Smash Pass

What it is

The smash pass is a half guard pass where you flatten your opponent with a crossface, an underhook and chest pressure before you free your trapped knee. It is the basic pressure way to pass half guard. Once they are flat and cannot turn in, you pry their legs open, pull your knee out and step to side control or mount.

When to use it

• You are in top half guard and they are fighting for the underhook.
• They have a knee shield and you want to crush it and get chest to chest.
• You landed in half guard from a single leg or a failed pass.

How to do it

1. From top half guard, kill the knee shield and drive your chest onto theirs.
2. Crossface with one arm, your shoulder under their jaw turning their head away from you.
3. Take the far underhook with your other arm, so both their shoulders are flat on the mat.
4. Sprawl your free leg back and keep your hips low, so all your weight is on their chest.
5. Use your free foot or knee to push their top knee down and pry their legs open.
6. Pull your trapped knee up and out, then step over to mount or slide to side control.

Key details

• Flatten first, free the knee second. Their escape is always to turn in to you, so stop that before anything else.
• The crossface turns the head away. Where the head goes, the body follows.
• Win the underhook battle. If they get the underhook, the pass stops and their sweeps begin.
• Hips low and heavy. Your weight should be on their chest, not your knees.

Common mistakes

• Mistake: yanking the knee out before they are flat. They turn in, take the underhook and come up.
• Mistake: hips high while you work. They slide a knee shield back in and push you away.
• Mistake: crossfacing with no underhook. They get the underhook on that side and set up the old school sweep.

What they will try

• They win the underhook and come up on their side for a sweep or the back.
• They recover a knee shield and frame on your neck to get distance.
• They lock their feet tightly around your trapped leg to stop it coming out.

Gi and no-gi

The pass is the same in no-gi. Without collar grips, the crossface and underhook do all the work, so lock them tight.