Two Simple and Effective Deep Half Guard Sweeps

Do you even Deep Half?  Deep half guard is one of the best guards in the world.  Although it is not extremely popular, there has been high level black belts who have been able to prove its effectiveness.  5x Black Belt World Champion, Bernardo Faria has been infamous for playing deep half and using the guard successfully against formidable opponents such as Leandro Lo, Gabriel Arges, Luiz Panza, Erberth Santos and many many more.  SO do you deep half?

Many of us tend to stay away from deep half because we perceive it as a precarious position but learning the intricacies of deep half can help us in so many ways.  Deep half guard is an excellent position to defend mount attacks, back attacks, and other various positions from.  There are many escapes from the mount, quarter guard, or the back that ultimately put us into the deep half guard.

The problem with deep half is once we get into the position if we don’t know what to do we can be in danger of submissions like arm bars, Kimura’s, collar chokes, and we can be vulnerable to back attacks, and guard passes.  This is the same with almost any other guard that you do not know how to play. Today we have decided to share some very basic deep half guard sweeps with you, one of them is from the man himself, Bernardo Faria and the other is from a friend of his.  Let’s take a look below!

Different Deep Half Guard Sweep by Nathan Jeffers

Guys Nathan Jeffers, he is a black belt under Tom Oberhue.  Nathan is a fascinating person because he is 51 years old and an active black belt who trains with all of the young guys and competitors.  There is something to be said about a 51 year old who is able to successfully sweep and submits guys half his age.  Nathan is also a friend of Bernardo Faria’s and he has taken some private lessons with him.  He likes to emulate Bernardo’s game.  In the video below, which is off of Bernardo’s YouTube channel, Nathan shows a sweep to Bernardo.  Bernardo was rolling with Nathan and he said that Nathan was doing something super simple and effective that he had not seen before so let’s take a look at the sweep and then discuss it.

So as you can see in the video above, the sweep looks so simple you would almost think it doesn’t work, but it has the approval of Bernardo the multiple time world champion and he was able to sweep him with it.  So why is this such a good sweep?  Well, it happens in a position where your opponent is seconds away from passing your guard.

Nathan is able to keep his head tight for pressure, get the sleeve grip, and use a simple bridge and bump technique to get a sweep.  There are some key detail’s going on here that you don’t want to miss.  First off, Nathan is using his opponent’s sleeve grip against them;he is also keeping his elbow very tight to his rib to prevent his opponent from passing the leg near the head over.  This is crucial because if they get their leg around your head, they will be able to pass your guard.

Once he has everything in place for the sweep, Nathan is able to hit them with his knee so they are a bit off balance and at the moment he feels that their balance is compromised, he will turn on his side and sweep them.  Like Nathan said in the video you have to be cautious of coming up right into a triangle and be aware that this could happen.  Keep their leg trapped and immediately look for the double under pass or over under pass! Let’s take a look at another sweep from Bernardo himself.

An Easy Sweep from Deep Half Guard by Bernardo Faria

Bernardo Faria is a 5x Black Belt World Champion and he also won the Open Class World Championship at Black Belt.  This is the most prestigious title in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.  His favorite position is the deep half guard and half guard.  He is a master at both and he has by far the best deep half guard in bjj.  All of his opponent’s know his game and they know what to expect when coming into a match with him but none of them are able to stop it.  Why?  Because he has perfected his timing and his sweeps.  Bernardo is simple the best at the deep half, and what is more impressive is the fact that his game is very simple.  People of all ages, gender, skill level, athleticism, and walks of life are able to learn and implement his game.  He does not use any crazy flexibility, agility, strength, or athleticism, just pure technique.  Let’s take a look at a sweep from him below and then discuss.

So this sweep is also occurring from a specific situation, but if you are flexible, you can also just do this position immediately.  What Bernardo is trying to prevent is the same thing that Nathan was trying to prevent.  He does not want his opponent to pass the leg over their head.  This would put Bernardo in a reverse half guard and this is typically a bad position to be in. 

In this situation, Bernardo’s opponent was trying to stand up and pass their leg.  This can occur even if they are not trying to pass their leg over your head, some people may just attempt to stand up in your deep half guard and this can cause you some trouble.  Basically anytime your opponent stands in your deep half guard you can use this sweep.

If you notice Bernardo was controlling his opponent’s lapel, and as his opponent stood up he immediately drew his knee inside his opponent’s leg.  This is very similar to an X Guard position.  He draws the knee in to keep his opponent stretched so they don’t pass the guard. Once he has the knee in he is still controlling his opponent’s leg near his head so they don’t step over.  Bernardo is able to move quickly and get his other leg on the inside of his opponent’s knee so he can stretch them out.

Once Bernardo has his other foot pushing on his opponents knee, he does a sit up and comes to his elbow, this is so that he can get the leg near his head off of the ground.  Now his opponent is on one leg, after this he just comes to his hand and does a technical stand up and they will most likely fall.  If they do not you can just run forward and they will lose their balance. 

Notice that Bernardo extends them at the same time that he does a site up and comes to his elbow.  This is because as he extends, the leg on his shoulder gets extremely light and it makes it effortless to get up.  Try this sweep out and see how it goes, it is simple, and effective and it is one of the best sweeps from the deep half guard.

Guys if you want to learn more from Bernardo Faria and his deep half guard, he has an excellent DVD “Battle Tested Half Guard” available as a hard copy or ondemand.  This is the BEST resource you can get on the deep half guard and the half guard.  Check it out below!