There are many different moves that you can implement in your BJJ game, no matter what your BJJ skill level is. That being said, there are always moves that are very applicable and there are other moves that aren’t so applicable. In any case, it would behoove you to learn all the highly applicable moves first before moving to the more advanced, less applicable variations. Guard pass often considered to be one of the easiest guard passes that you can learn for gi Jiu-Jitsu is the Toreando Guard pass or also know as bullfighter pass. Below you will learn how to set up and execute this move in sparing and in BJJ tournaments.
The nature of the move
This is a move that you will use for passing the guard. And it’s highly applicable in this sense – chances are that you have already tried to pass someone’s guard hundreds of times by now. The best thing about this move is how simple it is to perform it. And as we all know – sometimes it’s the simplest things that can help us out not only in BJJ but also in life. That being said, you still need to learn the proper technique for this move if you wish to execute it.
Doing the Toreando Guard Pass
The Toreando pass is executed if you’re standing and your opponent has an open guard. So, if you’re in your opponent’s closed guard, the first thing you need to do is open it. Then you should stand up. What you need to do next is grab his gi at the knees. You need to make fists with your hands while you’re grabbing his knees. If you do everything properly, then you will feel like you’re in control and you will see that your opponent will have a difficult time in breaking your grips.
And then it’s very simple. You need to pick a side. Move with your legs as far as possible from your opponent while using your arms to push away his knees – this is one of the main and most widely used variations of this move. If you do this while maintaining firm grips on your opponent’s gi at the knees, then you will see that your opponent will have a difficult time to do something about this. Once you’ve circled to the side of your opponent, you will come to see that all you need to do now is just drop into side-control. After you have done this, you’re free to let go of his knees and advance your position or go for a submission. This is the basis of the Toreando pass. You can check a visual demonstration of this move below.
Defending Toreando pass
Of course, no move is perfect in BJJ. And the Toreando pass is no different. There is a way in which you can effectively block your opponent’s Toreando pass if you know what you need to do. If you see that your opponent is standing in front of you and you have your guard open – and if he grabs your gi at the knees, then you should be aware that he is about to commence doing the Toreando pass. Don’t panic – there is a way out. All you need to do first is grab his gi at his cuffs with both your hands. And you have set up your defense.
Then you need to let your opponent act. If he tries to pass, then you need to extend one of your arms and use your other arm to post on the elbow. Your opponent will have a very difficult time in trying to pass your guard from this position. Moreover, you will see that you’re in a perfect position to do a hip escape. If you do this, then you will reset your position.
And you can go on doing this until something better comes up. If your opponent wants to pass your guard with a Toreando, then he will have to find a way to break your grips first. But this is not that easy if he uses his hands to hold your gi at the knees – this means that his hands are neutralized for all else. For all practical purposes, you have managed to foil his Toreando pass attempt.
Toreando pass no gi
As we have said, the Toreando pass is one of the most widely used ways of passing the guard in gi BJJ. However, this move is not really applicable in no-gi BJJ – albeit there are some variations that show some degree of success. The reason for this is that you need to grab the area around the knees of your opponent firmly if the move is to work. You simply can’t do this as easily when your opponent is wearing shorts. Check out no gi variation below.
But you’re free to try using this move and to see how effective it really is. We think that you will make use of it rather easily.
Check also:
- The Over-Under Pass – How do and Defend this Guard Pass
- Lasso Guard – Everything you Need to Know About This Guard
- Crucifix in BJJ – Setup, Attacks and Defense
