JIU-JITSU E-BOOKS BY GRACIEMAG

THE BUTTERFLY GUARD

#2
WITH FLAVIO ALMEIDA
TEXT BY LUCA ATALLA
PICTURES AND VIDEO BY IVAN TRINDADE
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JIU-JITSU E-BOOKS BY GRACIEMAG

THE BUTTERFLY GUARD
#2
WITH FLAVIO ALMEIDA
TEXT BY LUCA ATALLA
PICTURES AND VIDEO BY IVAN TRINDADE
 WHY FLAVIO ALMEIDA? Flavio has developed the foundation of his Jiu-Jitsu during the sec-
ond half of the 1990s, at the headquarters of Gracie Barra School in
Barra da Tijuca, Rio de Janeiro. At that time, the butterfly guard*
was the most practiced guard style there, and Renzo Gracie defeated
Ricardo De La Riva (Carlson Gracie) in 1993 with an innovative (at
the time) sweep using the hook from the inside. Renzo would also
use this weapon again in 1995, to beat Alexandre Paiva on a special
super-Sight challenge.

A batch of Gracie Barra Sighters like Nino Schembri, Alexandre Soca,

Renato Miragaia, Bruno Fernandes, Marcelo Rezende and Flavios
brother, Ricardo Almeida, among many others, have specialized in
this type of guard. InSluenced by teammates, Flavio naturally
learned and incorporated this guard and became one of the greatest
experts of his generation for this move.

In February 2013, GRACIEMAG spent a Friday afternoon talking

with the expert on the style in detail, and the content extracted from
it composes the following eBook. The aim is to show you how, even
under playing from bottom, you are able to be aggressive and go
from defense to attack.

CONCEPT First of all, it is necessary that you are not with your back against
the Sloor in order to be effective. In this case, your opponent will be
able to work the weight upon you and hamper all your leverage like
the one needed to escape the hips or the one to destabilize the en-
IMPORTANT: The aim of this E-Book
is to help the reader to improve his
emy base using one of the hooks. Moreover, it is recommended that
butterfly guard game. It should be your back forms with the ground at an angle that is as obtuse as pos-
clear that nobody can practice these sible, preferably acute.
moves alone and without supervision
of a graduated instructor. SHORTLY: Your BACK forming an ACUTE angle with the FLOOR.

*Quick fact about the

history of Jiu-Jitsu:
Jiu-Jitsu moves went through a
TERMINOLOGY revolution when it
expanded internationally. This change
was beneficial because the names
started to appoint moves and
situations more easily. It was no
different with the BUTTERFLY GUARD.
In Brazil during the 1990s, we used to
call it simply HOOK GUARD or
sometimes INSIDE HOOKS GUARD.

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 GETTING INTO POSITION Lets start in the worst possible situation for this guard. That is, your
back against the Sloor and the opponent with their body weight and
gravity holding you down without mobility.

1. Keep calm and use leverage, not only strength.

2. Push the shoulder on the same side of the opponent's head with
the parallel arm, just enough to open some space.

3. Enter with the crossing hand as a knife underneath the head, Sind-
ing the pushed shoulder.

4. When both hands meet, establish a frame so that your crossed

arm is now making a right angle between the forearm and the bi-
ceps at the elbow.

5. The goal is not to push the opponent, just stop him/her. You will
prevent him/her from keeping the weight over your body.

6. Then apply the hip escape that we hope you practice during the
warm-up in all Jiu-Jitsu classes of your life. :)

If you performed well the steps above, you are ready to go from de-
fense to attack. But what are the most common grip options?

NOTE: Dont go for the grip study yet!

Come back to the final step and notice 1
how both forearms at a right angle
establish three sides of a rectangle
which prevents the opponent from
putting your back against the ground.
This frame is powerful and impossible to
be broken if the opponent doesnt find
another angle to throw the weight over.

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 GRIP OPTIONS 1. Belt grip with your arm against the opponents back

This is the most common position and allows you an admirable

range of sweeps, But many times the opponent anticipates and uses
the hand Sirst. Since he/she has the gravity in his/her favor, it is pos-
sible that he/she achieves the goal.

2. Belt grip over the opponents arm

If you work the hip escape properly, it is possible to have a great un-
balance leverage, even with your arm on top, and possibly even
more power to help the hook to lift the opponent when the moment
is right.

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3. Collar grip wrapping the opponents arm

Remember, Jiu-Jitsu is also timing. No matter how well executed is

the technique, if you're late, your opponent can neutralize it. And
that's what happens when he/she escapes from your grip and puts
your back on the Sloor again.

You could restart the technique from the beginning, but an often ef-
fective alternative is to wrap the opponents arm and grip the oppo-
site collar. This grip will give you leverage to sit again.

4) Belt grip under and to the front

This grip is indicated when the opponent, instead of trying to put

the weight over you, tries to escape from your grip standing up. So,
you keep him/her engaged on your guard and keep dominating his/
her hip, opening unbalance alternatives.

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 SWEEPS AND ATTACK The most valuable of any situation in Jiu-Jitsu is always the concept.
Therefore, reread everything that was explained so far, reason and
practice. And practice again. And again. What comes next is a bonus,
EXAMPLES of applications of the previous concepts.

Let's go through the four types of grips we illustrated showing a po-

sition of each one with a double attack and a detail that makes ALL
the difference in this kind of guard.

Ah yes, besides the concept, details make the position magic happen,
so pay attention in particular to the dead foot detail on the Sirst fol-
lowing situation.

TRADITIONAL SWEEP Once you achieved the attack position, you need to act. Otherwise
your opponent will, and you will probably return to the initial posi-
tion, or even worse, have your guard passed.

Use the hook on the same side of the grip to lift the opponents hip
and then bring it to you, and with a single seesaw movement you
will lay down again and escape the hip, changing places with your
opponent (you go up, he/she goes down).

DETAIL 1: The control over the sleeve opposite to the opponents

grip is important not only to help the unbalance, but mainly to pre-
vent the opponent from putting his/her hand on the ground and hin-
der your movement.

DETAIL 2: Stop reading for a moment, reestablish your focus and

pay attention. The detail below alone is worth this ENTIRE eBook.
Seriously. I personally have used the butterSly guard effectively for
years without knowing this pearl revealed below by Flavio Almeida,
and it still made a total difference:

Upon unbalance, when you're spinning upwards, one foot acts like a
hook lifting the opponent, and the other one is what we call dead
foot. Well, it is not dead at all, check this out: Instead of keeping it
ATTENTION: And sorry for not stretched, if you use your toes to rotate the heel and point it up, it
revealing this before, but it was on will increase the impulse of your hip a few kilowatts and the extent
purpose because this is the right
of the movement in a few inches. Besides, it helps you to post your
time to do so. Another important
concept is that the butterfly guard is body in a way its harder for your opponent to move. This extra ef-
an attack. If you behave passively, fort can make a difference between a complete sweep and a simple
you will be very vulnerable to a pass. defended unbalance.

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 TACTICAL HINT: This is not really a DETAIL 3: Do not forget to kick the leg used for the hook near the
technical detail, but a tactical one. end of the movement to assure the space needed to fully escape the
Note that Flavio made the sweep
hip turn and move upwards.
movement using the left leg hook.

Many times you dont have a choice

and have to deal with the present
situation. Thats why you must practice
any move on both sides. However, the
left side was chosen on purpose.
Because the majority of those who
perform this kind of guard normally use
the right foot as the hook (including
me), the chance of surprising the
opponent increases if you specialize in
the movement using your left foot.

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 DOUBLE ATTACK A) ARMBAR
(armbar and omoplata)
The grip over the arm also enables a variety of sweeps, including the
previously mentioned one, but we chose to exemplify the grip with a
double attack.

When the opponent pummels an underhook, which means having

his arm under yours, he/she probably will try to approach and use
the weight to put your back on the Sloor again.

This position starts with a very important detail.

DETAIL: Note that Flavios right foot rests on the opponents hip.
This prevents him from approaching.

CONCEPT: A pause for a UNIVERSAL Jiu-Jitsu concept.

THE BEST WAY TO KEEP THE PERSON OF TOP AWAY IN ANY

SITUATION IS BY USING THE FOOT ON THE HIP.
No matter how heavy your opponent is, he needs the power of the hips
to get closer to you. If you keep the foot on the hip, he cant move and
therefore doesnt have power. That is, he cant get closer.

Then, Flavio takes the opponent's impulse toward him (though

caught by the foot in the hip), and immediately closes the left knee
holding the opponents arm between his arm and knee. He removes
the hook and puts the foot on the back of the opponent. It is so tight
that if he bends his body back he causes a hyper-extension on the
guard passers right arm. He often gives up in fright.

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 B) OMOPLATA

If he/she is an experienced guard passer, it is possible that he/she

used the only space left to twist the arm and relieve the tight Sit. In
this case, the armbar doesnt work, but another opportunity is cre-
ated: the omoplata.

Simply move your left leg over the shoulder and close a triangle with
your foot behind the right knee.

Keep escaping the hip and siting. Although its not the purpose of
this book to cover the details of the omoplata, it is noteworthy that
keeping the opponents hip away from yours will give more efSi-
ciency to the attack.

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SWEEP WITH THE HAND The opponent anticipated and put your back on the Sloor again with
ON THE COLLAR his/her grip on top. Then you opted to wrap his arm and hold the
collar.

This grip option (3) gives you leverage to sit and escape the hip, and
with the hook and the dead foot detail (REMEMBER?) you are able
to sweep the opponent. But one extra detail will make a huge differ-
ence in the performance of the move.

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3 4

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 Stop for a moment and focus on the following tip. This is the second
time I say it, but this detail alone is worth reading this book.

DETAIL: The dead foot, before the beginning of the movement,

will form an X with the left one, which is being used as the hook.
Then you put it on the outside of the opponents leg.

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 First, it closes the side way of the opponent for the guard pass (and
to kill his/her knee another important shield for keeping your op-
ponent away). But besides the defense, this X can work to help your
attack. HOW?

Both your feet in X dominate the opponents thigh. Moments before

starting the unbalance you stretch your leg, which pushes the oppo-
nent away, increasing the leverage of the hook sweep.

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SWEEP HOLDING THE FRONT One of the biggest challenges of the butterSly guard is when
you meet an opponent that wants to avoid approaching and
prefers to move away from your guard, preventing you from
performing your grips. In this case, one of the best options is
grip N 4 with an outstretched arm holding the belt.

This grip opens many attack possibilities and control be-

cause you dominate the opponents hip. It is a grip suitable
to use as a transition from butterSly guard to x-guard (which
alone would complete another book).

But Flavio shows how the grip can also work very well with
a sweep that is very similar to the previous ones. Note, how-
ever, that in spite of having similar steps, the grip opens a
bigger space so that Flavio can spin under the opponent, al-
lowing more efSiciency to the move.

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LEGAL DISCLAIMER
JIU-JITSU E-BOOKS BY GRACIEMAG.
VOL #2

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GRACIEMAG is the original Jiu-Jitsu magazine. We teach Jiu-

Jitsu fundamentals and techniques. We spread the Jiu-Jitsu
philosophy, diet and lifestyle. Since 1994.

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http://www.graciemag.com

xxii
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CONCLUSION Even when you section Jiu-Jitsu in a speciSic type of guard (Jiu-Jitsu
Guard Open Guard ButterSly Guard), the options are endless, only
limited by the imagination of the practitioner. Therefore, it was
never the purpose of this book to limit the possibilities of the butter-
Sly guard. Otherwise, our intention is to incite the reader to study
and open his/her mind to possibilities and concepts. From there,
practice and creativity will be able to build an arsenal in the subject.

Another intention of this book, which you received for free, is to pre-
sent what GRACIEMAG has been doing for almost 20 years, aiming
to spread knowledge of Jiu-Jitsu. Materials with this style and qual-
ity are published monthly. So if you're seeking an instruction manual
for Jiu-Jitsu, be sure to subscribe to GRACIEMAG. It will be the per-
fect tool to complement the study you perform at your gym daily.

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If you have any suggestions, comments and even criticism, feel free to
send an e-mail to luca.atalla@graciemag.com. Your feedback is greatly
welcome.

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