The 100% Sweep, also known as the Hundred Percent Sweep or Arm Trap Sweep, is an advanced closed guard technique that reverses position from bottom to top by isolating the opponent’s arm and using precise hip movement. This sweep exemplifies the principle of limb isolation to create sweeping leverage, demonstrating how technical control can overcome strength. The technique starts from closed guard bottom with the practitioner trapping one of the opponent’s arms across their body while simultaneously breaking their posture and creating an optimal angle through hip movement. The 100% Sweep is particularly effective against opponents who posture aggressively or attempt to break the guard, making it a high-percentage competition technique. Success requires excellent timing, proper arm control, and dynamic hip mobility to roll the opponent over their trapped arm and shoulder. This sweep is essential for advanced practitioners developing a sophisticated closed guard game and understanding the mechanics of limb isolation sweeps.
Starting Position: Closed Guard Ending Position: Mount Success Rates: Beginner 20%, Intermediate 40%, Advanced 60%
Key Principles
- Isolate opponent’s arm across your body to create sweeping leverage and limit their defensive options
- Break opponent’s posture effectively before initiating sweep to disrupt balance
- Create optimal angle through hip shift to the side of trapped arm for maximum leverage
- Use planted foot on mat to generate power and assist in rolling action
- Maintain continuous motion from arm trap through sweep completion to prevent recovery
- Follow through to top position immediately after sweep to consolidate positional advantage
- Combine arm control with leg leverage to overcome opponent’s base and stability
Prerequisites
- Closed guard established with legs locked around opponent’s waist
- Control opponent’s wrists or sleeves to limit their actions and prevent strikes
- Maintain tight guard with knees squeezed to keep opponent’s posture under control
- Opponent postures up or leans forward, creating opportunity for arm isolation
- Establish strong connection with legs behind opponent’s back to trap them in place
- Upper body slightly elevated using core to create tension and prepare for arm trap
Execution Steps
- Establish Closed Guard Control: Start in Closed Guard with your legs locked around the opponent’s waist, facing them as they posture up or attempt to break your guard. Your hands control their wrists or sleeves to prevent strikes or grip breaks, while maintaining a tight guard to keep their posture under control, and your feet locked securely behind their back to trap them in place.
- Secure Grip Control: Control the opponent’s wrists or sleeves using both hands to limit their actions. Keep your hands actively gripping to prevent them from establishing strong posture or creating space. This grip control is essential for setting up the arm trap in the next steps and preventing them from posting their hands to defend.
- Break Opponent’s Posture: Maintain a tight guard by squeezing your knees together to break the opponent’s posture. Pull them down using your legs and core, ensuring your head is positioned defensively to avoid being easily stacked. Keep strong tension in your closed guard to limit their movement and prepare for the arm isolation.
- Trap the Arm Across Body: Trap one of the opponent’s arms across your body using an overhook or strong grip control on their wrist. Pull the arm tightly against your torso while using your other hand to control their opposite wrist or sleeve to prevent them from posturing fully. This arm trap is the critical control point for the entire sweep, eliminating their ability to post and defend.
- Create Hip Angle: Shift your hips to the side of the trapped arm to create an angle of approximately 45 degrees or more. This hip movement is essential for generating leverage. As you shift, unlock one leg from the closed guard and plant that foot on the mat to assist in the hip escape and create the foundation for the sweeping motion.
- Position Planted Foot: Unlock your guard completely and plant your free foot firmly on the mat, positioning it close to your hip for maximum leverage. Your planted leg will be the primary driver for the hip movement and sweep. The other leg remains over the opponent’s back to help control and pull them down into the sweep.
- Off-Balance with Pull: Pull the opponent forward and down with your legs and core while simultaneously swinging the trapped arm across your body to the opposite side. This combined action disrupts their balance and sets up the rolling motion. Use your legs to pull them into your sweep rather than pushing them away, collapsing their base toward the trapped side.
- Execute Hip Drive: Drive your hips upward and to the side using explosive power from your planted foot pushing off the mat. This hip drive is the key moment of the sweep, where you generate the force to roll the opponent over their trapped arm and shoulder. Keep the arm trap tight throughout this movement to maintain the fulcrum point.
- Complete Rolling Motion: Roll the opponent over their trapped arm and shoulder in one continuous motion, maintaining control of their upper body as they fall to their back. Continue the rolling action smoothly without hesitation, ensuring you follow through completely. Your body should come up and over as they go down, maintaining pressure throughout.
- Secure Top Position: Follow through to the top position, often landing in mount or high side control if the opponent’s legs are open. Immediately secure an underhook or head control to prevent their escape. Consolidate your dominant position by establishing proper weight distribution and maintaining control points before they can recover guard.
Opponent Counters
- Posture Recovery - opponent regains upright posture before arm trap is secured (Effectiveness: High) - Your Response: If they recover posture early, maintain arm trap and chain to another closed guard attack like triangle or omoplata. You can also wait for them to lean forward again before re-attempting the sweep, or use their upright posture to attack with armbar.
- Arm Freeing - opponent pulls trapped arm free from control with strong grip break (Effectiveness: Medium) - Your Response: If they free their arm, immediately transition to two-on-one control on their remaining arm or switch to a different guard attack like Hip Bump Sweep or Scissor Sweep. Use their arm freeing motion as an opportunity to set up a different sweep or submission.
- Base Widening - opponent lowers center of gravity and widens base to resist roll (Effectiveness: Medium) - Your Response: If they widen their base, adjust your hip angle more aggressively to create additional leverage or use their lowered posture to transition to other attacks like kimura or guillotine. Their defensive base widening often opens up submission opportunities.
- Counter Sweep - opponent uses your sweep momentum for their own passing attempt (Effectiveness: Low) - Your Response: If they attempt a counter sweep or pass, be prepared to abandon the technique and return to closed guard or transition to open guard positions. Advanced practitioners can sometimes use the counter momentum to complete a different sweep variation or attack with a submission.
Test Your Knowledge
Q1: What creates the primary leverage mechanism in a 100% Sweep? A: The primary leverage comes from trapping the opponent’s arm across your body while simultaneously shifting your hips to the side of that trapped arm. This creates a fulcrum effect where the trapped arm and your hip position combine to roll the opponent over. The planted foot provides additional power by driving your hips upward and to the side, completing the rotational force needed to sweep them over their trapped shoulder.
Q2: When is the optimal moment to initiate a 100% Sweep? A: The optimal moment is when the opponent postures up or leans forward in your closed guard, particularly when attempting to break your guard or establish grips. You need their posture to be somewhat broken (not fully upright) and one of their arms to be in position where you can trap it across your body. Timing the sweep as they lean forward increases success rate significantly because their weight is already moving in the direction you want to sweep them.
Q3: What is the most common mistake when executing a 100% Sweep? A: The most common mistake is attempting the sweep without properly breaking the opponent’s posture first. Many practitioners try to sweep while the opponent is still upright and balanced, which makes the technique extremely difficult or impossible. You must pull them down with your legs and core to disrupt their balance before initiating the hip movement and sweep. Their upper body should be leaning forward and their weight off-balance before you commit to the sweep.
Q4: Which control point is essential for starting a 100% Sweep? A: Trapping one of the opponent’s arms across your body is the essential control point. This can be done with an overhook, wrist grip, or sleeve control (in gi), but the arm must be isolated and pulled tightly across your torso. Without this arm trap, the opponent can easily base out with that arm and prevent the sweep. The trapped arm becomes the fulcrum point around which the entire sweep rotates.
Q5: How do you adjust if the opponent resists during a 100% Sweep attempt? A: If the opponent resists by recovering posture or freeing their arm, you should immediately chain to another closed guard attack rather than forcing the sweep. Good options include transitioning to a triangle choke (if they posture up with arm still somewhat isolated), switching to a Scissor Sweep or Hip Bump Sweep (if they defend the arm trap), or attacking with an omoplata or kimura (if their arm is still somewhat isolated but they’ve widened their base). The key is maintaining offensive pressure through combinations rather than committing to a single failed attempt.
Q6: What role does the planted foot play in executing the 100% Sweep? A: The planted foot is critical for generating the explosive hip drive that completes the sweep. It should be positioned close to your hip on the mat, creating a stable base from which to push off. When you initiate the sweep, this planted foot drives forcefully into the mat, propelling your hips upward and to the side. This generates the rotational power needed to roll the opponent over their trapped arm and shoulder. Without proper foot placement and drive, the sweep lacks the necessary force to overcome their base.
Safety Considerations
When practicing the 100% Sweep, execute with control to avoid injuring your partner when they fall. The sweep can result in a hard landing if done too explosively, particularly in beginner settings where partners may not know how to breakfall properly. Be prepared to adjust if the sweep fails or your opponent counters, as forcing a failed sweep can leave you vulnerable to guard passing or strikes in MMA contexts. Ensure your training partner is ready for the dynamic guard movement and understands how to fall safely by tucking their chin and using breakfall techniques. Always practice in a controlled environment with proper mats to prevent injury from falls. When learning the technique, use slower speeds and progressive resistance to develop proper mechanics before attempting at full intensity. In competition, be aware of the rules regarding slamming, as following through too aggressively on the sweep could be interpreted as a slam in some rule sets.
Position Integration
The 100% Sweep is a crucial component of an advanced closed guard attack system, fitting into the broader closed guard framework alongside other sweeps and submissions. It works particularly well in combination with Hip Bump Sweep, Scissor Sweep, and triangle attacks, creating multi-faceted dilemmas for opponents. From Closed Guard, if the opponent defends the 100% Sweep by recovering posture, you can transition to triangle or armbar attacks. If they defend by widening their base, you can switch to other sweep variations or guillotine attempts. The technique integrates into competition strategy as a high-percentage move for scoring sweep points (2 points in IBJJF rules) and can lead directly to mount (4 additional points) for a total of 6 points in one sequence. Understanding the 100% Sweep also teaches fundamental principles of limb isolation and angle creation that apply to many other advanced guard techniques including omoplata sweeps and other arm-trap based attacks. It represents an evolution from basic closed guard sweeps toward more sophisticated control-based attacks that rely on precise positioning rather than pure athleticism.
Expert Insights
- Danaher System: The 100% Sweep is an advanced closed guard technique that exemplifies the principle of isolating a limb to create sweeping leverage through precise biomechanical advantage. The key is in trapping the arm across the body and using precise hip movement to off-balance the opponent, demonstrating how positional control can overcome strength and athleticism. This sweep teaches critical principles of limb isolation and angle creation that are essential for sophisticated guard systems at the highest levels of competition. The biomechanics rely on creating a fulcrum with the trapped arm while your hip shift generates the rotational force needed to roll the opponent over their shoulder. Understanding this principle allows you to apply similar mechanics to numerous other sweeping situations throughout Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, including omoplata sweeps, flower sweeps, and other arm-trap based techniques. The technique also demonstrates the importance of breaking posture before attempting dynamic movements - without proper posture disruption, even perfect mechanics will fail against a balanced opponent.
- Gordon Ryan: In competition, the 100% Sweep is a high-percentage move from closed guard, especially against opponents who posture aggressively or try to stand up to break the guard. I focus on securing the arm trap tight against my body and exploding through the hip shift to ensure they roll over cleanly without giving them time to recover their base. This technique shows how advanced guard sweeps can be adapted into dominant attacks from the bottom that score points while advancing position dramatically. When I hit this sweep in competition, I immediately look to consolidate to mount or take the back if they turn away during the roll. The success rate is particularly high when combined with threats of triangle or armbar, forcing opponents to defend multiple attacks simultaneously and creating openings for the sweep. It’s become a staple in my closed guard game because it scores points while advancing position dramatically - you can get 6 points in one sequence if you land directly in mount. The key is making them think you’re setting up a submission so they defend high, then attacking their base with the sweep.
- Eddie Bravo: The 100% Sweep is a slick advanced sweep that blends classic closed guard concepts with modern control principles, offering a reliable way to reverse position when opponents try to break your guard aggressively. It’s a great move for grapplers who like to isolate limbs and create dynamic sweeps, often chaining into submissions or back takes depending on how they defend. This sweep integrates well with systems that prioritize fluid transitions and off-balancing from the guard rather than static control. In the 10th Planet system, we use similar principles but often adapt the technique for no-gi by focusing on underhook or wrist control instead of sleeve grips, and we’re more likely to chain it with rubber guard attacks or triangle setups. The hip movement and angle creation remain the same, showing how traditional techniques can be innovated for modern grappling contexts. I love teaching this because it demonstrates that you don’t need to muscle people - proper leverage, timing, and creating the right angle are everything. When you get that arm trapped and your hip angle is perfect, even big strong guys are going over whether they like it or not.