The style of guard pass we explore today is called the Leg Weave pass. This type of pass is used at the highest levels especially by competitors who were under the now defunct TT banner such as Andre Galvao, Cobrinha, The Mendes Brothers.

I have been drilling the leg weave pass and is one of my go to passes as of late. especially because my main guard passing strategy is forcing my opponent to play half guard or RDLR and from there work a knee/shin slide, a longstep pass or set up various choke from there.

One of the most common defense that my opponents do is the knee shield from half guard. And that’s where the leg weave pass comes in. But you can also set the leg weave pass from other positions such as a basic open guard positions and butterfly guard.

In the video tutorial above featuring Rafa Mendes, he shows the leg weave pass with a modern twist transitioning to the leg drag position to stabilize the position before moving to side control or back mount. This pass relise on two initial grips and pressure

Rafa start of in half guard with his opponent having the knee shield up. First he obtains a leg weave pant grip and the accompanying collar grip so he position himself to the right posture of inside leg on the opponents thighs, the outside leg posted fo balance and your shoulder pinning your opponents knees together. From there Rafa pressures with his head on the opponents chest while pulling on the collar to create even more pressure on his chest keeping his back on the mat. Rafa uses the shin slide to escape the half guard. You can also use a windshield wiper motion to escape the half guard. Remember always on your toes so you can put more pressure and be more mobile. To stabilize the position Rafa puts his hips on the mat and walks his hips towards his opponents legs forcing his opponents legs to face the other side and back on the mat ending up in the leg drag position.

Rafa also shows a different way to finish the pass if the opponent is over committing with his top leg.

When you are not able to put opponents back to the mat and opponent over commits with his top leg, post your head on the mat and jump over to the other side one leg at a time just like a butterfly guard pass. Make sure to keep both grips. See above gif and video. Once you have cleared the legs and landed on the other side, get on your toes to drive pressure on his chest and lift his legs over your legs so he can’t put his toes on the mat to hip escape. Establishing the leg drag position on the other side for a potential back take.

You can also transition directly to the mount when you opponent over commits with the top leg and tries to follow you with it.

If opponent starts following you with his top leg after escaping his half guard he leaves a gap for you to insert your near leg between his legs entering a smash pass position. From here you also have many options. But mounting is the best option.Once you have entered the smash pass position, get a far side under hook and grab his triceps on the near side like you are going for a knee slide pass. Slide your free leg to his armpit closing the gap and not giving him space and then slide the trapped leg over his thigh establishing mount. Keep tight and don’t give him space pinching your knees together while transitioning to the mount.

From the smash pass position there are plenty of other options than mounting,depending on your opponents defense you can work an ezekiel choke, arm triangle or a back take.

Remember it is important to establish the proper grips, pressure on his chest with your head and pin your opponents leg together, if not your opponent has the ability to roll under for an omoplata, triangle or is able hip escape out of danger.

In Conclusion the rule of this pass is the grips. Knowing how to grip efficiently is the foundation of this pass. Once you’ve established your grips and escaped the half guard, simply transition to the options you have and keep transitioning and eventually you r opponent will make a mistake and you will be able to pass or force your opponent to turtle.

Here is another varition thanks to ijustwannasurf from sherdog where rafa uses a grip on his opponents ankle to stretch his opponents leg out to transition to the smash pass position. And when in the smash pass position he switches his collar grip to the pant cuffs of the top leg to stretch it out. From there he can easily move to side control at the other side.

Edited 6/6/2013