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BJJ Guard Passing

Guard passing (passagem de guarda) is the act of moving from inside or in front of an opponent's guard to a dominant pinning position such as side control or mount. A successful pass scores 3 points under IBJJF rules and shifts positional control of the match.

Reviewed by CNX BJJ
Last updated: June 2026
Safety disclaimer: Practise these techniques under the supervision of a qualified instructor. Apply submissions slowly and with control. Tap early and tap often.

What Is Guard Passing in BJJ?

In Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, guard passing refers to the process of navigating past an opponent's legs when they are playing guard and establishing a dominant position on top. The guard is one of the foundational positions in BJJ, giving the bottom player significant offensive options from their back. Guard passing neutralises those threats and shifts the strategic balance of the match.

A completed pass requires you to clear the opponent's legs and hold a recognised top position, such as side control (controle lateral), north-south, or mount (montada), for at least three continuous seconds under IBJJF rules. This awards 3 points to the passer. If the guard player recovers their guard before three seconds have elapsed, no points are given.

Guard passing systems split broadly into two philosophies: pressure passing, which uses body weight and controlled smothering to remove the guard player's mobility before clearing their legs; and speed passing, which uses explosive lateral movement to bypass the guard before the opponent can react. Both approaches are valid and the most complete guard passers combine elements of each.

This page covers the four core passing families: the toreando (torreando), the knee slice (corte de joelho), the stack pass, and pressure-based passing. For the guard positions you will face when passing, see the closed guard and half guard pages. For a broader overview of BJJ positions and submissions, visit the techniques hub.

Setup and Prerequisites

Effective guard passing begins before you attempt any specific technique. You need to address three things first: grips, posture, and base.

Grips. Secure your own grips before the guard player can establish theirs. Sleeve, wrist, and pants grips at the knee are your primary tools in the gi. In no-gi, wrist control, underhooks, and ankle grips do the same job. Losing the grip battle almost always means losing the passing battle.

Posture. A guard player controls a passer who is bent forward with their head down. Stand upright or maintain a strong kneeling posture to deny the guard player the angle they need to attack sweeps or submissions. Keep your elbows in and your head up throughout.

Base. Never let your weight commit fully to one side until you have already begun the passing motion. The guard player is looking for any overcommitment to punish with a sweep. Keep your feet at least hip-width apart and your centre of gravity low when standing.

For the knee slice specifically, you also need to break any grip the guard player holds on your collar or sleeve on the passing side before you angle in. Attempting the slice while the guard player holds a strong collar grip will stall your pass and expose you to their counters.

Step-by-Step Execution: The Knee Slice Pass

The knee slice is one of the most versatile guard passes in BJJ. It works in both gi and no-gi, from standing or kneeling, and pairs naturally with the toreando for a two-pass system. The steps below describe the gi version from a kneeling position, which is the most common entry point for practitioners learning the technique.

  1. Secure grips and clear the guard player's grips. From a kneeling position outside the guard, take a pants grip at the knee on the side you intend to pass (your right hand on their right knee if passing to your left). Use your free hand to strip any grip they hold on your sleeve or collar. Your posture should be upright with your chest open.
  2. Step your outside foot to their hip line. Place your right foot on the mat beside their left hip so that your knee points toward the ceiling. This shifts your base to the passing side and gives you the angle to begin the slice.
  3. Flatten their knee to the mat. Use your grip to push their near knee diagonally toward the mat on the far side of their body, creating a cross-body angle with their leg. This disrupts their guard structure and prevents the hook from recovering during the pass.
  4. Drive your passing knee through. Slide your left knee diagonally across the top of their right thigh, pressing your shin firmly against the inside of their leg. Your knee points toward the mat on the far side. Keep your hip pressure driving forward throughout this motion.
  5. Move your hips past their legs. As your knee slides through, walk your hips around toward their far hip. Keep your chest connected to their torso to prevent framing. Your passing leg should be fully extended behind you as you clear.
  6. Establish side control. Drop your weight once your hips have cleared their legs. Secure a cross-face with your near arm and an underhook with your far arm. Keep your weight low and centralised for the three-second count needed to register the IBJJF score.

The Toreando Pass

The toreando (also written torreando) is the signature speed pass of BJJ. Named after a bullfighter's lateral movement, it uses a simultaneous push of the guard player's legs combined with a lateral step to bypass the guard entirely before the opponent can adjust.

From a standing position, grip both of the opponent's ankles or pant cuffs. As you push their legs firmly to one side, step your own body rapidly around to the opposite side, keeping their legs pinned down. Your goal is to land beside them before their hips can follow your movement. Consolidate side control by securing the cross-face and underhook before releasing the leg grips.

The toreando works best against passive or flat guards where the opponent is not actively inserting hooks or playing a sitting game. Against a more dynamic open guard player, the knee slice or a headquarters-based system gives you more structural control during the pass.

The Stack Pass

The stack pass (passagem de pilha) is a pressure-based technique that compresses the guard player's flexibility by driving their knees toward their chest. It is most often used against closed guard or deep half guard players.

To stack from a standing base, lift the guard player's hips by gripping their belt or the back of their pants, then step forward and drive your weight downward onto their folded legs. The compression reduces their ability to frame or maintain hooks. Once their legs are pinned, step around to the side and establish the passing position.

The stack is effective in no-gi by switching to a wrist control and hip grip instead of a belt grip. Flexible guard players require deeper stacking to break their structure, so apply pressure gradually rather than jumping in from full range. Rushing the stack can expose you to inversions or leg lock entries if the guard player is experienced with guard retention.

Common Mistakes

  • Reaching for the pass before clearing grips. Committing to any pass while the guard player holds your collar or sleeve gives them the leverage to redirect your movement. Always strip or circle out of their grips before initiating the pass.
  • Bending forward at the hips. Leaning your head down while passing exposes you to triangle chokes and arm drags. Keep your spine upright and your chin tucked, not down.
  • Stopping at the halfway point. Many beginners pause when they feel resistance midway through the knee slice or toreando. Pausing allows the guard player to recover and insert hooks. Commit to the pass with continuous pressure until your hips have fully cleared their legs.
  • Neglecting the cross-face after clearing. Passing to side control without securing the cross-face lets the guard player turn into you and begin re-guarding immediately. Drop your chest and establish the cross-face as the very first action after clearing the legs.
  • Using only one pass. A single pass is easy to anticipate. The most effective passing systems pair at least two passes as a combination so that defending one opens the door for the other. The toreando and the knee slice work well together: defending one side on the toreando exposes the knee slice to the other side.
  • Passing too far from the guard player's body. Keeping excessive space between your chest and the guard player's hips gives them room to recover. Stay tight throughout the entire passing sequence.

Variations and Follow-Ups

Guard passing does not end with side control. The best passers chain their passes directly into submission attacks or deeper positional advances.

Knee slice to mount. Once you have settled in side control after a knee slice, use a knee-through mount entry, sliding your bottom knee across the guard player's near hip to reach mount (montada). The guard player is often still focused on recovering guard after the pass and is vulnerable to the mount entry in that moment.

Toreando to back take. If the guard player turns to face you as you complete the toreando, you are often behind them. Use that angle to establish the back (costas) rather than returning to side control.

Stack to darce choke. When stacking a guard player, their neck and upper back become exposed. If they turn onto their side during the stack, the darce choke entry becomes available by overhooking their near arm and threading your arm through to their neck.

Headquarters position. The headquarters position (HQ) is a kneeling base between the opponent's legs from which you can initiate either the knee slice or the toreando depending on the guard player's reaction. It functions as a reset point when your initial pass is stuffed and is worth drilling as a standalone passing hub.

Half guard to knee slice. When passing half guard, the knee slice is a natural option once you have established the underhook and flattened the guard player. Use your hip weight to free the trapped leg and transition directly to side control.

Competition Context

Under IBJJF rules, a guard pass scores 3 points and is one of the highest-scoring positional moves available short of a back take (4 points) or mount (4 points). Because of the point value, guard passing is central to any competition game plan built around a points advantage. The 3-second hold requirement means that consolidating the position immediately after clearing the legs is not optional: it is mandatory for the score to register.

IBJJF rules also specify that returning to the guard after a pass has been completed and scored does not negate the points already awarded. However, if the guard player recovers before the 3-second hold, the pass does not score, and you must attempt again.

Under ADCC rules, scoring works differently. ADCC uses a negative-points period at the start of the match and a positive-points phase after that. In the positive phase, a guard pass scores 2 points rather than the 3 awarded by IBJJF. ADCC also gives significant weight to near-submissions and dominant position time, meaning that a pass which immediately leads to a submission attempt is more strategically valuable than a pass that simply accumulates positional points.

At the highest levels of ADCC competition, many elite passers favour the leg lock entry off the pass rather than consolidating side control, as the submission threat is more dangerous than the positional score. This has influenced modern BJJ passing systems considerably, and awareness of leg lock entries from guard passing positions is now considered part of a complete guard passing education.

Drilling Suggestions

The guard pass is a movement skill and improves most through high-repetition drilling with structured resistance progression. Begin with solo drilling where possible: practise the knee slice motion with no partner to ingrain the body mechanics before adding resistance.

Partner drilling, no resistance. Starting from the headquarters position, have your partner hold a passive open guard. Perform 10 knee slices to the left and 10 to the right, resetting after each pass. Focus on posture, the diagonal knee drive, and the cross-face consolidation. Repeat with the toreando from standing.

Flow drilling at 30 to 50 percent resistance. Your partner now offers light guard retention without actively trying to sweep or submit. Pass and allow your partner to recover, then pass again. This builds the continuous movement pattern needed to chain passes under pressure.

Positional sparring. Set up with one partner in open guard and a specific task: the top player must attempt to pass using only the techniques they are currently drilling; the bottom player defends fully. Rotate after three minutes. This builds both the passing attack and the guard retention skill simultaneously. Three to five rounds per session at this intensity is enough for technique improvement without burnout.

Combination drilling. Drill the toreando and the knee slice as a deliberate combination. Attempt the toreando; when the guard player defends by pulling their legs back, transition immediately to the knee slice. Drill this chain until both options feel automatic rather than sequential decisions.

Frequently Asked Questions

A successful guard pass (passagem de guarda) scores 3 points under IBJJF rules. You must hold the passing position, such as side control or north-south, for a minimum of 3 seconds before the points are awarded. If the guard player recovers guard before 3 seconds, no points are given.
A pressure pass relies on body weight and controlled smothering of the guard player's hips and legs to eliminate their frames and mobility before clearing the guard. A speed pass, such as the toreando, uses explosive lateral movement and timing to bypass the legs before the guard player can react. Pressure passing suits heavier, more methodical grapplers; speed passing suits lighter, more athletic practitioners. Both are valid at every level.
The toreando (also written torreando) is a speed-based guard pass named after the movements of a bullfighter. You grip both of the opponent's ankles or pants cuffs, push their legs to one side while stepping around their guard to the other side, and then consolidate side control. The key is the simultaneous push and lateral step, which removes their base before they can react.
The knee slice (corte de joelho) works best when the opponent is playing a sitting or open guard with extended legs and you can control one knee. The toreando is more effective when the guard player is lying flat or playing a passive guard, as it requires both legs to be pushed simultaneously. If the guard player has active frames in your upper body, a pressure-based option such as the knee slice is generally safer because it keeps your upper body connected to their legs.
Yes, the stack pass is effective in no-gi as the mechanics rely on pressure and posture rather than gi grips. You typically switch from a collar grip to a wrist control or overhook when gripping the guard player's legs. The stack compresses the opponent's guard and creates the angle needed to clear their legs. It is particularly useful against flexible guard players because the stacking pressure limits their range of motion.
Common gi grips for guard passing include the pants grip at the knee or ankle, the belt grip at the back, and the cross-collar grip. For the knee slice, a pants grip at the knee on the passing side combined with a collar or sleeve grip works well to control posture. For the toreando, gripping both ankle cuffs of the pants is standard. Maintaining at least one grip on the legs throughout the pass reduces the guard player's ability to insert hooks or recover.
Frames, such as a forearm in the hip or a straight arm in the shoulder, are designed to create distance and prevent your weight from landing on the guard player. To neutralise them, work to redirect each frame downward or outward rather than pushing through them directly. For hip frames, step to the side and use your knee to pin their elbow to the mat. For collar frames, underhook the framing arm and use your bodyweight to collapse it before settling your chest down.
Closed guard (guarda fechada) requires you to first open the guard, usually by standing up or breaking the opponent's ankle lock before any pass can begin. Open guard has already been opened for you, so you can move directly into a passing sequence. Many speed passes are only available from open guard. Against closed guard, pressure passes such as the stack or the toreando from standing are your main options after you break the closed position.
Under ADCC rules, guard passes are not scored with points in the same way as IBJJF. ADCC uses a negative points system for the first portion of the match, where only takedowns and near-submissions generate points. After the neutral period, guard passes score 2 points compared to IBJJF's 3. Submissions are the primary route to victory in ADCC, so aggressive guard passing to submission chains are valued over positional accumulation.
Start with two passes and drill them until they feel automatic: the toreando for speed and the knee slice for pressure. Spend time in positional sparring where you begin in the guard player's open guard and focus entirely on passing. Do not aim to win the round. Aim to execute your pass attempts with correct mechanics. Over time, add a third option such as the stack or headquarters position so you can chain passes when the first is defended.
The headquarters position (also called HQ) is a passing base where you kneel between the guard player's legs with one knee up and one knee down, gripping the near leg. It is a stable platform from which you can initiate the knee slice to one side or the toreando to the other, depending on how the opponent reacts. It also gives you a safe posture that resists the guard player's sweeps and hip escapes, making it a useful reset point when your initial pass is stuffed.