Stack passes are one of the most common types of guard passes in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu; no doubt that you have a training partner or two who give you trouble with them. And if you don’t know how to defend properly against getting “stacked”… You’re probably going to have a lot of neck stiffness!
Here are a couple of tips from Jon Thomas on how to defend against the Stack Pass. Even though there are a lot of different variations to it, these pointers will be of great help all around.

DEFEND AGAINST THE STACK PASS!

The first – and the most important – point that Jon shares are the grips. When the opponent grabs your hips in the Double-Under pass, your goal is to grab both of his sleeves and stiff-arm them. When you do that, you’re going to drop your hips as much as possible and widen out your legs.
The stiff-arm grips are going to keep your opponent at bay, while keeping your hips down and heavy will negate them the pass – because they need to lift your hips up to begin with! Then, insert your legs in between yourself and your opponent to retain your guard, and to begin playing offense yourself.

If the opponent doesn’t grab your hips but just your thigh, your tactic is going to be pretty much the same. However, if they go for the pass immediately – by throwing your legs to the side, without really stacking you – your objective is to place your hand on their elbow. So, when they look to pass to your side, you’re going to stiff-arm their elbow to keep them at a distance.
Insert your legs again to retain guard or, if the opponent is really stubborn, you may be able to even go for the back take.

Watch Jon Thomas demonstrate these Stack Pass defense tips below: