17/07/2019 - Teaching | Dogfight | Drive down and roll under sweep

Teaching #889
Artemis BJJ (Easton Road), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 17/07/2019

Although this is a position I'm teaching as part of half guard, you could potentially end up here from various routes. For example, it might be that you are defending a knee cut pass and swivel up, or perhaps even somehow end up there when attacking the turtle. Most of the time, it crops up in half guard, either from a standard half guard, knee shield or quarter guard.

However you arrive at the dogfight (side by side turtle with an underhook, plus you have their leg hooked), there are several solid options to arrive at a better position. If they haven't got a whizzer (overhooked your underhook), you can simply throw your elbow forward to take their back. If they do have a whizzer but it's loose, you can relax your arm and whip it free (known as a 'limp arm'). Most of the time, the whizzer will be too solid for that, particularly with the added friction of a gi.



The simplest option against a strong whizzer is to drive them down to the mat. Grab their far knee and push into them, collapsing their base. From there, move behind them. I like Kenny Polman's method where you put your shin behind their leg (below the knee) and do a big step forward. You can also grip the side of their knee and put your weight through it to pin that in place, or grab behind with your leg.

Should they insist on holding onto the whizzer at this point, it's not going to do them any good. You can simply wait it out or apply a little pressure to pop the arm off (they won't be comfortable in that position if they insist on holding the whizzer underneath side control).

If you've gone for the drive down, but they resist, then the follow up is to roll underneath. Maintain your hook on the leg, as that will mean you can engage your legs, rather than relying on your core to roll them over the top. You're aiming to fire your head and shoulder between their legs, Combined with the momentum of their drive towards you, that should send them rolling to the mat. Come on top, then proceed to side control as before.



Sometimes they will remove their whizzer to post, in order to prevent being rolled. The reason you went for the drive down and roll under in the first place was because the whizzer was blocking your route to the back. Therefore whenever they remove it, the back is open once again. That means you can just return to the back take when they try to post, shoving the arm forwards if you need to.
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Teaching Notes: A few people were curious about what happens when they still have the whizzer: I don't think it does any good, so I'd say just wait it out or apply some pressure to pop it off. Still, worth mentioning.