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How Pedro Maia Uses Spider-Lasso to Get Underneath - BJJ Study — Transcript

by Deep Dive JJ · 3,200 words · 485 segments · language en · Watch on YouTube

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0:00This is the match that sparked my
0:02curiosity into the guard of Pedro Maya.
0:04At the time, I thought I was just
0:06watching a few really interesting
0:08sequences. Pedro closing the distance,
0:10getting underneath, and somehow
0:12continuing to find offense through all
0:14of these different positions. But little
0:17did I know, this match contained much of
0:19the blueprint for understanding his
0:21guard. And it was only after diving much
0:23deeper into Pedro's game than I ever
0:25expected that I started to see that
0:28blueprint clearly. eventually leading
0:30[music] me to the three concepts that
0:32sit at the foundation of this study.
0:38Last year, IBJJF The Crown took place,
0:41and being that I was working on a study
0:43on Andy Muraki at the time, I made sure
0:46to catch all of his matches. While I
0:48walked away with plenty of footage to
0:50review, I also came away knowing that at
0:52some point I'd have to dive into the
0:54guard of Pedro Maya. I was just blown
0:57away at his ability to close a distance
0:59from so far away and then flow through
1:02positions so effortlessly. So through
1:04the combination of match study along
1:06with the privilege of having gained
1:08direct insight from him on our podcast,
1:11my goal is for you to walk away with a
1:13deep conceptual understanding of his
1:15guard beyond positions and techniques.
1:18Let's begin with a quick overview of
1:20Pedro's guard. Pedro primarily initiates
1:23his game through long-distance guards
1:25like lasso where his leg weaves over the
1:27arm and spider where he places his foot
1:30on the biceps. Spider guard can offer
1:32more distance management than lasso
1:34because of the possible extension when
1:37the leg is straightened but less control
1:39since the arm isn't as tied up. Pedro
1:41will also sprinkle in some mid-range
1:43deleiva where he hooks around the
1:45outside of his opponent's knee and
1:47reverse deahiva or halfguard where he
1:49hooks around the inside of the knee. You
1:51might see him play any combination of
1:53these positions. Since this study will
1:55focus heavily on some maybe not so
1:58beginner friendly positions, I'm going
2:00to just quickly explain their variations
2:02being that they're a big part of Pedro's
2:04game. Beginning with lasso guard. The
2:07first is false lasso where the foot is
2:09pummeled over the arm and is placed on
2:11the biceps or shoulder. This is usually
2:14good for mobility being that Pedro can
2:16easily transition in and out of the
2:18position here. Next is shallow lasso,
2:21where now Pedro has his foot weave
2:23through and past the arm. This gives
2:25Pedro more control, however, a little
2:28less mobility. Lastly, there's deep
2:30lasso. This is generally when his knee,
2:33or as high up as his thigh, is now
2:35weaved past the opponent's arm. It
2:37allows for the most control, but the
2:39least mobility. Once you're in there,
2:41you're pretty much committed to it, and
2:43transitioning out of it won't be so
2:45quick. Now, Spider and Lasso can be
2:48played independently or together. And
2:50Pedro uses both depending on the
2:52situation, but regardless of which one
2:54he starts from, he'll often use them to
2:56work his way into Xgard, where we'll
2:59commonly see two variations. The first
3:01is modified X, where his hook is closer
3:04to the near hip as opposed to the far
3:06hip like in traditional Xgard. The
3:08second variation is this really funky
3:10one where the hook looks like this. I'm
3:13just going to refer to it as shin frame
3:15X. Pedro's path into any variation of
3:18Xgard will generally rely on the closing
3:21of the distance and building a
3:23connection to the legs of his opponent.
3:25From lasso, that'll usually begin with
3:27the combination of a reverse dehiva or
3:29halfguard hook. At times, Pedro also
3:32uses a same side pan grip. This
3:35combination of upper and lower body
3:37control between the lasso and panc grip
3:39can be awkward for his opponents to deal
3:41with. for a couple reasons. The first
3:44being that the [music] way Pedro
3:45establishes his connections, it forces
3:47the passer to pass like a lefty since
3:50their left foot is forced to lead.
3:52Secondly, it's a crossbody control which
3:54can feel awkward for the opponent in
3:56general. Pedro's main attack here is
3:58achievable through the hook he
4:00establishes, allowing him to invert
4:02under and oftentimes presenting a
4:04dilemma. If they don't react to the
4:06threat, then they could be giving up a
4:08Kiss of the Dragon style [music]
4:09backtake. Instead, their priority is
4:12often to block or counter the inversion
4:14by closing the space between their legs
4:16or adjusting their base. But Pedro
4:18anticipates this and tends to
4:20preemptively seek the far leg. In this
4:22example, as Pedro inverts under, his
4:25opponent Louise attempts to defend by
4:27switching his hips. The route to the
4:28back might be closed, but now Pedro can
4:31clamp down and scoop the far leg before
4:33bridging his way under and inserting his
4:36leg for the shin frame X entry. Then
4:38there's the off-balance and knee pummel
4:40entry here. There's no need for any
4:42hooks. Instead, Pedro uses the lasso to
4:45offbalance some just enough where he can
4:47pummel in his knee. From spiderguard,
4:49Pedro can launch similar attacks through
4:51the use of the same grip and hook
4:53combinations, which really demonstrate
4:55the symbiotic relationship between the
4:57two positions. A great example is here
5:00against Andy Mersaki where Pedro
5:02initially attempts [music] to get in on
5:03the legs with the lasso control to knee
5:06pumble. Andy backs up to defend and so
5:08Pedro quickly pummel inside to Spider
5:11using the leverage provided by the foot
5:13on biceps to complete the entry. Most of
5:15Pedro's entries from Spider Guard are
5:18generally going to look like so. Pedro
5:20extends the limb out and then plants his
5:22foot so he can scoot under as he pulls
5:24his opponent overhead. From there, he
5:27can easily enter the modified Xcard hook
5:29if the opponent stance is high enough.
5:32If the stance is lower, then he can
5:34continue to close a distance through
5:36inversion. And these are the main routes
5:38underneath we'll be looking at
5:39throughout this study. I've also
5:41organized the individual sequences
5:43inside the deep dive library where you
5:45can go back and explore each one on its
5:48own. But with a technical overview of
5:50Pedro's long range style established,
5:53let's start looking at the concepts that
5:55actually make Pedro's guard work. There
5:57are three concepts that I think are
5:59essential to understanding why Pedro's
6:02guard works the way it does. The first
6:04is movement creation. The basic idea is
6:06that Pedro is constantly looking for
6:09ways to manipulate the exchange and
6:11create useful movement from his
6:13opponent. Sometimes he does this
6:15directly through offbalancing or
6:17threatening attacks. His match against
6:19Andy at the Crown is a great example of
6:21this. Being that Andy is an elite passer
6:24who doesn't give many openings, Pedro
6:26explained that whenever he was able to
6:28make him move, he could feel that Andy
6:30became uncomfortable. So instead of
6:33trying to force one massive and [music]
6:35immediate opening, Pedro would almost
6:37loosen him up first, using smaller
6:40movements to create little spaces and
6:42reactions that he could eventually
6:45develop into something bigger. Here's
6:47Pedro explaining it in his own words. So
6:49once I I find like a place to move him a
6:52little bit I create small space and with
6:54that small spaces and with a combo I
6:57could create like a big thing. That's
6:59[music] was the feeling over there. And
7:01when you really slow these exchanges
7:03down a lot of this movement is
7:05incredibly subtle. Look at what leads
7:07into one of Pedro's entries against
7:09Andy. You see what appears to be a
7:11couple of shakes with the lasso followed
7:13by an adjustment of the framing leg.
7:16Pedro then shifts his hips out to the
7:18side, leaves his leg through to the hip,
7:20and then explosively attacks with a much
7:23bigger deleiva threat. Andy reacts to
7:25the deahiva. His base and posture are
7:28affected, and Pedro uses that reaction
7:30to pummel his knee inside. So, you
7:33essentially have a bunch of smaller
7:35movements gradually build toward the
7:37movement Pedro actually needs. Later in
7:40the match, Pedro refers to these little
7:42adjustments that aim to disturb Andy's
7:44base as small touches. Now, movement
7:47creation continues after the initial
7:49entry attempt. Pedro's able to get his
7:52knee inside, but only briefly as Andy
7:54fights to defend, having already created
7:57some legitimate instability within
7:59Andy's base. Pedro continues to create
8:02movement rather than giving him the
8:04chance to stabilize and fully recover.
8:06Here's Pedro again in his own words. But
8:09then I keep the movement again like I
8:11once I could create move with him I feel
8:14I I I need to enjoy this moment that's
8:16like I keep shaking him. We see another
8:18example of this concept against Luis
8:20Paulo. Pedro plays with the lapel and
8:22collar pushing and pulling to create
8:25reactions. Louise backs away in circles.
8:28And when Pedro finally bumps him to the
8:30side, Louise steps back in to recover
8:32his base. Pedro immediately uses that
8:35movement to invert underneath. So, the
8:38first movement doesn't always need to
8:40accomplish the attack itself. Sometimes
8:42its entire purpose is to create the
8:45reaction that makes the next movement
8:47possible. There's also a nuance to
8:50movement creation that I think is
8:51important. Pedro doesn't always need to
8:53be the one forcing the action.
8:55Sometimes, instead of attacking
8:57non-stop, he'll slow down and give his
9:00opponent a little more freedom, inviting
9:02the movement he can then capitalize on.
9:04So, this concept of movement creation
9:06can take a few different forms. Pedro
9:08might look to offbalance, adjust his
9:11position, or threaten an attack to
9:13directly force a reaction. Or he might
9:15back off slightly and allow his opponent
9:18to initiate the movement for him. Either
9:20way, Pedro is trying to keep the
9:22exchange dynamic so offensive
9:24opportunities can appear. And if you
9:26want to take some of what you're seeing
9:27here and actually study it further, this
9:30is where the deep dive library becomes
9:32really useful. You can dive into any of
9:34these [music] sequences individually, go
9:36through the full breakdown and explore
9:37related examples from Pedo's matches,
9:40and that same structure extends well
9:42beyond Pedro. We've also organized
9:44studies and competition sequences from
9:46athletes like Tynan Dalpra, Andy
9:48Murasaki, Hajra Gracie, and more.
9:50Because everything is connected, you can
9:51also see how the same techniques and
9:53concepts show up across different
9:55athletes, studies, and sequences, and
9:58follow those connections from one
10:00example to another. For many of these
10:02sequences, we're also creating our own
10:04deep dive reenactments so you can
10:05clearly see how the movement plays out.
10:07And we've started building training
10:09cards and video tutorials designed to
10:11[music] help you take what you're
10:12studying and actually work it into your
10:14own training. Library membership also
10:16includes access to all of our exclusive
10:18Patreon content. So, it's really the
10:20most complete way to access everything
10:22we're building around deep dive. So,
10:24once Pedro creates that movement and
10:26gets the attack started, now the focus
10:28is on keeping it going. That's where the
10:30next concept of attack continuity comes
10:32in. Basically, instead of being bound to
10:35the initial move or attack, Pedro is
10:37quick to modify his technique to his
10:40opponent's defense. Really, it's about
10:42maintaining that attachment, and
10:44whatever will keep the sequence
10:46continuing [music] is what he will
10:48resort to. We saw the role that movement
10:50creation played in the earlier sequence
10:53against Andy. But if we pick up [music]
10:55from after Pedro's initial attack and
10:57approach it under the lens of attack
10:59continuity, we can then observe how
11:01Pedro transitions through positions to
11:04keep the sequence alive. Right. Pedro
11:06[music] gets his knee inside and as Andy
11:09backs out to defend, Pedro begins to
11:11invert to close the distance. It appears
11:14that Andy lowers his base to once again
11:16defend the pummel. And to keep the
11:18fluidity of movement, Pedro extends
11:20away. Amazingly, Andy performs a near
11:23split to maintain his balance with Pedro
11:26immediately connecting [music] into the
11:28bear trap. He then underhooks the free
11:30leg to attack the exguard sweep. So, I
11:33was curious about why PJO chose to
11:35connect to the bear trap. And this is
11:37what he said.
11:38>> I just feel like the opportunate. So,
11:39let me hug something over here and for
11:42sure putting the leg [music] inside
11:43because that's the most important part.
11:45He could have easily went into the
11:46technical specifics behind it, but he
11:49instead chose to explain the purpose
11:51behind [music] it, and that stuck out to
11:53me. It was simply the position that he
11:55felt at the time was what he needed to
11:57do to continue [music] the sequence and
12:00not let the momentum of the attack die.
12:02And for someone like myself who can get
12:05so lost in analyzing technique, hint
12:08hint, deep dive, I find it just a
12:10refreshing perspective to hear. For
12:13another example of where we can see this
12:15idea of attack continuity in action,
12:17let's go back to that sequence from
12:19Pedro's match against Louise [music] and
12:21pick up where Pedro has entered
12:22Shinframe Xguard. Louise is able to
12:25escape the Xgard, but Pedro continues to
12:28invert through with reverse dehiva and
12:30the lasso still intact the entire time.
12:33He finally abandons the lasso grip as he
12:35closes in on the Kiss of the Dragon back
12:38take, which leads to a wrestle up. Each
12:40attempt at defending by Louise was met
12:42with a transition into another attack
12:45from Pedro. I think Pedro is most
12:47difficult to deal with when he's on the
12:49offensive, being the one creating the
12:51movement, which then leads into
12:53connecting his attacks. For this reason,
12:56it's interesting to look at how his
12:57opponents can find [music] success by
12:59taking him out of his offensive game
13:02through denying or quickly countering
13:04him. We see this in his match against
13:06Mumm where he would deny any meaningful
13:08attachment by Pedro launching attacks
13:11before he could get his guard set. Even
13:14when Pedro was able to establish lasso
13:16control, it wouldn't last long as Mabram
13:19was quick to pummel his hand free.
13:21Taking a look at one of those sequences
13:23here, Mramm counters Pedro's guard pull
13:25with a long step. And as Pedro squares
13:27back up, Merram is already chaining into
13:30a Toriando pass. He follows with an
13:32overunder knee cut and then quickly
13:35backs out to attack another Toriando.
13:38Pedro is forced to turn to Turtle to
13:40avoid conceding the pass. In another
13:42match against Andy Mersaki, which took
13:44place before their most recent encounter
13:46at the crown, it was interesting because
13:49we saw Andy have a lot of success with
13:51[music] his guard passing. Here, Pedro
13:53was able to form his lasso control, but
13:55only briefly as similar to Merum, Andy
13:57would immediately pummel his hand out,
14:00forcing Pedro to switch controls. In
14:02these brief moments where Pedro sought
14:04to rebuild or adjust his frames, [music]
14:07Andy was able to capitalize and unleash
14:09strong pass attempts. Here, Andy
14:11disengages from Pedro's lasso through a
14:14bicep stomp, which then leads to an
14:16aggressive Toriando, followed by some
14:18more [music] passing to a near back take
14:20to end the match. Just a brief aside, an
14:23interesting observation in this match
14:25was how Andy was much more cautious with
14:27not allowing Pedro to get the pancrip,
14:29which was a huge part of Pedro's success
14:32in the crown. It appears that this
14:33allowed Andy to preserve his freedom of
14:36movement through his lower body. But
14:38anyways, in the end, a huge part in both
14:40Merum and Andy's success in these
14:42meetings were largely due to not
14:44allowing Pedro to settle his spider and
14:47lasso controls. So, even in instances
14:50where Pedro is taken out of his
14:52preferred game, one of my favorite
14:54things to study from him is his ability
14:56to turn guard recovery or retention into
14:59an offensive opportunity. This is what I
15:01like to refer to as offensive recovery.
15:04Going back to his match at the Crown
15:06against Andy, Pedro found himself in a
15:08position that looked quite rough,
15:10flattened out in bottom half guard, but
15:12he had trust in his half guard defense
15:14and managed to use his frames to
15:16recover. But he doesn't stop there. He
15:19continues to build distance between
15:21himself and Andy [music] enough so that
15:23he ends up in the far distance where he
15:25can work to his lasso control and then
15:28go right back into attack mode. Soon
15:30hunting an entry attempt. Andy launches
15:33off a beautifully timed pass, briefly
15:35putting Pedro in defense mode. But
15:37again, Pedro immediately flips the
15:40script, sneaking in spider control to
15:42end up in 50/50 where he has the
15:44offensive opportunity to sweep. While
15:46Pedro will look to seek and establish
15:48any position that allows him the
15:50opportunity to turn the [music] tide,
15:52the use of 50/50 guard for the purpose
15:54of offensive recovery is definitely a
15:57reoccurring theme in this sequence.
15:59Before Pedro can establish his guard,
16:01his opponent Gabriel launches a strong
16:03Toriando pass. Even as Gabriel continues
16:06to pressure into the guard, Pedro
16:08attempts to use a spider control to get
16:10underneath. Gabriel shin flips around
16:12Pedro's leg, but similar to the previous
16:14sequence, Pedro inverts through to soon
16:17end up in 50/50. So notice how Pedro
16:19strives to never recover halfway. It's
16:22always this mindset of defense into
16:24offense because otherwise it can be a
16:26cycle of defense, partial recovery,
16:29defense, partial recovery, and the loop
16:32repeats. So, by avoiding this loop, not
16:34only does he stop the defensive cycle,
16:36but he's able to put a halt on his
16:38opponent's offensive gear where they
16:41can't attack freely, have to respect the
16:43sweep, and need to rebuild an offensive
16:45position. All the while, Pedro was able
16:48to rebuild his offensive game. So,
16:50between the concepts of movement
16:52creation and attack continuity, Pedro is
16:55constantly aiming to be in control of
16:57the exchange, whether he is attacking or
16:59transitioning. His long-range guards
17:02give him a starting connection where he
17:03can begin to dictate movement that leads
17:06into distance closure, then prioritize
17:08staying attached as his opponents
17:11defend. And I think this mostly explains
17:13what first piqued my interest about
17:15Pedro's guard when I watched his match
17:18against Andy Murasaki at the crown. His
17:20ability to close a space and to not only
17:23maintain but progress that attachment is
17:26largely owed to the combination of these
17:28two concepts. In the moments where Pedro
17:31is taken out of his preferred long range
17:33controls, his game can become much
17:35harder for him to impose. But even then
17:38comes the concept of offensive recovery
17:41where he can flip his defense [music]
17:42into offense. So that's it for this
17:45study. If you want to keep digging into
17:46Pedro Maya's game, all of the sequences
17:49referenced are organized inside the deep
17:51dive library. And if you want the full
17:53deep dive experience, library membership
17:55also gives you access to our Patreon
17:58exclusive content. You can check it out
17:59through the link below. Thanks to all my
18:01Patreon members for making these studies
18:03possible. Thank you for watching and
18:05peace.

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