i think the thing that made his guard hard to pass (for me, at least) was the threat i felt from him. i know what he's capable of from there and it made me timid, to say the least. for instance, i started applying pressure against him from top half guard and wanted to look for the d'arce. but as soon as i began to weave my right arm through he took my wrist. all i could think was "he's gonna try the mechanic sweep," so i backed off.
i try to be very patient in my guard passing, but of course he is patient in playing his guard. that turned into a boring game for observers probably, but i found it intriguing as a player. (BTW, jean jacques has a DVD where he discusses the patience required in the passing/guard game. he says that it's good to get to a secure and safe position and wait for your opponent to move/make a mistake before proceeding. there is a purple belt in that video that looks very familiar... can't remember his name...)
when i tried that twister pass the first time i felt him reach up for Apollo control, so i made a quick switch back to avoid it. the second time i jumped through to try the twister pass my weight was wrong. he made a small hip shift and a swim and i was over. i started trying to recover to guard, but he was on my arm quickly, looking for the inverted arm bar/kimura series. things went downhill sharply from there
and by the way, his arm crush is BRUTAL. i didn't tap, but i should have, 'cause my arm was very sore the next day.
i try to be very patient in my guard passing, but of course he is patient in playing his guard. that turned into a boring game for observers probably, but i found it intriguing as a player. (BTW, jean jacques has a DVD where he discusses the patience required in the passing/guard game. he says that it's good to get to a secure and safe position and wait for your opponent to move/make a mistake before proceeding. there is a purple belt in that video that looks very familiar... can't remember his name...)
when i tried that twister pass the first time i felt him reach up for Apollo control, so i made a quick switch back to avoid it. the second time i jumped through to try the twister pass my weight was wrong. he made a small hip shift and a swim and i was over. i started trying to recover to guard, but he was on my arm quickly, looking for the inverted arm bar/kimura series. things went downhill sharply from there

and by the way, his arm crush is BRUTAL. i didn't tap, but i should have, 'cause my arm was very sore the next day.