UNDERHOOK HALF-GUARD SWEEP

The underhook half-guard sweep is the canonical sweep from bottom half-guard in which the bottom player establishes a deep underhook on the top player's far-side arm and uses the underhook to rotate the top player toward the underhook side, completing the sweep to top half guard or directly to side control or knee on belly. The technique is one of the most fundamental half-guard sweeps and is taught at every academy globally as part of the basic half-guard curriculum.

The mechanics begin from bottom half-guard with the bottom player having one of the top player's legs trapped between the bottom player's legs. The bottom player threads the inside arm under the top player's far-side armpit, establishing the deep underhook. Once the underhook is consolidated, the bottom player comes up to the elbow on the underhook side and drives the head into the top player's chest, simultaneously bumping the hip into the top player's near side. The combined head pressure, underhook elevation, and hip bump rotate the top player toward the underhook-side direction, completing the sweep. The finish lands the bottom player on top in side control, knee on belly, or back-take position depending on the rotation completion.

The underhook half-guard sweep was made into a competitive specialty by Bernardo Faria, who built much of his IBJJF and ADCC career around half-guard pressure passing and the underhook sweep system. Notable practitioners who have used it extensively include Lucas Lepri, Tom DeBlass, and various Alliance and Atos heavyweights. Defensively the underhook sweep is countered by hand-fighting the underhook attempt before it consolidates, by establishing whizzer (overhook) on the underhook arm to neutralize the elevation, by hip-switching to face the underhook side to deny the rotation, or by attacking submissions on the underhook arm (kimura) that force the bottom player to defend rather than complete the sweep.