Stack Pass

The Stack Pass is a fundamental pressure passing technique that uses vertical pressure and weight distribution to break through the guard. By driving the opponent’s knees toward their chest and stacking their hips over their shoulders, you create a mechanical disadvantage that makes guard retention extremely difficult. This pass is particularly effective against opponents who rely on active guard retention, as the stacking pressure limits their hip mobility and ability to create defensive frames. The technique requires excellent base, timing, and the ability to maintain heavy top pressure while navigating past the legs. When executed properly, the Stack Pass transitions seamlessly into dominant side control or mount positions.

Starting Position: Closed Guard Ending Position: Side Control Success Rates: Beginner 35%, Intermediate 55%, Advanced 70%

Key Principles

• Drive opponent’s knees toward their chest to limit hip mobility
• Maintain vertical pressure through their center line
• Control both legs together to prevent guard recovery
• Use opponent’s defensive reactions to choose passing direction
• Keep hips low and base wide for maximum pressure
• Thread the knee through once hips are stacked
• Transition smoothly to side control without giving space

Prerequisites

• Guard is closed or semi-open with legs in front of you
• Strong grips on opponent’s pants near the knees or ankles
• Posture is upright with good base and balance
• Opponent’s back is on the mat
• You have initiated forward pressure to begin breaking guard
• Weight is distributed properly to prevent being swept

Execution Steps

1. Establish grips: From standing or combat base in closed guard, secure bilateral grips on opponent’s pants at the knees or lower shins. These grips will control their leg movement throughout the pass. (Timing: Initial setup before pressure application)
2. Break guard open: Using your grips and posture, create space to open the closed guard. Stand up if necessary, or use a knee-cut motion to split the ankles apart. Maintain grip control throughout. (Timing: Coordinate with opponent’s breathing or movement)
3. Drive knees to chest: Step forward with both feet and drive the opponent’s knees toward their chest using your grips. Your weight should transfer forward, creating vertical pressure down their center line toward their shoulders. (Timing: Explosive forward drive as guard opens)
4. Stack the hips: Continue driving forward until the opponent’s hips lift off the mat and their weight shifts onto their shoulders. Your chest should be directly over their knees, maximizing downward pressure and limiting their ability to shrimp or recover guard. (Timing: Sustained pressure until full stack achieved)
5. Control both legs together: Consolidate control by pinching both legs together with your arms or chest. This prevents them from creating hooks or frames with individual legs. Keep your head low to avoid guillotine attempts. (Timing: Maintain throughout the passing sequence)
6. Choose passing direction: Based on opponent’s defensive reactions, decide which side to pass. If they turn to one side, pass to the opposite side. Thread your knee through the gap between their legs and your body. (Timing: React to their defensive movement)
7. Clear the legs: Slide your knee through while maintaining pressure on their stacked hips. Use your free hand to push their bottom leg to the mat while keeping their top leg controlled with your other arm. (Timing: Smooth, controlled movement)
8. Secure side control: Once your hips clear their legs, immediately establish side control by bringing your weight down onto their torso. Secure crossface and underhook controls to prevent their escape attempts. (Timing: Immediate transition to consolidate position)

Opponent Counters

• Hip escape and shrimp away to create space (Effectiveness: Medium) - Your Response: Follow their hips with your weight, maintain constant pressure, and don’t allow them to create distance. Keep your base wide to prevent being swept.
• Guillotine choke attempt as you drive forward (Effectiveness: High) - Your Response: Keep your head positioned to the side and chin tucked. Maintain low posture with head below their chest line. If caught, immediately posture up and strip the grip.
• Granby roll or inversion to recover guard (Effectiveness: Medium) - Your Response: Follow their roll and maintain leg control. Use their momentum to secure back position or mount rather than fighting to finish the side control pass.
• Push on your hips to create distance (Effectiveness: Low) - Your Response: Drive through their frames by keeping your hips low and weight forward. Use your grips to pull their legs higher, negating their pushing power.
• Triangle attempt from the stacked position (Effectiveness: Medium) - Your Response: Keep both arms inside their legs or one arm posted on the mat. Maintain wide base and don’t allow them to control your head or arm together.

Common Mistakes

• Mistake: Standing too upright during the stack, reducing pressure
  • Consequence: Opponent can easily shrimp away or recover guard as there’s insufficient weight keeping them flat
  • Correction: Keep your chest low and over their knees. Your weight should drive down through their center line, not just push horizontally.
• Mistake: Releasing leg control too early
  • Consequence: Opponent recovers guard immediately by reestablishing hooks or frames
  • Correction: Maintain control of at least one leg until your hips fully clear theirs and you establish side control grips.
• Mistake: Narrow base making you unstable
  • Consequence: Opponent can sweep you or create enough movement to escape
  • Correction: Keep feet wide and knees slightly bent. Your base should be solid enough that pushing from below has minimal effect.
• Mistake: Passing directly into their turning direction
  • Consequence: Playing into their escape, making the pass much harder
  • Correction: Read their defensive turn and pass to the opposite side. Use their momentum against them.
• Mistake: Lifting the hips too high during the stack
  • Consequence: Creates space for them to invert, granby roll, or slip their hips away
  • Correction: Stack their hips just enough to limit mobility but keep them controlled. Excessive lifting loses control.
• Mistake: Forgetting head position and getting guillotined
  • Consequence: Caught in a tight guillotine choke that may force you to abandon the pass
  • Correction: Always keep your head to one side, chin tucked, and below their chest level. Never drive straight into their centerline with your head up.

Training Progressions

Week 1-2: Fundamental Mechanics - Grip fighting and stacking pressure Practice establishing grips on the pants and creating the initial stack without resistance. Focus on weight distribution and maintaining low posture. Partner remains passive. (Resistance: None)

Week 3-4: Directional Passing - Reading reactions and choosing sides Partner provides light resistance and subtle directional cues. Practice recognizing which side to pass based on their defensive turns. Develop smooth knee-threading mechanics. (Resistance: Light)

Week 5-8: Pressure Management - Maintaining stack under movement Partner attempts basic escapes like hip escapes and frames. Practice following their movement while maintaining stacking pressure. Introduce guillotine defense awareness. (Resistance: Medium)

Week 9-12: Counter Awareness - Defending submissions and sweeps Partner adds guillotine attempts, triangle setups, and sweep attempts. Practice defensive positioning while maintaining forward pressure. Develop problem-solving during the pass. (Resistance: Medium)

Month 4+: Competition Application - Full resistance and timing Execute the stack pass against fully resisting opponents attempting all defensive options. Focus on timing the pass with their breathing, grip breaks, or other movements. (Resistance: Full)

Ongoing Refinement - Variation integration and chaining Combine stack pass with other passing options like knee slice, toreando, and leg drag. Use the stack pass as part of a comprehensive passing system. (Resistance: Full)

Variations

Double Under Stack Pass: Instead of gripping the pants, swim both arms under the legs and clasp hands behind the opponent’s back. This creates even more control and pressure but requires careful guillotine defense. (When to use: Against opponents with strong leg pummeling or when you need maximum control)

Single Stack with Knee Slice: Stack one leg toward their chest while using the other leg as a wedge for a knee slice pass. This hybrid approach combines stacking pressure with lateral movement. (When to use: When opponent defends the full stack by turning their knees to one side)

Standing Stack Pass: Execute the stack from a fully standing position, using gravity and body weight to create maximum pressure. Often used in gi with collar grips to prevent posturing. (When to use: Against flexible opponents or when you need maximum pressure from standing)

Stack to Mount: Instead of passing to side control, drive the stack so far that you step completely over and establish mount directly. Requires excellent timing and opponent’s defensive turn. (When to use: When opponent’s defensive turn creates space for direct mount entry)

Test Your Knowledge

Q1: What is the primary mechanical advantage created by the stack pass? A: The stack pass creates a mechanical advantage by driving the opponent’s knees toward their chest, which lifts their hips off the mat and places their weight onto their shoulders. This severely limits their hip mobility and ability to create defensive frames, making guard retention extremely difficult. The vertical pressure also restricts their breathing and ability to generate power in their legs.

Q2: How should you adjust your passing direction based on the opponent’s defensive reactions? A: You should pass opposite to the direction the opponent turns their knees. If they turn their knees to their right (your left), you should pass to your right (their left). This uses their defensive momentum against them and makes the pass easier. Fighting against their turn makes the pass unnecessarily difficult.

Q3: What are the key defensive considerations when executing the stack pass? A: The primary defensive concern is the guillotine choke, which can be set up as you drive forward. Keep your head to one side, chin tucked, and positioned below their chest line. Never drive straight forward with your head up in their centerline. Secondary concerns include triangle attempts (keep arms inside or one posted), and maintaining wide base to prevent sweeps.

Q4: Why is maintaining control of the legs critical until the very end of the pass? A: Releasing leg control prematurely allows the opponent to immediately recover guard by reestablishing hooks, creating frames, or using their legs to create distance. You must maintain control of at least one leg until your hips fully clear theirs and you can establish side control grips. Early release is one of the most common reasons this pass fails at all levels.

Q5: How does the stack pass integrate into a comprehensive passing system? A: The stack pass works synergistically with other guard passes by creating different defensive reactions. When opponents defend the stack by keeping their knees wide and low, it opens up knee slice and leg drag opportunities. When they defend by turning to one side, it facilitates directional passes like toreando. The stacking pressure can also be used to set up double under passes or transitions to mount. Advanced passers use the stack pass as both a primary technique and a pressure tool to expose other passing lanes.

Q6: What role does weight distribution play in the effectiveness of the stack pass? A: Proper weight distribution is critical for maintaining pressure while staying mobile. Your weight should drive down through the opponent’s center line toward their shoulders, not just push horizontally. A wide base with knees bent provides stability against sweeps while allowing you to transfer weight effectively. The chest should be low and over their knees, creating vertical pressure that’s difficult to escape. Poor weight distribution results in either insufficient pressure (too upright) or loss of balance (too narrow).

Safety Considerations

The stack pass places significant pressure on the opponent’s neck, spine, and lower back. Always apply pressure gradually and be aware of your partner’s flexibility limitations. Beginners should avoid excessive stacking that drives the opponent’s knees too far toward their face, as this can cause neck compression injuries. When practicing, communicate with your partner about pressure levels and stop immediately if they tap or show discomfort. Be especially cautious with partners who have neck, back, or shoulder injuries. When defending guillotines, don’t jerk your head out violently as this can injure your own neck. The passer should also be aware that poor posture can lead to neck strain from guillotine pressure.

Position Integration

The stack pass is a cornerstone technique of pressure passing systems and integrates seamlessly into comprehensive guard passing strategies. It serves as both a primary pass and a pressure tool that forces reactions, opening up other passing opportunities. In positional hierarchies, the stack pass transitions from neutral guard positions directly into dominant top positions like side control or mount. It’s particularly effective when combined with other pressure passes like double under pass, knee slice, and smash pass. The technique fits into the larger BJJ system as a fundamental skill that works at all belt levels and forms the foundation for understanding pressure-based guard passing. Many world-class competitors use the stack pass as their primary weapon, building entire passing systems around the pressure and control principles it teaches.

Related Techniques

• Double Under Pass - Related pressure passing technique with similar stacking mechanics
• Knee Slice Pass - Common follow-up when opponent defends the stack by turning
• Toreando Pass - Alternative pass when opponent keeps knees wide to prevent stacking
• Smash Pass - Related pressure pass often used in combination
• Closed Guard - Primary starting position for this technique
• Side Control - Primary ending position after successful execution
• Guillotine Defense - Essential defensive skill required during stack pass execution
• Guard Pass - General category of techniques this belongs to
• Pressure Passing Framework - Theoretical framework underlying this technique
• Mount - Alternative ending position with stack to mount variation
• Guard Passing - Fundamental principles applied in this technique
• Base Maintenance - Critical principle for maintaining stability during the pass

Expert Insights

• Danaher System: The stack pass represents one of the most mechanically efficient methods of passing the guard because it attacks the fundamental weakness of the guard position: the inability to generate power when your hips are elevated and your weight is on your shoulders. The key to understanding this pass from a systematic perspective is recognizing that you’re not just pushing the legs—you’re creating a leverage point where the opponent’s own body weight works against them. When you drive their knees toward their chest and elevate their hips, you remove their ability to use hip movement for guard retention. The critical detail most people miss is the angle of pressure. It must be vertical, down through their center line toward their shoulders, not horizontal into their guard. This vertical pressure is what makes recovery nearly impossible. From a teaching standpoint, I emphasize that the stack pass is not about strength but about understanding angles and weight distribution.
• Gordon Ryan: The stack pass is one of my highest percentage techniques in competition because it’s incredibly difficult to defend when done correctly. The key is timing—you need to recognize when your opponent is breathing or making a grip adjustment, then explode into the stack before they can set their defensive frames. I like to combine the stack pass with other passes in sequences. If they defend the stack by keeping their knees wide, I immediately switch to a knee slice. If they defend by turning to one side, I follow their turn and pass to the opposite side. The pass works even better when you’ve already tired them out with previous passing attempts because the stacking pressure is exhausting to defend. In no-gi especially, the stack pass is brutally effective because there are fewer grips for them to use defensively. My biggest tip is to never release the leg control until you’re completely past—so many people release early and lose the position.
• Eddie Bravo: What I love about the stack pass is how it completely shuts down the opponent’s game and forces them into a survival position. In 10th Planet system, we use the stack pass not just as a guard pass but as a control position in itself—sometimes we’ll hold the stack to tire them out before finishing the pass. The guillotine threat is real though, so you have to keep your head positioned correctly, always to one side and low. We practice a lot of stack pass defense drills where the bottom person tries guillotines, triangles, and inversions, so our passers learn to deal with all those threats automatically. One variation I really like is using the stack to set up leg attacks—when you stack someone hard and they’re trying to defend, you can sometimes catch them in a straight ankle lock or even transition to saddle if they try to invert. The stack pass also works great in combination with the truck position. If they granby roll or try to invert out of the stack, you can follow them right into the truck and start hunting for the twister or back take.