Today I am here with one of my old friends, Jake Mackenzie.  Jake is one of the best black belts in the world.  He has won the Brazilian Nationals multiple times, and so many other IBJJF tournaments.  Jake has also placed at the adult Worlds and has been at the top of the competition scene for a long time.  Jake and I trained together when we where both purple belts in Brazil and at the time he was the gringo of the academy.  He is the most accomplished Canadian BJJ player there is and has an amazing half guard.  Jake is also one of the best half guard passers in the world so today I asked him to show us one of his favorite passes from his new video series he will be releasing. Let’s take a look below and then I will do some breakdown.

Breakdown of Half Guard Pass Using Opposite Under Hook by Jake Mackenzie:

So as you can see in the video above with Jake this is an excellent option for passing the half guard and I can tell you being a half guard player myself, I hate when people are good at this pass.  What Jake is doing has a lot of details and there are some things that you cannot see in the video and you would have to feel.
So the first thing that Jake does is lower his center of gravity, once he does this he is able to bait me to get the   underhook and when I go to it, he has his position.  So he lets you get the underhook and then sets up his pass.
Jake will put my shoulders on the mat and get an underhook on the opposite side, he will then force me into quarter guard or 3/4 mount and start to pass.  Jake will bring his knee across my stomach while lifting my arm that has the underhook.  It is very important to lift their elbow.  One thing you cannot see is how much pressure Jake is putting on me, it is crazy tight.
The next thing he will do is wait for me to move and with all of the pressure he has on me I will definitely move.  Anyways guys, this pass is very effective and will be on his new video instructional.  I hope you enjoyed, OSS!