The Flower Sweep is a fundamental closed guard sweep that exploits the opponent’s reaction to your initial attack. Named for the circular, flowing motion that resembles a flower opening, this technique is one of the highest-percentage sweeps available from closed guard. The sweep works by creating a pendulum-like momentum that uses the opponent’s forward pressure against them. What makes the Flower Sweep particularly effective is its ability to chain seamlessly with other attacks - if the opponent defends the sweep, you’re already positioned for triangles, armbars, or omoplatas. The technique requires excellent hip mobility and precise timing, but once mastered, it becomes an instinctive response to the opponent’s posture. The Flower Sweep is often one of the first sweeps taught to beginners due to its mechanical simplicity and high success rate, yet it remains effective at the highest levels of competition when executed with proper timing and setup.
Starting Position: Closed Guard Ending Position: Mount Success Rates: Beginner 35%, Intermediate 55%, Advanced 70%
Key Principles
- Control the opponent’s sleeve and collar/back of the head to break their base
- Create an angle with your hips before initiating the sweeping motion
- Use your leg as a lever to off-balance the opponent diagonally
- Maintain constant pulling pressure with your grips throughout the sweep
- Time the sweep to coincide with the opponent’s forward pressure or weight shift
- Follow through with your body rotation to complete the reversal to mount
- Keep your guard closed until the last moment to prevent early escapes
Prerequisites
- Closed guard established with ankles crossed behind opponent’s back
- Strong grip on opponent’s same-side sleeve (typically right hand grips right sleeve)
- Control of opponent’s posture with opposite hand gripping collar or behind the head
- Opponent’s posture broken forward or at least neutral (not fully upright)
- Hip mobility to create angle and generate sweeping momentum
- Sufficient space created to insert your leg for the sweep
Execution Steps
- Establish grips: From closed guard, grip the opponent’s same-side sleeve with your same-side hand (right hand to their right sleeve). Your opposite hand controls their collar or wraps behind their head. Pull down to break their posture forward, bringing their chest close to yours. (Timing: Initial setup - take time to secure grips properly)
- Open guard and create angle: Uncross your ankles and place your opposite foot (left foot if sweeping right) on the mat near their same-side hip. Simultaneously pivot your hips approximately 30-45 degrees away from the sweeping side, creating an angle with your body. Your other leg remains hooked around their back. (Timing: Smooth transition - 1-2 seconds)
- Insert butterfly hook: Bring your same-side leg (right leg if sweeping right) underneath the opponent, inserting a butterfly hook with your instep against the inside of their thigh. Keep your knee pointing upward and outward to create maximum leverage. (Timing: Quick insertion while opponent is off-balance)
- Initiate sweep motion: Pull strongly with both grips while simultaneously lifting with your butterfly hook and pushing with your posted foot. The motion should be circular and diagonal - sweeping them over your shoulder on the sweeping side. Your hips should rotate and elevate off the mat. (Timing: Explosive but controlled - commit fully to the sweep)
- Follow through with body rotation: As the opponent begins to roll over, continue rotating your entire body in the sweeping direction. Your posted leg drives hard while your hooking leg maintains upward pressure. Keep pulling with your grips to prevent them from posting their hand. (Timing: Continuous motion without pause)
- Complete to mount: As you reach the top position, swing your hooking leg over their body to establish mount. Your grips transition to controlling their arms or establishing mount control grips. Ensure your weight settles into a stable mount position with knees tight to their sides. (Timing: Immediate follow-through - don’t pause in half-mount)
Opponent Counters
- Opponent posts their hand on the mat on the sweeping side (Effectiveness: High) - Your Response: Switch to attacking the posted arm with a straight armbar or transition to triangle/omoplata. Alternatively, switch to sweeping the opposite direction if they overcommit to the post.
- Opponent stands up to break your guard (Effectiveness: Medium) - Your Response: Maintain your sleeve grip and transition to standing guard attacks, ankle picks, or sit-up sweeps. Their standing creates different sweep opportunities.
- Opponent sprawls their hips back and away (Effectiveness: Medium) - Your Response: If they sprawl early, you can often still complete the sweep by following them with your rotation. If they fully defend, transition to attacking their extended arms or attempt the Hip Bump Sweep in the opposite direction.
- Opponent grabs your belt or pants to anchor themselves (Effectiveness: Low) - Your Response: Continue the sweeping motion with more emphasis on your leg drive and hip rotation. The grip on your belt actually limits their ability to post their hand effectively.
Test Your Knowledge
Q1: What is the primary purpose of creating an angle with your hips before executing the Flower Sweep? A: Creating an angle (approximately 30-45 degrees) changes the sweeping direction from straight back to diagonal, which makes it much harder for the opponent to defend. When you sweep diagonally, the opponent must defend in multiple directions simultaneously - they can’t simply post their knee or hand straight back. The angle also allows you to use your butterfly hook more effectively as a lever and generates the circular, rotating momentum that characterizes the sweep.
Q2: How should you respond if your opponent posts their hand on the mat during your Flower Sweep attempt? A: The posted hand creates an excellent opportunity for attack rather than a problem. You should immediately switch to attacking the posted arm with a straight armbar (maintaining your sleeve grip and swinging your leg over), transition to a triangle choke, or set up an omoplata. Alternatively, if the opponent overcommits to the post, you can switch directions and sweep to the opposite side. The key is to view the posted hand not as a defense, but as the opponent giving you their arm.
Q3: Why is the Flower Sweep considered part of a fundamental guard attack system rather than an isolated technique? A: The Flower Sweep is one component of a interconnected system that includes the Hip Bump Sweep, Kimura, Triangle, and Armbar. These techniques all use similar grips and body positioning, creating a web of attacks where defending one opens up another. For example, defending the Hip Bump by posting creates the Flower Sweep opportunity; defending the Flower Sweep by posting creates armbar opportunities. This systematic approach forces the opponent into a constant series of dilemmas, which is far more effective than relying on any single technique in isolation.
Q4: What role does your posted foot play in the execution of the Flower Sweep? A: The posted foot (the foot that’s not doing the butterfly hook) is absolutely critical for generating power and elevation. It drives hard into the mat to lift your hips completely off the ground and provides the base for your body rotation. Without strong posted foot drive, you cannot generate enough momentum to sweep the opponent over. Think of it as the launching pad - it should push forcefully throughout the entire sweeping motion, not just at the beginning.
Q5: Explain the relationship between grip control and the success rate of the Flower Sweep? A: Grip control is directly proportional to sweep success because your grips serve three essential functions: breaking the opponent’s posture, preventing them from posting their hands, and pulling them into the sweep direction. Strong, constant pulling pressure with both grips (sleeve and collar/head) keeps the opponent off-balance and limits their defensive options. Weak grips allow the opponent to posture up, base out, or post hands - all of which shut down the sweep. The grips must be maintained with pulling pressure throughout the entire technique, from setup through completion to mount.
Q6: How does the timing of opening your closed guard affect the Flower Sweep’s effectiveness? A: Opening the guard too early telegraphs your intention and gives the opponent time to establish a defensive base, lower their center of gravity, and prepare for your attack. The guard should remain closed until the moment you’re ready to execute, at which point the opening, angle creation, and hook insertion should happen as one smooth, quick motion. This element of surprise, combined with the opponent’s lack of preparation time, significantly increases your success rate. Advanced practitioners can open the guard slightly earlier, but only when they’ve already broken the opponent’s posture completely.
Safety Considerations
The Flower Sweep is one of the safest techniques in BJJ when practiced properly, with minimal injury risk to either practitioner. The primary safety concern is ensuring controlled follow-through to mount - avoid driving your knee or bodyweight into the opponent’s face or ribs as you come on top. When learning, both partners should be aware of the rotational nature of the sweep to avoid awkward landings. Practitioners with limited hip mobility should warm up thoroughly before drilling this technique to prevent hip flexor or groin strains. During live training, tap quickly if caught in a submission during the scramble to mount. As the person being swept, do not post your hand directly into the mat with a locked elbow, as this can result in shoulder or elbow injuries - instead, post with a bent arm or learn to roll through safely.
Position Integration
The Flower Sweep is a cornerstone technique in the closed guard attack system and forms one point of the fundamental guard triangle: sweeps, submissions, and transitions. It works in concert with the Hip Bump Sweep to create a left-right dilemma where defending one side opens the other. The sweep flows naturally into submission attacks - if the opponent defends by posting their hand, you transition to armbars; if they tuck their elbow, the triangle becomes available; if they turn away, the omoplata presents itself. This integration means the Flower Sweep is never truly defended, only redirected into another attack. The technique also serves as an essential building block for more advanced guard play, teaching practitioners the fundamental mechanics of off-balancing, angle creation, and using the opponent’s reactions. Understanding the Flower Sweep improves your overall closed guard because it teaches you to recognize weight shifts, grip breaks, and postural changes that signal attacking opportunities.
Expert Insights
- Danaher System: The Flower Sweep represents a perfect example of what I call ‘mechanical advantage through angular displacement.’ The genius of this technique lies not in its power, but in its geometry. When you create that initial 30-45 degree angle with your hips, you fundamentally change the defensive requirements for your opponent - they can no longer defend in a single direction, but must now distribute their base across multiple vectors simultaneously. This is biomechanically inefficient for them and creates the vulnerability we exploit. Note that the butterfly hook functions as a first-class lever with the fulcrum at their hip, and your pulling grips create the force that rotates around that fulcrum. The physics are absolutely sound. What separates successful execution from failure is the understanding that this sweep is not about strength - it’s about timing your attack to coincide with their momentary weight shifts and postural imbalances. The opponent essentially sweeps themselves; you’re merely providing the directional guidance and mechanical framework.
- Gordon Ryan: I hit this sweep constantly in competition because it’s one of the highest percentage techniques in my closed guard. Here’s what matters in real matches: you need to break their posture first - I mean really break it, where their head is below their hips and they’re uncomfortable. Most people try the sweep with weak posture control and wonder why it doesn’t work. Second thing, the grips have to be violent. I’m not just holding their sleeve, I’m ripping it and pulling them into the sweep direction before they even know what’s happening. The timing is everything - I wait until I feel them shift their weight forward even slightly, then I explode into the sweep. Against good opponents, I almost always chain this with the hip bump. I’ll threaten the hip bump hard, they post to defend, then I immediately switch to the flower sweep and attack that posted arm. It’s a real dilemma they can’t solve. The sweep itself is just the entry to mount where the real work begins, but you need to finish it completely - I see too many people get lazy and end up in half guard instead.
- Eddie Bravo: The Flower Sweep is fundamental, but people sleep on how it translates to no-gi and rubber guard entries. From 10th Planet perspective, this sweep teaches you the essential skill of creating angles from closed guard, which is the foundation of our entire bottom game. I tell my students: master this sweep first because it builds the hip mobility and rotational awareness you need for Mission Control and all our rubber guard attacks. In no-gi, you can’t rely on the sleeve grip, so you grab the wrist or behind the tricep, and you need to be more explosive because there’s less control. But the core mechanics - the angle, the butterfly hook, the rotation - those stay exactly the same. One thing I emphasize that’s different from traditional teaching: I want my guys to think about this as a transition, not a destination. Yeah, you can complete to mount, but you can also use the sweeping momentum to go immediately to the truck, to leg attacks, or to enter our whole twister side control system. The flexibility of this technique makes it perfect for modern no-gi where everything is about chains and creating multiple threats from single entries.