Sweep Your Opponent From Reverse Half Guard With Jake Mackenzie

By Fanatics Authors, January 21, 2019

Reverse Half Guard By Jake Mackenzie

In modern Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, the half guard has been through somewhat of a renaissance as it becomes more and more popular for high level competitors to use it as their primary guard. World class competitors such as Bernardo Faria, Tom DeBlass, and Jake Mackenzie have revolutionized the way people play half guard, which was one perceived as a last ditch effort to prevent an opponent from passing full guard. But the reality is, a solid bottom half guard can make a smaller player strong and a big player stronger with the utilization of arm frames, the knee shield and proper body angling on one's side.

Jake Mackenzie may be the most knowledgeable half guard specialist in Brazil. Learn The Top Secret Half Guard System From The Canadian Who Infiltrated Brazil’s Toughest School

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When playing bottom half guard, often times your opponent will counter by back stepping to pass the half guard. As this happens, it will allow you to switch into reverse half guard. The reverse guard technique is great to have in your arsenal if you love to play half guard. Nobody knows this better than Jake Mackenzie. Jake is a Brazilian jiu jitsu black belt under Roberto “Cyborg” Abreu of Fight Sports. Jake is known for his mastery of half guard, deep half guard, and reverse half guard. Jake is also regarded as one of the top North American grapplers of his generation. Seriously, his list of titles is impressive. Some of his notable titles are 4x Brazilian National Teams Champion, 2x Brazilian National No Gi Champion, 2x São Paulo International Open Champion, World Masters Champion and more.

Today Jake Mackenzie is here with 5 Time World Champion Bernardo Fario at BJJ Fanatics Head Quarters to show how he likes to play reverse half guard. Watch the video below of Jake showing a sweep from the reverse half guard and then we will break it down. Check it out now!

There are some important details Jake Mackenzie shares with us when playing half guard. Make sure that when you are starting this technique you want to lift your hip up in order to put pressure on the knee. This will make your training partner feel very uncomfortable. After Jake puts pressure on the knee he goes to switch his hooks. This is where most of your training partners will think you are going to go for a hook sweep. Instead, Jake slides his leg into his training partner’s leg, which causes him to be completely stuck. Once Jake gets on top he manages to hit a leg drag which allows him to sweep his training partner, effectively passing his guard. This is a very, very good position to be in. This is a great way to make something good out of a bad position.

As you can tell, this is a great technique, and will work for everyone, no matter what your skill level is. Jake is the best at the reverse half guard, and you can be too with techniques like this. So give this one a try the next time you are in a live roll or in a competition. It can be very dangerous when done effectively! I hope you found this useful. Thank you Jake Mackenzie for demonstrating this technique for us here today!

Everybody feels in trouble when they play half guard with Jake. Now, it’s your turn to make everyone feel this way about your game.

When you finish watching this series you’ll leave them thinking you were born on the mat. REMEMBER! Half guard is a safe guard to play. It has no age or body-type restriction. Anyone can play it - literally.

The problem is most people play half guard wrong. Jake is like an encyclopedia when it comes to half guard. He’s all about technique without force and shows you game-changing details.