Lucas Leite, Master of the Half Guard

The half guard is one of the most popular guards in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and MMA.  One of the first guards that you learn and one of the last that you will use, the half guard is extremely effective, and when properly applied, can be very simple. 

One of the most famous half guard players in the world is Lucas Leite.  Lucas is a Black Belt World Champion and has proven his half guard to be effective against many of the best grapplers in the world including Marcelo Garcia, Michael Langhi, and others.  Lucas has a simple but very effective system that has been proven to work in competition.

What makes Lucas’s half guard so dominant?  Lucas has a very simple style of half guard.  He has a few moves that he has sharpened over time;he has perfected his timing and his execution.  The sequence of moves he uses all connects and when properly applied, they can be some of the best sweeps in the world.  

Lucas Leite Guard

Lucas has not only won the worlds in his weight division but he also placed in the heavy weight division.  Lucas is a very goal oriented competitor and wanted to prove that his half guard system works on people of all weight divisions.  His half guard is very simple but effective.  Many of his opponents know that he is going to play half guard but have a very difficult time dealing with it.

This is because although people know what Lucas is going to do, it still works.  How does he make it work?  Lucas has been playing half guard for years;he has used his moves on people of all weight, experience, lineage, and style.  This means that no matter how you plan on countering his half guard, Lucas has probably seen what you are going to do. Think about it this way, Lucas has been in half guard more than you have probably passed the half guard.

One of the best matches in the IBJJF history was when Lucas would go against Marcelo Garcia.  Marcelo was notorious for forcing the half guard because he preferred to pass people in half guard and Lucas loved to play the half guard.  It was always a good back and forth battle but unfortunately, Marcelo always came out on top.  Lucas was one of the few people who gave Marcelo trouble though in the half guard.  Check out this clip below where Lucas shows one of his most effective sweeps.

If you want to learn some of Lucas Leite’s best techniques that have been proven in competition, check out his DVD set, the Coyote Half Guard.  Lucas divulges all of his best sweeps in the DVD and you can learn how to play Half Guard just like him.  Also, check out our article on Bernardo Faria who also plays an incredible half guard here. Lucas has won the worlds at black belt in the gi and has won the nogi worlds 3x.