Scissor Sweep


Jeremiah and I have been working a lot more on clinch and grappling lately and I think we finally got a hang of the scissor sweep.

Not having much of a grappling background, when I have someone in my closed guard, I usually am unsure on what to do beyond defending myself and using my legs to try and offbalance him. I knew of the scissor sweep but didn't quite understand it as it wasn't working out for me during rolling and only during drills. Jeremiah was also having similar problems and didn't seem to be generating enough power to offbalance the guy in guard.

We finally found out how to execute this to a reasonable level of proficiency and it has everything to do with the positioning of the body and utilizing body mechanics.
  1. Make sure to control the arm in the direction you are sweeping to prevent him from posting.
  2. Create a bit of space by lifting the hips up and doing a mini hip escape while unlocking your closed guard to slip your leg across the opponent's stomach with your foot locking on the side of his hip.
  3. The other leg is placed at the side of your opponent's leg in the direction in which you wish to sweep to.
  4. The body has to be inclined to the side and this is important since if your back remains flat on the ground, you'll be trying to scissor sweep just with the lateral strength of your legs which is weak. By placing your body in the same direction in which you are going to sweep to, it gives your legs much more power as it is now similiar to your walking movement in which your legs are designed to have the most power.
  5. Imagine using your leg on the hip to tip him to one side by pushing forward while the other leg goes backward and here you imagine sweeping his legs away with the bottom leg.
  6. Properly executed, you will be in mount and possibly still retaining control of an arm.