Passing guard: If you have ever had the experience of watching an MMA fight with a group of people who know very little about fighting, it will immediately become apparent that none of them understand the significance of the fighter on top working to get past his opponent's legs to a secure and dominant pin position – passing the guard. To the naive, every top position is equally dominant. The Japanese appear to have been the first in the modern era to note that this is not the case. Kano's judo clearly specifies that pins (osaekomi) do not count unless the fighter in top clears his opponents legs. The Brazilians inherited this tradition and greatly added to it, making it the centerpiece of their top game. The habit of pressuring past your opponents legs to side or mounted positions must be ingrained from the earliest days of training. Only by being able to pass your opponents legs will you be able to attack your opponents entire body with submissions. If I cannot get past my opponents legs, the only submissions I can attempt are locks to the legs. Whilst these are very good and effective, they are only 50% of my opponent's body. Eventually my opponent will see my attacks as predictable and counter. The ability to pass the legs means I can also attack arms and strangleholds – bringing the entire body into the firing line and making my attacks more wide ranging and thus far less predictable. In addition to making the whole body a target for my offense, guard passing strongly undermines my opponents offense. The vast majority of grappling offense from bottom position involves the use of the legs tangling around my head, arms and legs. Once I clear the legs, my opponent cannot do anything offensive until he first recovers his leg position. Considerations like these show why it is so important for developing students to form the habit of constantly pushing past their opponents legs into dominant pins. Among a crowd of MMA fans, when you see one of them murmuring approvingly as the top fighter passes his opponents guard whilst all around the naive fans boo and hiss, you know you have found a kindred spirit. Here, Eddie Cummings and I tussle for leg position
