Half Guard Destruction by Gabriel Procopio

Check Out The Trailer!

What Will You Learn?

It’s no secret in the jiu-jitsu world that Bernardo Faria is one of the best half guard players ever. For years, he was unstoppable in competition, moving between knee shield, half guard, and deep half effortlessly, able to take the best fighters and sweep and submit them.

For those black belts, they only had to worry about Bernardo a few times a year. Gabriel Procopio had to deal with that half guard every day as they trained in their home town of Juiz de Fora, Brazil! As one of his main training partners, not only was Gabriel training with one of the best, and molding himself into one of the best black belts in his division, but he was getting a half guard experience that no one could match.

Gabriel comes from a strong lineage of successful fighters, as a Brazilian Top Team black belt under Master Ricardo Marques. Since becoming a black belt, he’s turned heads and opened eyes with a solid pressure game and relentless attacks, and has racked up many IBJJF tournament victories and gold medals along the way. Iron truly sharpens iron, and Gabriel has made it a nasty habit to punish his opponents from half guard.

It used to be that half guard was thought of as an inferior position, where the bottom man’s only hope was to hold and defend and try to get back to full guard, or up to the feet. Now, as BJJ has evolved, half guard has become a dangerous position where the bottom man can attack and dictate the fight, so much so that a lot of fighters center their whole game around getting there! Now, more than ever before, you have to know how to technically and methodically take apart an effective half guard, and Gabriel is here to do just that.

This is not just a few simple passes that any blue belt can show you! This is a full half guard encyclopedia, with different passes and attacks for any style you have, and whatever position your opponent puts you in. Connect your half guard to a dominant mount, frustrate your opponent with methodical back takes, or finish the fight with chokes and joint locks that will leave your training partners tapping.

With these techniques, you can learn how to consistently stay safe and pass one of the most common guards in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Don’t worry about getting rolled and swept again by larger, stronger fighters, because these secret into how to control and establish position are as subtle as they are important. You’ll go from how to control and pin them down, then how to systematically move to more and more control, ending with you in great position or forcing the submission.

Start simply with basic controls from the half guard, including a few tricks to supercharge your pressure against the head and body (no matter your size!). From there, learn every detail from the go-to passes that Gabriel has relied on to win multiple black belt IBJJF tournaments. Pass to the side mount, mount, or the back, using your body’s leverage and gravity to break open their guard and establishing yourself in a much better position. Along the way, as you work through this system, find the places that Gabriel likes to use the gi, wrapping his opponent up and stripping away the bottom person’s options, and keep yourself safe from counter attacks.

Half guard isn’t just a place for passing, it’s a fight ender! Gabriel’s got his system down to a science, using his body to isolate and create the joint locks that lead to the submission. Learn how to do the same, with step-by-step analysis of how to use your head and chest to pressure and pin them down while your grips move inch by inch to your chokes and joint locks. One of the best techniques in this set has got to be the armbar he hits consistently from deep half guard, the same technique that Bruno Malficine used to win his 10th world championship! A lot of people look for this move, but one simple change in your perspective and timing will make all the difference. Learn not just how to attack, but when to attack!

The more you train, the more you find your ‘style’, those moves and attacks that work for you, that you go to over and over. When it comes to passing, some like to pressure and crush, others may prefer to drag the leg by, or weave, or knee slide.

One of the greatest things about this instructional is that Gabriel knows this, and has connected his fundamentals to a wide and diverse variation of passes that any style can benefit from. No matter your age, no matter your body type, no matter your experience level, there is something here that can change the way you approach one of the most common battles in BJJ. Also see the technical mastery that Gabriel developed passing one of the world’s most dangerous deep half guards every day, as he takes you through how to stay safe, how to stay in control, then how to pass in a variety of ways. You have got to see the way he is able to control the position as he steps over to reverse half guard, putting himself back in control without ever exposing or compromising his base, then connects it to a pass. A lot of fighters attempt this, but they are missing the key gripping and control details that Gabriel shows here. Now, you can avoid those problems all together.

When you fight against good half guard players, it’s just a matter of time until you are left battling the knee shield (or Z guard), a position that has a strong reputation for being one of the most frustrating in BJJ. You’ve done so much, you get so close to finally being able to impose your pressure and take over, and then your opponent slides in that knee and the distance you worked so hard to remove is back. The more you press in, the more you feed into their game, and the more you move back, the more you concede the space you worked so hard to take away. Now, with Gabriel’s knee shield passes, take the third (best) option and move around the guard instead, using your grips to keep them in place while you weave and slide to your opponent’s weak side.

It has always been true that iron sharpens iron, and look no further than Gabriel Procopio. He took what most fighters dreaded, being in Bernardo Faria’s half guard, and instead flourished and made himself into one of the best modern half guard passers. Now, he is here to share that knowledge with you over a 2-part series that will leave you impressed and passing in no time!

So, What's On The Series?

Part1
intro
half guard basic head control
half guard basic head control with lapel
lapel pass arm trap 5 min
back take from lapel pass arm trap
breaking 3/4 mount
rolling​back take from 3/4 mount
reverse armbar
half guard to arm triangle
inverted arm bar as a deep half counter
back take as a deep half counter

Part 2
double underhook​ pass from half guard
near side underhook pass
deep half pass to side control
deep half to reverse half to side control
deep half to reverse half to knee bar
weave pass vs knee shield
double over pass from knee shield
back step pass half guard
tripod pass
leg drag from half guard
sneaky knee bar from half guard