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BJJ Fundamentals

Lesson 10 – Butterfly Guard Defence

Warm Up (5min)

Solo Drills

  • Granby Roll

Partner Drill

  • Hook Sweep – The Role of Each Leg

    Lesson (25min)

      Butterfly Hook Sweep

      1. Start in seated butterfly guard
      2. Grip uke’s sleeve to take away their base
      3. Fall onto your side so that one shoulder touches the mat
        • Don’t prop yourself up on an elbow, your weight should be on your shoulder
      4. Plant your toes on the mat and push uke’s hips high above their head
        • Make sure your knee points down into the mat for maximum power
      5. Continue the sweep in the direction of the upper corner, not straight back or sideways
        • Don’t look at your grips or your legs: point your eyes where you want uke to land on the mat, this will naturally align your body into a good sweeping position

      Base Recovery

      1. Continue from butterfly hook sweep (uke is now the person executing the sweep)
        • Identify and ‘turn off’ your natural tendency to pull back directly against uke’s sweep, noting that it does nothing to widen your base and prevent the sweep
      2. Push forward in the same direction that uke is pulling you
      3. Bring your knees off the mat and widen your base, blocking uke’s sweep attempt
      4. Walk to the other side of uke’s body, forcing them to reset their guard
        • Use uke’s ‘reset time’ (i.e. the window where they cannot effectively attack your) to initiate your guard passing

      Inside Position Recovery

      1. Continue from butterfly hook sweep
      2. As you identify that uke’s sweep is going to be successful, grip the gi pants of uke’s top leg
        • It is best to do this before your back is on the mat; it will be harder later when uke settles into their pin
      3. As the sweep is being executed, use your pant grip to make space for your own butterfly hook to steal the inside position away from uke
      4. Shift uke forwards and sit up into butterfly guard
      5. Execute a hook sweep immediately upon recovering
        • Note that in competition, points for sweeping are only awarded after three seconds of holding top position
        • If uke puts you on your back but you immediately counter-sweep them, they might not even get points for their attack