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Butterfly Pass Control Ankle, Flatten Out

4,651 views · Published 27 August 2012 · 2:41 · Indexed 2 October 2026

Channel: Great Grappling · 2012 · Education

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In this video I show a basic Butterfly Guard Pass called Control The Ankle and Flatten Out.

I learned this when I was a white belt and I still use the concepts a lot in my passing game.  The idea of controlling your opponents legs with one arm by gripping the far pant leg and then flattening out will be an invaluable skill to have at the higher levels.

The first, and most overlooked piece, is to bring your opponents ankles close to their butt and then to squeeze with your knees.  I will almost always do this as a form of control and you would be surprised how much this little pressure can help dominate the position. 

Once you have dominated your opponents legs you can reach around the outside and take a grip on the leg furthest from you.  Do not really concern yourself with the legality of the grip, just grab onto whatever your hand can get.  This will be the hardest part of the move depending on how big/tight your opponents pants are.  In the video I had an extremely hard time getting a grip on Alan's pants but honestly it's usually fairly easy.

Once you have the grip it is time to sit out or flatten out.  In this video I sit out on my hip.  If your opponent has a good Guard it can be difficult to do this.  In that event you'll just flatten out (think a slow belly flop on the legs) and walk around.

The important thing is to make sure you keep that shoulder dropped on the hand that is controlling the pants.  There needs to be a lot of pressure on the legs so that your opponent cant use them to defend the guard pass.

After you have passed the legs you can continue on to N/S or stay right in Side Control.  Make sure to set up your grips and check your base quickly.

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