There are a lot of good things to be seen at black belt level. This one is no different. We will spare the introductions. Lo and Evangelista’s names speak for themselves.
De la Riva single leg
The guard jump, or pull as we like to call it, in the hands of someone who’s been doing it for years on end is a thing to be feared. Mr. Evangelista pulls guard into a variation of the De La Riva guard. Really he does more of a tilting pull so he can look to stand up for the single leg. Smaller guard players would often rather look for backtakes off berimbolo-cross grip sweeps. Evangelista does not. He stands up extending into the non-De La Riva hooked leg with his other leg. Optimally, De La Riva players also tie up a sleeve or collar under the De La Riva hooked leg for a much higher percentage single leg. Evangelista posts with the free hand and looks for the dump.
The Scissor Sweep
A testament to the effectiveness of the simplest techniques, Evangelista sweeps Lo with the scissor sweep. Techniques don’t happen in isolation. Remember you’re battling another human being. Odds are he’s seen the sweep before. Still, with good enough kuzushi, a judo off-balancing concept, the scissor sweep works even at the highest levels.
The butt scoot stiff arm
We’ll be bold and call this out as the best thing in this whole video. Remember the T-Rex? Side control, T-Rex your arms and hip escape. This is just an extension of the same thing. I doubt any academy teaches this as a technique per say. Rather it’s an effective use of frames to recover guard. It took me years to understand how to butt scoot fits into everything, especially because lesson 1 is don’t stick your arms out.
The inside leg-guard trip stand up to single leg
Besides the stiff arm, Lo typically goes for a spider-De la Riva hybrid guard: pant grip on one side and spider hook on the other. Really difficult to pass; Whenever the opponent pushes into the spider hook Lo can transition to inside leg guards such as single-X, X, or reverse De la Riva. In fact, the match-deciding sweep is set up exactly from this position.
The pass
Lo feints an underhook punch, but instead goes for the x pass into side mount. We’ve got to consider that at this point Evangelista was tired and probably feeling like he’d tried all he wanted to try. Although undoubtedly effective we’d best take whether this would work that easily on an opponent that isn’t tired with a grain of salt.
