section and look for new videos added weekly.