Flower Sweep for Grappling and Jiu-Jitsu »

Last night at no-gi jiu-jitsu training, we went over the popular flower sweep. This can be done with or without the gi, obviously last night we did it without. Here is a video version of the sweep.

I’m gonna go over his head, grab his neck. This hand is gonna go under and between his legs and I kinda want to get side. Right here, boom, and I’m rolling him up on that leg to the sky. Alright. We’ll do that at a different angle so you can see it. Over, up, this hand goes under between his legs. I’m using the momentum to kick this leg as far as I can over. Kick forward, and using that to come up on top. I’m really heavy. The whole thing with sweeps are that submissions are right there and I usually end up in a more comfortable position for myself.

From my class, here are the key points to remember.

Flower Sweep

1. Since I have longer legs, I need to create some distance first to get my foot on his hip. I typically would have right hand head control, and left hand wrist control. I maintain my grip on his head and wrist, but you my hips and legs to push him back a little. I can also bait him into creating the space for me by being heavy on his head so he postures up hard.
2. Once I get my left foot on his hip, I want to pressure his shoulder and arm with my left leg. Keep him close and tight.
3. I then shoot my right arm under his thigh like a dagger. Make your hand small.
4. I turn my body to be a 45 degree angle and drive and turn my right leg across his shoulder blade.
5. From here I drive and hip up with my right leg, and lift with my hand under his thigh to sweep.

Flower Sweep setup to Armbar

1. Follow steps 1-4 with the sweep, but instead of driving forward, if they don’t protect their arm, swing my left leg over their head.
2. I can do 1 of two things. If they don’t defend or protect their arm, I take the hand out from underneath their leg, and put it on his elbow and go for the armbar.
3. If they do defend, I can still sweep from here, and you end up in the armbar position.
4. Fall at a 45 degree angle towards their head to break the grip, then finish the armbar.

Flower Sweep to Omoplata

1. Follow steps 1-4 for the flower sweep
2. When you get to the flower sweep position, they pull their arm out (the one you would attack for an armbar, and leave the other arm behind.
3. From here, you would attack omoplata. Click here for some Omoplata videos for reference

More Flower Sweep videos

from Grapplers Guide or Jason Scully - Amazing resource.

This is a video of the basic flower sweep done without the gi on. The biggest point is how you go about trapping your opponent’s arm when establishing the sweeping position

What I really like about this video is the simple little armdrag to setup with sweeping position.

Flower Sweep to Omoplata Sweep

Here’s a video showing the transition to the Omoplata at about 1 minute in. We did this in class, yet finished the armbar instead of going for the Omoplata sweep. We’ve trained the sweep from the Omoplata position before, and it works sporadically.