Armbar Set Up From Flower Sweep Attempt

The flower sweep is a closed guard sweep that students usually learn as white belts. It follows in suit in simplicity with the sit-over sweep and the scissor sweeps. These are three sweeps from closed guard that every white belt should know before getting promoted to blue belt. 

The flower sweep is sometimes referred to as the pendulum sweep by some due to mechanical nature of it. This simple technique can be used both gi and no gi just like the scissor sweep and sit over sweep. Just like the other closed guard sweeps, this technique can be used to set up submissions as well.

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The effectiveness of the flower sweep is due to, in part, the use of the leg or pant grip. Most sweeps that utilize such grips tend to be more powerful than those that don’t. Due to the leg control, the primary defense of this sweep depends of the use of the hands as a base, which can be taken advantage of.

Unfortunately, many advanced students, especially blue belts and purple belts, tend to forget this great sweep. Old school techniques, like the flower sweep, are often accused of not working against a skilled opponent. This is a ridiculous accusation, and you should know that if you have ever watched Roger Gracie compete.

In order to use these traditional techniques at a high level, we have to understand the common defenses used against them. Furthermore, we need to remain open-minded in the sense that we use certain techniques so that we can take advantage of their defenses. This is one of the most common skills a good black belt has.

Being open minded is especially important in closed guard, where defenses are relatively simple. You probably learned how to set up a kimura or triangle from a failed hip bump sweep. You might even attempt a hip bump sweep in order to set up those submissions. The same concept can be applied to the flower sweep to set up all sorts of submissions like armbars, triangles, and omoplatas.

In the following video, you will see how you can take advantage of the flower sweep defense to set up an armbar. See below:

 

Improve your submission defense by watching Tom DeBlass' Submission Escapes DVD! You can get this great series here!