Troubleshoot 1/4 guard vs romulo barral (driving press. into chin) knee slice pass

G'day!

I been doing alright with quarter guard game (black mamba to quarter guard/clinch to - mini stomp to lock down - or dog fights) (btw i roll mostly in the gi).

However ever since the romulo barral seminar; everyones been using this to absolutely kill the quarter guard/clinch/shell; hes taught this knee slice pass where you got him in quarter guard (around his right leg) with his left leg posted out too far to reach for quarter clinch, his posture down really low and with his right hand on your left hip with his other hand cross face - making it hard to get an underhook. The next thing is his pressure from his head pushing/driving underneath and into your chin makes you feel like ur head is going to rip off - which gives him the pass- even with mini stomp in.

Another thing is if i do manage to get his knee off the ground; they tend to pull with the cross face and with the other (right) hand still on my hip; squeeze all the air / crush my stomach with that knee on belly.

Any tips or references to an episode on MTS would be sweet!

Thanks in advance

It seems like 1/4 Ashi and controlling the far side bicep when your opponent comes into cross face is a good answer to this pass. You have to win the hand fight battle even more especially when you are in bottom 1/4 guard, but that is one of the first things on my mind in every position is am I winning the hand fight. If a guy gets a cross face while driving his head into your chin with his other hand controlling your hip in 1/4 guard, Kurt Osiander would say you fucked up a long time ago. There are probably some lower percentage tactics to freeing yourself from this once your opponent has attained this position like answering the telephone and hipping out, but I think maintaining quarter guard while doing something like that is going to be a real bitch. I am going to have to think on this some more and maybe I will think of something else later.

I've been rolling with some Romulo-taught passers lately and having success with your style of game (quarter guard). What I have found to be useful is swimming under them for deep-half, going for waiter sweeps off it, or using a ministomp while in deep half to transition into an x-guard/y-guard combo. Depending on what the guy is doing with his base, I've been able to pull off the Deep Half back door sweep and The Homer if it's there. Usually depends on their base. As far as their low posture, this drives home the importance of maintaining a constant knee shield and only yielding to his pressure when you are ready to transition to dogfight or deep half, whilst conserving the underhook. Remember you have your arms to help you frame them away to get your knee shields back if he should smash through your lines of defense. Do not neglect deep half guard transitions at the first sight of daylight underneath their legs, on top of whatever you are doing. Using your mini stomp to swing to deep half rather than always going for the lockdown will give you the X-guard transition as well as a bunch of other stuff I'm only beginning to shed light on myself.

If they are grabbing your head, deep half guard gets shut down but then the stomp to butterfly guard game opens up. Own the overhook, whatever you do.

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Originally Posted by wongk2

G'day!

I been doing alright with quarter guard game (black mamba to quarter guard/clinch to - mini stomp to lock down - or dog fights) (btw i roll mostly in the gi).

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Throw in Deep-half guard stuff and you'll round out that game nicely. Study Bernardo Faria, Bill Cooper, Jeff Glover, those guys are experts at the position. Bernardo's deep half-guard and Z-guard DVDs have a lot of gi details and he talks more about Y-guard, which is where I learned it. Also, the Advanced Rubber Guard book will have many answers for you.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ybn97cPr320

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Originally Posted by Chris Herzog

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ybn97cPr320

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Good stuff! I just ran the Ghost today and had someone ask me about it. I have not thought much about playing it from quarter guard or finishing with a triangle, but it makes perfect sense to run it if you have lost the underhook. I need to get caught up on your stuff for sure.

I'm into this ghost to triangle

@Arman mate your post just blew my mind, you bloody legend! A lot of gold advice to process there. Especially not staying in 1/4 guard too long; I suppose when I shoot the black mamba I'll try shoot to 1/4 Z instead of full 1/4 - and if I do shoot to full 1/4 make sure to immediately look for the next transition to deep half, or mini stomp push/pull lockdown or the dog fight - as well as the hand fighting as Jon mentioned. I've bought the jeff glover deep half dvd last year but haven't had a chance to dig into it yet and I'll have a look through my advance rubber guard book tonight as well. I play love playing x guard and never thought of linking it from 1/4 guard (was always fixated on getting mini stomp to lockdown from there); sweet option.

I've never heard of the Y-guard before but will look into it for sure. :)

Just been re-watching MTS120 with the warm up E series 1/4 guard - noticed a small detail on how eddie pushes against the opponents knee which is driving through off towards his left hip instead of allowing the opponent to directly pressure the knee right into the centre/stomach.

Thanks again Arman, dope post!


@Chris Herzog - Love your ghost stuff mate!! Always looking to hit these haha

I havnt focused on the ghost series but I need to drive it into the 1/4 guard system soon, it’s legit af