Baleia Breakdown: GF Team Passing

The guard is jiu-jitsu’s most recognized position and a match can be won or lost by solving the puzzle that is passing the guard. 

The guard’s intricacies are what differentiates it from other grappling systems. But it’s hard for people from outside of the sport to understand what it is, or why it’s so difficult. 

Jiu-jitsu practitioners know it’s just as challenging to win a match with effective passing as it is to win using techniques from the bottom position. 

In recent years, passing trends have evolved like never before. Each team and athlete has contributed to this evolution with new techniques, principles and systems. One group that has always been known for their distinct style of guard passing is GF Team. 

GF Team have produced many stars in our sport such as Patrick Gaudio, Gutemberg Pereira, Ana Carolina Vieira, Jaime Canuto, Dante Leon and the legend himself, Rodolfo Vieira.

Rodolfo was one of the sport’s most recognized guard passers. A heavyweight smash passer who could move as fast as a lightweight when needed, Rodolfo laid the groundwork for his teammates with his multifaceted style.

Drags, weaves, hip killing, smashing, and multi-directional passing are all commonly utilized tools in the GF Team passing system. 

And the next generation of GF Team guard passing specialists are making waves in their own right, much like Rodolfo did. 

But let’s take a look at one pass in particular that two GF Team members are exceptionally good at: the toreando pass. 

The toreando pass works when the passer controls the bottom player’s legs– normally close to the knees by gripping the pants– and turns the legs in a steering wheel motion. This allows him to bypass the guard in a safe way, avoiding his opponent’s leg entanglement. The passer ends up in a prime position to either stabilize or attack for a better position.

When the technique is used in combination with other passes it can be extremely effective, especially when the bottom player does not have full control of his opponent. Also, when done several times in succession it really wears on the bottom player’s core as he tries to defend it, which will pay dividends the longer a match will go on.

Let’s take a look at one of GF Team’s newer black belts, Mauricio Oliveira. He used this pass beautifully in one of his recent matches at Fight 2 Win, competing against the very tough Matt Leighton. 

Watch here as Mauricio uses a very fast toreando pass sequence, immediately followed up with a top scramble to his opponents back.  

Let's take another look. Watch as Mauricio establishes his grips, rotates the legs and follows through all the way, passing almost to the north-south position. As his opponent tries to follow him, this causes him to attack with the top spin motion, which eventually puts him in prime back-taking position. 

Now let's look at his team mate, the veteran GF Team black belt Jamie Canuto. Jaime’s torreando passing is on another level. He uses it immediately off of a sweep before getting tangled, or can execute from a number of different positions once he has the right opportunity. 

He successfully used this pass in his recent match with Edwin Najmi, blasting past the guard multiple times. 

After defending a flying triangle attempt Canuto ends up on top of Edwin, looking to pass. Canuto scores with the toreando but the circumstances were different than with Oliveira. Canuto reacted perfectly to the timing of Edwin pushing him away with both legs The extension disconnected Edwin from Jaime, allowing him the freedom and space he needed to set his grips, rotate Edwin’s legs and execute.

Watch as Canuto sets his grips up first. Edwin feels this and pushes him away with his legs to make space but Canuto reacts by driving his knees inwards then passing Edwin’s left leg across his body immediately. As Edwin attempts to block Jaimes hip with his left hand, Jaime releases his grip on the leg and grabs Edwin’s back to help flatten him out. He doesn’t completely get the pass but a slick attempt nonetheless.

But Jaime will attack multiple times if given the opportunity and here he goes again with it, as the match restarts in the center of the mat. Canuto hits it again. Edwin, brilliantly defends trying to make space than trying to lock Canuto up to prevent his movement, but Canuto does not stop and continues to drive and drive.

As Edwin recovers yet again fully squared up with Canuto, watch as Canuto hits what I like to call the 2 step torrenado. Where he steps to one side then immediately switches passing direction to the other. Here it is again. Look how Jaime has grips established, steps out to the left and then rotates Edwins legs using his right arm and getting to his right side. This misdirection is very hard to adapt to, especially in the later rounds of a match.

This final pass was just too much for Najmi. The accumulated passing attempts wear on the legs and can break the best of competitors, putting the passer in the ideal position to progress to the back or full mount where he has opportunity to look for the finish. 

Although the toreando pass is one of the most basic passes in jiu-jitsu, it is still being used at the highest levels of the sport by elite competitors. With the right timing and execution, it can completely change the momentum of the match in the blink of an eye and is an absolute necessity in any competitor’s arsenal.