There’s this one impressive, fancy-pants guard pass that I’ve seen in competition many times. It makes everybody go ‘oooh’ and ‘aaaah’, but despite its dramatic nature it’s undeniably effective and has won a LOT of matches at the highest levels of competition.

I tried to imitate this technique, of course, but it was always a complete disaster. I never managed to figure out exactly what these high-level guys were doing.

Then some of the top jiu-jitsu competitors in the world started teaching this technique and its variations. Sometimes they used it to counter the butterfly guard sweep, and other times they used it to blow past a ton of different half guard positions, including the Z Guard, the Half Butterfly, and other types of the open guard.

It was always the same move. But despite my now having been ‘taught’ how to do it, it still never worked for me…

Then Brandon Mullins showed me a couple of key details for this guard pass, as well as a simple drill you can do on your own, and it finally clicked. I did a few reps with a friend, and – badda-bing, badda-boom – it started working for me in sparring against some pretty good people!

Check out the 9:18 video below and please DON’T write it off until you’ve given it a try. After all, there’s a reason that so many of the top competitors use it.

The difference now is that we’ve got a top competitor who can actually teach us all how to do it!

Click here to check out this same Z Guard video on YouTube!

Additional Resources

That video clip came from the Takedowns and Top Position Gameplan volume in the How to Defeat the Bigger, Stronger Opponent Series 2, with Brandon Mullins. This is an absolutely incredible resource for grapplers who sometimes have to deal with being manhandled and overpowered on the mats. It’s available as both as a series of apps for your phone or tablet, or as a professionally replicated 5 DVD set.

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