There are BJJ sweeps… And then are the BJJ sweeps! You know what we mean by that – there are some sweeps that you just cannot take your eyes off, whether it’s because of the great timing by an athlete that does them or due to the pure technicality and beauty of the sweep setup.
Alec Baulding, a BJJ black belt under Romero Cavalcanti, has one of those types of sweeps broken down step-by-step, just for you. But, beware! You could get disqualified if you get one thing wrong when doing it… Let’s get to it!
SWEEP SETUP
Alec starts the demonstration by saying that you might see this sweep from a De La Riva Guard or a Reverse De La Riva. However, it is easiest to execute and understand the way it works if it’s first taught from the Butterfly Guard.
He begins by showing the Basic Butterfly Guard Sweep, which can work wonders if you time it well. But if you do it against someone who has great posture, they will likely successfully defend this sweep by posting their leg. That’s the exact point when Alec’s sweep comes into play, so lets break it down into steps:
1) Switch your underhook to a position against your opponent’s chest and rib cage. While you’re
doing that, keep maintaining contact with their body at all times.
2) Simultaneously, grab their posted leg at the shin with your other hand.
3) From there, you can pull your opponent on top of you.
4) Shoot your bottom leg behind their fire-sided leg and trap their knee with it.
5) Then, pull your knee towards your chest – this will bend your opponent’s leg.
6) This makes them lose their balance, which you can then use to sweep them backwards.
OKAY… NOW WHAT?
Once you’ve swept them, you’ll have a Honey Hole position in place from which you can go for leglocks in a No Gi match. However, in the IBJJF ruleset, you cannot attack the trapped leg – if you do that, you’ll get disqualified! The reason is that doing this would be regarded as a knee reap, so Alec advises you to not even touch the trapped leg’s ankle. Although, what you can do is that you can control their knee and move to a more dominant position from there. Here’s how:
1) Pull your top leg out and place it behind your opponent’s leg again. Pay attention not to be loose
once you do this – stay tight at all times!
2) Use your hips to push your opponent away.
3) Then, place your armpit over their knee. This makes it much easier for you to follow them if they
decide to try and escape.
4) There it is! You have now established a great passing position.
ADDITIONAL (KNEEBAR-ISH) BROWN AND BLACK BELT TIP
For the end, Alec has a great tip for both brown and black belts! Basically, if your opponent manages to post at the moment when you pull them up (mid-way into the technique), they’ll make it difficult for you to execute your sweep – but you don’t have to fight this position, you can use it to invert!
How? Simply invert your body behind their back, keeping their leg under your armpit in order to trap it. With your other hand, control their other leg so as to incapacitate it from moving.
From there, pull both of your arms out and make a figure-four with your legs over their leg! Then, bridge your hips off the mat and voila – you have a Kneebar in place!
Be sure to watch the video below to see Alec demonstrating this technique in great detail:
