Guest post by Daniel Vaughan, BJJ black belt and instructor at M3Fight Academy.
Today we will look at the foot sweep, a takedown that works well against opponents in a low stance and guard pullers.
Foot sweeps are used in all disciplines ranging from: wrestling, judo, muay thai, sambo, you name it.
Wrestling
Judo
Muay Thai
Sambo
The list is quite extensive and they all have their own names for each discipline. For the sake of the article we will keep it simple and look at the outside foot sweep.
How is the foot sweep effective for BJJ?
For someone with a low stance we can off balance them by being able to reach for higher grips or attacking the head and sweeping the leg. For guard pullers we can keep the distance before the grip and attack the sweep right away. A person pulling guard tends to be in a low stance as well. If the person starts to pull after you are attempting your sweep you will most likely be awarded the takedown.
Foot sweeps are all about timing as you will see below.
Seth Daniels preforming the outside foot sweep.
There are various ways to attack with the foot sweep, when the person is pushing forward on you, you pushing forward on them, the list goes on.
If you have trouble with guard pullers or BJJ players that take a low stance, try out and practice some foot sweeps! Have any takedowns you feel work well in these scenarios? Let me know!
How to set up foot sweeps:
