by Vitor “Shaolin” Riberio

Some (but not all) BJJ competitors jump to guard in order to get the fight to the ground quickly and avoid conceding takedown points. Most of the time this simply consists of jumping in the air while trying to pull your opponent into your closed guard. In this technique series Shaolin shows that there are some more sophisticated guard-jumping options available to jiu-jitsu practitioners:

Shaolin (in black) squares off with Todd and establishes a lapel grip with his right hand and a belt grip with his left.

Close-up of the belt grip:
This grip helps maintain the proper distance between you and your opponent and makes it more difficult for him to run around your legs when you jump to guard.

Maintaining his two grips Shaolin jumps to butterfly guard, first inserting his left instep hook on Todd’s inner thigh……and then his right hook too.

He now keeps Todd in place with the belt grip and uses his other (right) hand to open Todd’s gi.

He now passes that gi lapel behind Todd’s back and into his left hand. This creates a very secure grip on his opponent’s body and opens the door to many butterfly guard sweeping options.Note how Shaolin is lifting both of Todd’s legs off of the ground. This creates a very unstable base and limit’s his opponent’s movements while completing the transfer of the lapel from hand to hand.

Thanks to Todd Dorion for being the opponent in this technique.

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