FOLDING PASS
Passagem de Dobramento
Also known as: Folding, Body-Lock Pass
The folding pass is the modern pressure-passing technique in which the passer body-locks the opponent's hips and folds them up by walking the legs above the shoulders, then drops them to one side to land in side control. Developed and popularized in the late 2010s by Gordon Ryan and the broader New Wave team, the folding pass has become one of the dominant no-gi passes of the modern competitive era because it scales against larger opponents and works equally well in gi and no-gi formats.
The entry begins by securing a body lock — both arms wrapped around the opponent's hips and lower back, hands clasped in a Gable grip. From this control the passer drives chest forward into the opponent's thighs, walking the legs above the opponent's shoulders by folding the hips up. The opponent is now stacked with their legs above their own body, and the passer drops the legs to one side while diving the shoulder forward to land in side control.
What distinguishes the folding pass from the older stack pass is the use of the body-lock rather than lapel grips, which makes the technique no-gi viable and dramatically harder to defend. The opponent cannot establish frames against a body-lock the same way they can against grips, and the body-lock connection means the passer's weight and the opponent's hips are integrated rather than separated. Gordon Ryan's ADCC absolute campaigns of 2017, 2019, 2022, and 2024 featured the folding pass as the primary passing technique against world-class no-gi opponents. Defensively the technique is countered by preventing the body-lock from establishing (hand-fight aggressively at the entry), by snake-rolling out the back as the legs are being folded, or by attacking a triangle from the stacked configuration.
KEY POINTS
- 01Secure a body lock with both arms wrapped around the opponent's hips, hands in Gable grip.
- 02Drive chest forward into the opponent's thighs to fold the legs above the shoulders.
- 03Maintain the body lock throughout the walking-up motion.
- 04Drop the legs to one side with explicit forward shoulder commitment.
- 05Land in side control with the body-lock grip released and the cross-face established.
COMMON MISTAKES
- ✕Trying the pass without a body lock first, leaving the hips uncontrolled.
- ✕Walking forward without folding the legs upward, producing no pass angle.
- ✕Releasing the body lock before the cross-face is established.
- ✕Failing to commit the shoulder forward when the legs drop.
- ✕Attempting the pass against an opponent with active frames and underhooks.
TRAINING DRILLS
- →Body-lock entry reps: 30 reps establishing the body-lock from a kneeling position.
- →Walk-and-fold drill: from established body lock, walk the legs above the shoulders.
- →Drop-and-side drill: complete the pass with explicit shoulder dive, 20 reps per side.
- →Body-lock-vs-frames drill: partner establishes frames; you maintain body lock and adjust angle.
- →Live open-guard rolling with folding pass as the only allowed pass.
NOTABLE PRACTITIONERS
Gordon Ryan · Craig Jones · Tainan Dalpra