Butterfly Sweep 101: BJJ Complete Breakdown

The Butterfly Sweep is one of BJJ’s most influential sweeps. What’s so attractive about it is that you can learn it as a white belt, which should make you eager to start your learning process.

This article will be for those wanting to learn (1) the Butterfly Guard and (2) the Butterfly Sweep. You’ll be able to start sweeping your opponent and getting the upper hand in the fight. It gives you a superior position, such as the Full Mount or Side Control.

And finishing the fight from there—isn’t as difficult. You’ll also get points for sweeping and attaining the dominant position. So it’s really a win-win situation here.

Today, we’ll focus on learning this wonderful sweeping technique and start to grasp the concept of attaining a dominant position over our opponents. It’ll be helpful to read the entire article in its order before practicing.

I hope you’re ready; let’s dive in!

What is the Butterfly Guard in BJJ?

Before we dive into the sweep itself, we must first understand the guard position, a fundamental of the Butterfly Sweep. You want to become comfortable with it before you consider learning it. So let’s see what it is and how you can perform it:

The Butterfly Guard is a type of guard in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. It’s when your feet are on the opponent’s quads area. You can place your feet either lower or higher, depending on the style of Butterfly Guard you’re going for. This type of guard is also taught in MMA and other grappling martial arts.

It’s critical to understand what this Guard does best. It gives you plenty of control, giving you more opportunities to attack and win the fight.

Now why is this important to the topic of this article? In short, you must be on this Guard to execute the sweep. They rely on each other, as the sweep is, perhaps, the best move you can go for from this Guard position.

Here’s an excellent demonstration of this guard in real-time:

What is the Butterfly Sweep?

Alright, so you should know what the Butterfly Guard is by this point, excellent. We now want to advance into the core of this article, the reason we’re all here. We’ll now see what the Butterfly Sweep is and how you can start to practice it. Also, we’ll examine why it’s a fundamental move you want to learn, especially if you use the Butterfly Guard often.

The Butterfly Sweep is a move that allows you to transition from the Butterfly Guard to the Full Mount position. Some grapplers prefer to get side control, but it’s a preference. This sweep is an extremely effective one because it’s hard to escape from, especially if the attacker is an advanced grappler.

BJJ is all about control; remember that—and you’ll start to grasp this martial art much faster. You’ll also understand why various moves and techniques are the way they are. They all are supposed to give you more control, which is a key factor here.

This sweep eventually is about control. You’ll execute it and see how your training partner will have difficulty defending himself against it. It’s one of the best sweeps in the world of Jiu-Jitsu, so you want to learn it.

And if you don’t know any other sweeps, you’re totally fine. You’ll be able to learn it regardless of your belt color; whether you’re a white, blue, or purple belt, it doesn’t matter.

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Let’s now dive into what you were waiting for – the execution itself.

How to Butterfly Sweep

So this part of the article will break down how you can perform the Butterfly Sweep. It won’t be long before you’re capable of using it as you wish since it’s pretty uncomplicated compared to other moves, such as the Lapel Choke, Bread Cutter Choke, and the Baseball Choke.

You want to start in the Butterfly Guard to perform the Butterfly Sweep. The next step is to grab the opponent’s right arm and insert your other hand below his should and onto his back. Finally, you pull to knock him off-balance while using the mat to generate more force to sweep him over.

Or, in short:

1. Start in the Butterfly Guard
2. Grab the opponent’s right arm
3. insert your left arm below the opponent’s shoulder
4. Grip his back (if wearing a Gi)
5. Pull the opponent
6. Knock him off-balance (toward you)
7. Use the mat to generate force
8. Sweep him over
9. Attain Full Mount

Really, that’s it. And I’ve tried to break down the steps to be as detailed as possible, so you won’t focus on each step individually. Instead, it’ll start to become harmony (once you practice it a few times.)

Indeed, the experience here is critical, especially for building muscle memory.

The primary mistake grapplers make with this sweep is using the mat incorrectly. Before you go for the sweep itself, you must use the mat for leverage. If the opponent is stronger than you, there’s no way you’ll be successful with this move if you’re not using it for leverage.

Should I learn the Butterfly Sweep?

Answering this question is fairly uncomplicated. Let me be straightforward: knowing more is better in 99% of instances. You want to strive for as much information as possible. BJJ is like chess, you want to strive to familiarize yourself with more entries, more escapes, and more techniques.

Learning the Butterfly Sweep is a fantastic choice, especially if you want to start sweeping your opponent and gain the upper hand in the fight by attaining a dominant position. From there, you’d be able to finish the fight easily, using a submission such as Triangle Choke, Guillotine Choke, or Americana.

There isn’t much of a question here regarding whether you should learn it or not. It’ll be best if you learn as many techniques as possible.

Think about it: you’re in a street fight and have two options – either you’re familiar with a specific set of techniques or a broad spectrum of moves, submissions, guard passes, positions, and sweeps.

In which instance will you be more likely to win? I’m confident that when you know more, you’ll also be more adaptive, dynamic, and capable of transitioning yourself and using more techniques to be more unexpected and win the fight!

Final Words

This is it for this article. I had a lot of fun researching and coming up with the execution for this wonderful sweep.

Remember, the more you know, the more likely you’d be to win more fights. That’s why I wake up in the morning, get on my laptop, and start breaking down a technique. I want to learn more and more about this beautiful martial art while teaching others.

So it’s been a lot of fun learning and researching more about the Butterfly Sweep. And eventually, you want to start learning it as soon as possible. It’ll allow you another option to use when you’re fighting, which is what you want.

But the Butterfly Sweep isn’t the best; you want to learn, such as the Scissor and Lumberjack Sweeps.

You absolutely need to check out the top 5 essential sweeps for BJJ grapplers to master. Trust me, it’s an incredibly informative read that you won’t regret.

Scissor Sweep 101 – BJJ Technique Breakdown

Mastering the Elevator Sweep in BJJ – Guide

Flower Sweep (Pendulum): Complete BJJ Breakdown

Lumberjack Sweep 101: How to Perform & Master