Defending against the Back Step Pass requires the grasshopper guard player to recognize the extraction attempt early and take decisive action before the passer clears the entanglement zone. As the bottom player, your grasshopper guard’s effectiveness depends on maintaining leg contact and entanglement pressure—the back step is designed to break exactly this connection. Your defensive strategy operates on two timelines: pre-clearance, where you follow the retreating leg and maintain hooks, and post-clearance, where you must immediately transition to a recovery guard or counter-entanglement before the passer drives forward into side control.
The fundamental defensive principle is that the back step creates a momentary window where the passer’s weight shifts away from you before redirecting forward. This transition moment is your primary opportunity. If you can follow the retreating leg with a reinversion or shoot your legs through to establish ashi garami before their forward drive begins, you neutralize the pass entirely. If you miss this window, your priority shifts to preventing the crossface and creating enough space to reinsert a guard structure before side control consolidates.
Successful defense requires reading the passer’s weight shifts and stance changes that telegraph the back step. Experienced passers disguise these tells, but the physical requirement of shifting weight to the base leg before stepping creates an unavoidable mechanical signature that trained practitioners can detect and exploit.
Opponent’s Starting Position: Grasshopper Guard (Top)
How to Recognize This Attack
- Passer shifts weight noticeably onto one leg while the other becomes lighter in your hooks, indicating preparation to extract the light leg backward
- Passer’s upper body rises slightly or their hips lower into a squat as they prepare the stepping motion, changing their center of gravity before the arc begins
- Passer’s hands begin actively pushing or stripping your leg contact rather than posting for base, signaling imminent extraction effort
- Passer’s torso begins rotating away from the entangled side, creating the angular clearance needed for the 45-degree back step arc
Key Defensive Principles
- Follow the retreating leg with your hips and hooks rather than letting the connection break passively
- Reinvert or roll toward the stepping direction to maintain leg contact during the extraction arc
- Shoot for leg entanglement entries during the passer’s weight transfer phase when their balance is transitional
- If the leg clears, immediately address the incoming forward drive with frames against the shoulder before crossface establishes
- Never accept a flat position under the forward drive—turn to a side or recover butterfly hooks immediately
- Use the passer’s committed stepping direction to predict their passing angle and preposition your guard recovery
Defensive Options
1. Chase with reinversion - roll your shoulders and reinvert toward the direction of the retreating leg, threading your hooks to reestablish grasshopper guard contact
- When to use: Immediately upon recognizing the back step initiation, before the passer’s leg clears your hook range. Most effective when you still have at least one hook behind their knee.
- Targets: Grasshopper Guard
- If successful: You reestablish grasshopper guard with maintained leg contact, nullifying the pass attempt and resetting to your offensive position
- Risk: If the passer anticipates your reinversion and accelerates their forward drive, you may be flattened in a worse position than standard grasshopper
2. Shoot legs through for ashi garami - as the passer’s weight shifts to their base leg, thread your legs around the stationary base leg to establish inside or outside ashi garami
- When to use: When you detect the weight transfer to the base leg and recognize you cannot follow the retreating leg. The base leg becomes momentarily vulnerable as it bears full weight.
- Targets: Ashi Garami
- If successful: You transition from a defensive situation into an offensive leg entanglement, converting their passing attempt into your submission opportunity
- Risk: If the passer sprawls or back steps the second leg before you secure hooks, you end up flat with both legs cleared and no guard structure
3. Frame and recover butterfly guard - immediately create forearm frames against the passer’s shoulders as they drive forward, then insert butterfly hooks before they consolidate side control
- When to use: When the back step has already cleared the entanglement and the forward drive is beginning. This is the last-resort defense when reinversion and leg threading windows have closed.
- Targets: Grasshopper Guard
- If successful: You prevent the pass from completing and recover to butterfly guard or open guard where you can reestablish offensive guard play
- Risk: If your frames are weak or the passer’s crossface establishes before your hooks insert, you concede side control with exhausted arms
4. Technical standup to wrestling - abandon the guard entirely and come up to standing as the passer disengages, using their backward motion as an opportunity to stand
- When to use: When you recognize that the back step will clear your entanglement and you have sufficient energy and base to come up before the forward drive reaches you
- Targets: Grasshopper Guard
- If successful: You reset the exchange to standing where neither player has positional advantage and you can choose to re-engage on your terms
- Risk: If the passer completes their forward drive faster than your standup, you get driven back down with no guard structure in place
Best-Case Outcomes for Defender
→ Grasshopper Guard
Follow the retreating leg with a reinversion, threading your hooks back into their knee space before the extraction completes. Time your reinversion to begin as you feel the weight shift, not after the leg has already cleared. Alternatively, recover any open guard position by framing and creating distance before the forward drive consolidates.
→ Ashi Garami
Attack the stationary base leg as the passer shifts weight onto it for the back step. Thread your inside leg hook around their standing leg and secure outside control with your other leg, transitioning directly into inside or outside ashi garami. The base leg is most vulnerable during the single-leg weight bearing phase of the back step.
Test Your Knowledge
Q1: What is the earliest recognition cue that a Back Step Pass is about to be initiated? A: The earliest cue is the passer shifting their weight noticeably onto one leg while the other becomes lighter in your hooks. This weight transfer is a mechanical prerequisite for the back step and precedes the actual stepping motion by a fraction of a second, giving you the maximum reaction window.
Q2: Why should you target the passer’s base leg rather than chasing the retreating leg? A: The base leg bears the passer’s full body weight during the back step and cannot move until the stepping leg touches down. This makes it a stationary target ideal for ashi garami entries. The retreating leg, by contrast, is actively moving away with mechanical advantage, making it extremely difficult to control or recapture.
Q3: Your reinversion fails and the passer’s leg clears your hooks - what is your immediate priority? A: Your immediate priority is preventing the crossface from establishing before the forward drive consolidates side control. Frame with your forearms against the passer’s shoulders, turn to your side to avoid being flattened, and insert a knee or butterfly hook between your bodies. Preventing the crossface preserves your ability to recover guard.
Q4: What makes the Back Step Pass particularly dangerous compared to other passing techniques against grasshopper guard? A: The back step specifically targets grasshopper guard’s primary weakness: the reliance on maintaining continuous leg contact with the passer. By extracting backward at an angle rather than driving through the guard, the passer avoids feeding into your sweeping and entanglement mechanics while simultaneously opening a direct path to side control.
Q5: How should you adjust your grasshopper guard structure if you know your opponent frequently uses the back step? A: Maintain deeper hooks with your legs wrapped further behind the passer’s knees rather than shallow shin-on-shin contact. Keep your secondary leg ready to immediately redirect to the base leg if the primary hook is stripped. Accelerate your attack timeline from grasshopper—commit to sweeps or leg entries faster to force the passer to defend rather than initiate their back step.
Q6: At what point during the Back Step Pass is the passer most vulnerable to a counter-attack? A: The passer is most vulnerable during the weight transfer phase immediately before the stepping leg begins its arc. At this moment, their weight is concentrated on a single leg, their balance is transitional, and they cannot defend the base leg without aborting the pass. This is the optimal window for shooting into ashi garami on the weighted leg.