Three techniques to counter the under-over pass from the bad “half butterfly guard” position.
My instructor Eduardo emphasizes the first two guard returns because they develop skills he considers among the most important for a good open guard: creating space by shrimping, creating space extending your body, and circling the hooks back in. You’ll see him use these over and over again every time he fights.
(Also available on Youtube and Revver.)
Extra Details
Shrimping hook return: You can grab your foot and pull it in front of their face if you need to. Keep your hand near your foot as you bring your butterfly hook in and it’ll give you a little safe path to get the underhook too.
Bridging hook return: You can see this movement—crunch then explode—in a lot of situations and from a lot of grips and guards. “Bridging” may be the wrong word to describe it though; you’re not just lifting your hips, but also extending your body to push them with your knees.
Shrimp to crucifix: I failed to mention that you don’t just want to push their head to the side but also down to the ground so they can’t posture up and turn towards you.
Please let me know what you think through the comments here or on any of the video sites (Revver, Vimeo, Youtube) or through my contact form.
i really like the crucifix option, i have ended their by accident, but now am going to consciously do it and see what success i get.
Good moves. One thing that I’m working on in this situation is to attack the arm closer to your head with a kimura/armbar, like here at 3:31:
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xj371_shogun-vs-nogueira_sport
But when I do this pass I usually try to keep both arms outside so I’m safe from the triangle, which also negates some of your counters.
But Aesopian, I use the ‘bad’ half butterfly guard to sweep people all the time. What’s wrong with that? I’ll admit to having tried to do the stupid triangle attempt with one trapped leg before, but I’ve learned my lesson.
Nice! I’ve been looking for some good guard returns from this position.
Thanks for sharing.
My thoughts, for what it’s worth:
I prefer to push the head a lot earlier. If you wait until his head is across your body, it is too difficult to try to re-cross it and take the crucifix. Head should be pushed before it crosses, while you are both parallel. Start by pushing the head and going to crucifix, and it works better.
If your opponent does get his head across your body, that is a great opportunity to go for the reverse triangle, rather than crucifix. Anytime his arm is between your legs from side control, he is open for a reverse triangle, and never more than when he is just passing.
Finally, I enjoy hitting the switch as a counter in this half butterfly situation. It takes a bit of experimentation to get it to work, but it is an unusual and effective counter for any “low” guard passes, IMHO.