Some students found the terminology of the old Will-Machado Blue to Purple Belt grading sheet confusing in class today.
Part of this is due to a name change for two guards, and related sweeps, that happened over time.
The guard where our opponent is kneeling, with our feet between and hooked inside their thighs, was called the hooks, hooks-in or double hooking guard back in antiquity – which in our case is when John Will’s book, “The Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Guard” was published in the early 2000s.
Many Americans had always called this guard the butterfly guard. Over time, with the increasing global popularity of BJJ, and what some might call American hegemony, we bowed to the inevitable and adopted their terminology.
Old terminology: hooks-in guard
New terminology: butterfly guard
The sweep we do from here for grading purposes was called the double hooking sweep back in the day, and still is on the grading sheet. I demonstrate this sweep in the following clip. Note that in a free rolling situation against resistance, I would come up on the ball of my left foot, driving with my left leg for more sweeping power, and finish with a tighter side control with heavier pressure.
New terminology: butterfly sweep
Uke – Karen Vegar
It is important to sit up with that post behind you as a buttress, get your hips out to one side for bias, get a deep underhook, and keep your head in a position that stops your opponent from getting his head under yours and flattening you out. Sweep by falling onto your side, not falling flat onto your back.
This sweep has many variations. It is well worth the time and effort to develop competence with this sweep and the use of your hooks. People who get good at this sweep and its variations and combinations can be quite a handful to roll with.
The guard where the opponent is on their knees, our feet are on their hips, we have gripped their sleeves, and our shins are pressing outward on the inside of their biceps was called the butterfly guard back in turn of the (twenty-first) century Australia. Once again, due to the globalisation of BJJ, we have renamed it to the shin to bicep, or shin on bicep, guard.
Old terminology: butterfly guard
New terminology: shin to bicep guard
The sweep we do from here is called the butterfly sweep on the grading sheet. John Will changed its name to the catapult sweep on his “Mastering Sweeps” DVD. No one calls it a butterfly sweep any more.
New terminology: catapult sweep
Uke – Karen Vegar
Note how I load the catapult, by bringing my partner off her base and onto my shin. Then I fire the catapult, driving her straight forward away from me, at ninety degrees to the angle which I used to load the catapult. I use the weight of my partner falling to pull me up, rolling over my shin and finishing in kneeride. Once again, I am being more considerate with my speed and weight here than I might be in a competitive situation.
Sometimes your partner will almost load the catapult for you by trying to pass around to the side where you have let go their sleeve and grabbed their cuff. This is less effort for you, provided you get the timing right and manage to start sweeping them before they can grab your neck or collar.
This sweep also has many variations – against a standing opponent, foot in bicep, with a leg lasso, foot in the stomach, both feet in one bicep, etc. The Lange’s MMA logo is of a foot in stomach variation.
Common follow-ups are flowing straight into an armbar from or just before the kneeride, or catching a legbar in the middle of the sweep.
The leg grab rollover sweep also has a number of names and variations. It is also commonly called the pendulum sweep and the flower sweep. I demonstrate two variations of the sweep here. I understand that the second variation is also called the body hug and leg lift sweep and features on the purple to brown belt grading sheet.
The first variation can also be used against an opponent who makes the mistake of standing up on their left foot (in the scenario shown above) as if to perform a basic under-the-leg pass, but makes the rookie mistake of bringing their left leg within grabbing distance of my right hand.
In the first variation, my left leg swinging out as a pendulum, and the right leg bumping up under my partner’s armpit, serve to pull her forward, right off her base. My right leg drives her over onto her back and my left leg swings back underneath to chop her base out from underneath her.
I try to do the same things with my legs in the second variation as I did with the first. My closeness to my partner does not allow them as much freedom to move, but I try to incorporate the same sort of energy and orientation to them. With the second variation, it is also possible to shuffle my hips under my opponent gradually, in multiple movements, thus allowing me to sweep considerably heavier opponents than myself, if my technique is on point.
I hope this helps clear up some possible confusion with the curriculum (rather than adding to it 🙂 ). Note that I only followed this curriculum myself up to blue belt first stripe. The instructor who graded me after that stripe, Anthony Lange, had adopted his own, different, grading criteria by then.