Strategy
A useful passing checklist is to remove obstructing connections, get beyond the legs, and establish control that survives the first escape.
You may win these jobs together or revisit one several times. Use the checklist to diagnose a stalled pass, especially when getting around the feet keeps ending in another guard.
Key takeaways
- Identify the grip or hook that actually prevents your next step; clearing every contact is rarely necessary.
- As you move past the legs, keep track of the hips and the knee that can return inside.
- Getting your chest beyond the feet is progress, but it does not by itself control the torso.
Show 2 more takeaways
- Finish with a stable pin or another deliberate position before chasing a submission.
- If the guard returns, name what was missing: access, control of the recovery, or the final pin.
In practice
You stand in a De La Riva guard with your posture pulled forward
Address the grip bending your posture and the hook governing your lead leg before committing to a passing direction. Keep your balance while changing those connections.
Your passing step no longer depends on pulling through a control you have ignored.
You move around the feet but the near knee keeps returning
Check the space between your body and the guard player’s hips. Control that recovery route while bringing your torso into position, rather than sprinting farther around their head.
The knee has less room to re-enter while you complete the pass.
Show 1 more example
You reach side control and immediately lose it
Settle your base and a suitable upper-body control, then answer the first frame or hip escape. Delay the next attack until you can stay on top through that movement.
You can tell whether the pass produced a usable pin.
Common mistakes
Dropping weight before your balance and position are ready
The guard player can redirect you or recover around the space you leave.
Win a stable angle and control the relevant leg or hip as you close distance.
Treating the checklist as three mandatory pauses
A useful opening disappears while you stop to complete a stage that was already handled.
Keep moving when the next job is available; return to an earlier job when a new grip or hook stops you.
Try it in training
Pass and hold through one escape
Start in a familiar open guard. Top passes and must stay on top through bottom’s first deliberate escape attempt before resetting. Bottom tries to recover or reverse. Stop on a tap; switch roles after each result.
Include consolidation in every passing repetition.
Show 1 more exercise
Start where the pass fails
Choose a recurring failure: trapped lead leg, returning knee, or lost side control. Start just before it with agreed grips. Spar until a pass settles, guard returns, or a reversal occurs, then restart at the same checkpoint.
Repair the missing job without replaying the whole entry.
Self-assessment
You cleared the legs but got re-guarded immediately. What should you review?
How you controlled the hips and returning knee, and whether your upper body ever settled into a usable pin.
Do you have to strip every grip before passing?
No. Remove or neutralize the connections that obstruct the chosen pass, while accounting for any grips that still threaten your balance.