PASSING THE GUARD (Forrest Griffin)

When you’re in your opponent’s guard, never lie on top of him and stall. Chances are you worked hard to secure a takedown and reach this position, and stalling will accomplish nothing more than forcing the referee to stand you back up. To prevent such an outcome, distract your opponent with strikes and work on passing his guard to a more dominant position such as side control or mount. When you are successful, you not only score points on the judges’ scorecards, but you also attain a position that makes it much easier to lock in submissions or cause damage with strikes.

I’m in Neil’s closed guard. Instead of remaining in this position, I’m going to pass to side control.

To create space, I dig my left knee into the center of Neil’s buttocks, drive my left hand down into his abdomen, and lean back. As my actions force his legs apart, I begin pressing down on his left leg with my right hand (if he giggles or moans in ecstasy, flick him in the nads).

 I drop my body on top of Neil and force his left leg toward the mat using my right hand.

 I slide my right knee over Neil’s left leg.

 Keeping Neil’s left leg pinned to the mat using my right leg, I wrap my right arm around the back of his head and step my left leg over his right leg.

 Having passed Neil’s guard, I slide my right knee underneath his left shoulder and pin my left knee against his left hip. From this position, I have a greater opportunity to land strikes, lock in a submission, or transition to an even more dominant position.

PASSING THE DOWNED GUARD

 There are many ways to end up standing in front of a downed opponent. You can stand up in his guard, execute a throw or takedown, or your opponent could simply fall to his back in an attempt to bait you down into his guard. If your goal is to keep the fight standing, backing away from your opponent will usually cause the referee to stand him back up. But if you want to engage him in the ground game, it’s in your best interest to pass his guard. In this situation, I set up the pass by grabbing his feet with my hands.

 
 Quickly rotating my body in a counterclockwise direction, I cross Neil’s left leg over the top of his right and move his feet toward my left side.

 Maintaining control of Neil’s right leg using my left hand, I drop down to my right hip and place my right hand to the right of his head.

 Having cleared Neil’s legs, I drop my weight down on him to prevent him from scrambling, move my left arm to the right side of his body, and pin my left knee to his left hip.