Japhy: Japhy kept me in his half guard and prevented me from passing most of the time.  I passed a couple of times but he was able to sweep and basically turn around in my guard.  I was too tentative about going for a submission and I didn’t have a game plan.  When I ended up in mount I blanked out and wasn’t able to do anything useful.  To be honest I was surprised that I passed guard because I do it so rarely.

Rocco: Rocco basically outclassed me in every conceivable way.  I wasn’t able to pass his butterfly guard and when I did attempt to pass by stepping over his thigh he swept me with a variation of light-as-a-feather.  If I had tried to pin his thigh rather than stepping over I might have avoided a sweep.  Over and over, Rocco methodically worked his way from side-mount to mount to high-mount and then an arm bar.  My problem is that his transitions are so fluid that I didn’t know I was in trouble until it was too late.  Most white belts pause between transitions as they think through their next move.  Rocco is a purple belt and he thinks four or five moves ahead of me.  At one point Rocco had my back and was going for a collar choke.  I pummeled and was able to push back on my heels so that I was on my back.  Then I made a mistake.  Instead of driving back and wiggling my shoulders through his arms so my back was on top of his face and then stepping out to the side, I just tried to step to the side and he easily countered with heel hooks.  He was then able to secure a collar choke in a leisurely manner while I flopped ineffectually.

I think this would be a good guard pass if you’re trying to conserve energy. It seems to be less physically taxing than the standing guard pass. I kept forgetting to push down on my partner’s sternum. In a real match, someone would just sit up and counter the pass by grabbing me around the collar or something. Gotta work on that.

1. Posture up
2. Slide knee under opponent’s buttock
3. While pushing down on opponent’s torso, step out with other foot
4. Shuffle foot out so body is perpendicular and posture is high
5. Lower your body to break guard
6. Scoot your shin over opponent’s leg hooking it with foot
7. Hook opponent’s leg with other foot while maintaining grip on other leg to prevent sweep
8. While securing opponent’s leg, step back and hip through to side mount

Nate taught this no-gi class. This sequence starts from half-guard and relies on body control via good under hooks. I had a lot of trouble with these sweeps because my hip-drive is weak and I wasn’t able to get any power behind my bridge. I need to work on my conditioning and overall strength because I’m a total candy-ass.

Overhook sweep

1. Grapevine opponent’s leg and stretch him out and down
2. Secure over and under hooks
3. Bridge up and towards the over hook side
4. Land in mount or side control

Ankle Sweep variation

If your opponent tries to counter the overhook sweep by posting his hand you can try this variation

1. Switch overhook to underhook by forcefully driving elbow under posted arm
2. Reach down with your other hand and grab opponent’s ankle
3. Reverse bridge direction to complete sweep

This was an unusual day in that Ishmael Bently taught us only one transition and then we drilled it for an entire class. I kind of appreciated that because I’m a dunce and I need a lot of reps before I feel comfortable with a move. After we drilled we had some live goes and I left class pretty discouraged because I wasn’t able to stick this move once even after an hour of drilling.

Butterfly to Half Guard to Back Mount

1. From butterfly guard, grab opponent’s sleeve
2. Drag his arm across your body and sink a hook deep in his armpit
3. Scoot hips forward and to side so that your legs surround your opponent’s leg on the same side as the underhook
4. Reach across opponent’s back and grab lat
5. Spring up onto your opponent’s back
6. Sink in heel hooks while securing over and under control of your opponent’s torso.
7. Stretch opponent out and press him to the mat

Nate Homme taught us this sequence at a no-gi class at MMAA. All of these moves have the same setup. Basically after a scramble you’re behind your opponent but not in back control. First you get over and under grips around his torso. Then you yank his body up so you’ll have room to get a foot between his legs and secure a figure-four around his near-thigh. I had a lot of fun with this sequence.

Wrestler’s Neck Crank (The Twister)
This is a nasty submission. It’s not a blood choke or an air choke but a straight-up bone choke that hurts like a mother.

1. Get over-under control of opp’s body
2. Pull opp’s torso up and sink in a hook
3. Pull opp onto side while securing a figure-four on opponent’s leg
4. Scramble up so you are sitting up and can reach in front of opponent’s body
5. Secure head lock and lean back while keeping opponent’s leg secure
6. Twist opponent’s hips in a different direction than their head

Calf Crank variation

1. Once you have a good figure-four on opponent’s leg, sit up and grab his ankle
2. Secure opponent’s ankle in crook of your elbow and crank his calf against your shin

Step over to rear-naked choke variation

1. Reach under opponent’s body to grab post arm
2. Release figure-four and spring over opponent’s body pulling him down and onto his back
3. Controlling his legs with your hooks, secure a rear-naked choke

Banana Split variation

This is a crazy move, and it’s pretty hard to explain how to do this. Also, it might not work if your opponent is very flexible. Then you’re kinda screwed because the guy’s on top of you.

1. Reach over your opponent’s hips and grab his far leg.
2. Forward roll over your opponent’s hips without releasing your figure four so he ends up in the splits with one of his legs secured by the figure four and his other leg secured by your arms.
3. Pull your opponent’s legs apart