Sweeping your opponent will allow you to transition from a position like the Open Guard to the Full Mount position. This is excellent news for you, especially if you’re having difficulty getting into superior positions and finishing the fight.
The Scissor Sweep is highly effective since it allows you to use all 4 limbs to generate more momentum and get the upper hand in the fight. You’ll use your 2 hands and 2 legs to successfully flip the opponent over from top to bottom and attain the Full Mount position.
If you want to become a successful and competent user of this practical sweep, this article is for you. I’m a big advocate of learning as much as possible. You see, BJJ is like chess; the more you know, the more dynamic and adaptive of a grappler you’d be.
And the more adaptive you are, the more competent you’d be. So, the first section of this article will review variations of the Scissor Sweep you want to know. But, even if you just read about them, you’ll learn more, making you a better fighter.
So don’t hesitate to focus on many variants of this sweep. You can learn many of them to build your unique grappling style. The best fighters in the world have a unique style only they use.
What Is the Scissor Sweep? (BJJ)
Before we cover the different variations you want to familiarize yourself with, let’s see what the Scissor Sweep is and when it’s useful.
The Scissor Sweep is typically performed from the Closed Guard position, although some advocate different positions. This is because you generate most of the momentum to flip the opponent using your hands. Nonetheless, you also want to use your legs to create more force and skyrocket your success chances.
And don’t worry; we’ll review how you can use all your 4 limbs to generate a lot of momentum and ensure you flip the opponent over.
So let’s now go over different variants of the Scissor Sweep and which one is most effective.
Scissor Sweep Variations
As mentioned, this part will be entirely about Scissor Sweep variations. Remember, you want to grasp every single piece of information regarding this sweep that you can get your hands on.
The more you know, the more competent and adaptive you will be.
Who is more likely to win a chess match, a player who knows 1000 entries or a person who knows 10? Although knowing less has advantages, such as mastering each entry, the other player, who can use 1000 entries, is likelier to win.
The same applies here. Let’s hop into the first one.
#1 – Scissor Sweep From Closed Guard
The first variant is the Scissor Sweep from Closed Guard. That’s the typical variation you must learn to call yourself a user of this technique. And eventually, it’ll be better if you learn it first. So here are the steps to perform it correctly:
- Start in Closed Guard
- Open your leg lock
- Grab the opponent’s right arm with your left hand
- Grip the opponent’s collar using your right hand
- Place your right knee on the opponent’s hips
- Generate force using your legs and hands
- Apply the force in a scissor shape
- Move your hips forward when flipping the opponent
- Attain Full Mount
This is one of the best instructional videos I’ve encountered when researching this article. But, regardless of whether you watch it or not, I took one thing away that will help you become a better Scissor Sweep user.
You want to focus on the momentum you generate with your hands. Most of the force you’ll come up with will be using the hands. The legs are complimentary here; they’re more critical to flipping yourself over and attaining Mount while driving your hips forward.
So you want to concentrate more on your hands-grip, especially when starting. You can grab the opponent’s lapel with your right hand in different places, such as deeper on the lapel, same-side, cross-side, or lower on the lapel.
Experiment with the grips to see which one you prefer the most.
#2 – Scissor Sweep From Open Guard
This variation will be one I’ve stumbled upon many times in my BJJ career. Unfortunately, I’ve never learned it, which is too bad since it’s exceptionally effective.
It’s a variant most people won’t expect, especially in the less advanced belt colors, such as white, blue, and even purple belts. Here’s how it goes:
- Start in Open Guard
- Grip the opponent’s wrist with both your hands
- Pull it tightly to your chest
- Lean back and get on your side
- Place your right leg on the opponent’s hips
- Place your other foot on the mat
- Kick your left leg into the opponent’s legs
- Use your right leg for leverage (left side)
- Create pressure with your hands to the left
- Flip the opponent
- Attain Full Mount
This is a classic example of the scissor shape you’ll create with your four limbs. Flipping a much larger opponent than you won’t be an issue if you perform the scissor shape correctly.
This is why this sweep is an exceptionally effective and practical one. You can use it on all your training partners, regardless of their size, to attain the mount position on them. From there, finishing the fight isn’t difficult; you can use the Americana, Guillotine, Triangle Choke, and many other submissions.
#3 – Scissor Sweep to Triangle Choke
The 3rd variation we’ll cover is the Scissor Sweep to Triangle Choke. There’s one thing that attracted me to cover this, and that is the fact that you don’t need to flip the opponent over. Why is this special? Because sweeps are usually about flipping the opponent over or attaining some dominant position.
For instance, you must sweep the opponent to set up the Kimura from Closed Guard. But here, you don’t see the sweep clearly, which is a fantastic example of how creative individuals thrive in BJJ.
So let’s see how to make this variant happen:
- Start in Closed Guard
- Grab the opponent’s left arm
- Grab the opponent’s lapel (cross-side)
- Lean to the side while straightening your left leg
- Place your left foot on the opponent’s hips
- Place your right knee on the opponent’s sternum
- Roll back to a straight position
- Wrap the opponent’s head with your right leg
- Lock your legs
- Apply downward pressure
- Squeeze
- Wait for the tap
This is definitely one of my most favorites ones. I recommend you learn it if you want to start becoming more successful using the Scissor Sweep.
You can tweak this variation to make it better and tighter. However, we won’t dive into them.
One more thing: in the following part of the article, we’ll break down one of these variations into its core steps. We’ll also break down each step and optimize it until you’re a great use of the Scissor Sweep. Definitely stick through to read it!
How to Scissor Sweep
This part of the article will break down the 2nd variant I previewed in the previous part. Why will this be beneficial to you? First, you’ll benefit plenty from this part because I’ll break down each step, so you can optimize your success rate using the Scissor Sweep.
This is a critical component in understanding this sweep in its entirety. Although learning as many variations as possible, mastering 1-2 is your next step.
It’s better to master a single technique than to know 5 and be capable of performing them at a mediocre level. So, to remind you, here are the steps:
- Start in Open Guard
- Grip the opponent’s wrist with both your hands
- Pull it tightly to your chest
- Lean back and get on your side
- Place your right leg on the opponent’s hips
- Place your other foot on the mat
- Kick your left leg into the opponent’s legs
- Use your right leg for leverage (left side)
- Create pressure with your hands to the left
- Flip the opponent
- Attain Full Mount
Now let’s dive into this complete breakdown.
Step #1 – Start in Open Guard
The first step of the entire execution is starting in the Open Guard position. Attaining it isn’t as tricky, as all you need is to start on your back and ensure the opponent doesn’t advance too much on you.
So it’ll be best to be more cautious when starting. The entire point of this sweep is to allow you a superior position and then finish the fight, such as Mount.
You never really want to transition into the Open Guard position from any of these more superior positions. So it’ll be best to start with it rather than transition into it.
BJJ is all about control. So step #2 will bring you control using your 2 upper limbs, or your hands. 🙂
Step #2 – Grip the opponent’s wrist with both your hands
The 2nd step is to grip the opponent’s wrist with both your hands. There are two options here: Gi and No-Gi. You’ll approach both slightly differently.
Assuming you’re practicing grappling with a Gi, you want to grab the Gi itself and not the wrist. This will give you more control.
On the other hand, if you’re practicing No-Gi BJJ, you want to grab the wrist itself. There’s nothing else you can have a tight grip on. You want to ensure your hand grip is as tight as possible, so you’ll eventually be able to control and sweep your training partner.
Step #3 – Pull it tightly to your chest
The 3rd step is to pull the opponent’s wrist tightly and closely to your chest. Why is this beneficial? In short, this step is a must if you want to get as much control over the opponent as possible.
Investing time in your hand grips will be worth it, as the opponent is still unaware you’re going for the Scissor Sweep here. And you’re solid to continue this execution and “take your time” if the opponent isn’t aware that you’re going for it.
But please don’t push the limits here and wait too long, or worse, hesitate. This should also flow smoothly.
Step #4 – Lean back and get on your side
The 4th step is to lean back and get on your side. There isn’t a viable option for executing this sweep if you’re not on your side.
Not only will it allow you more control, but it’ll also give you more maneuverability and leverage. Leverage is the keyword here since you want to get as much force as possible, so flip the opponent in the upcoming steps.
Step #5 – Place your right leg on the opponent’s hips
The next step will be to place your right leg on the opponent’s hips. We’re starting to set up this sweep, so your training partner likely smells something fishy in your behavior. You must continue the execution without breaks.
You want this to flow, as the opponent will counter you if you hesitate or take too long to act. Therefore, once you place your right leg on the opponent’s hips, you want to advance immediately into the following step.
Step #6 – Place your other foot on the mat
The 6th step is to place your other foot (left) on the mat. This is what many grapplers mistake. Their left foot won’t be on the mat when they try to flip the opponent. What this does is not give them enough leverage and force to flip the opponent.
You want to avoid this mistake by not skipping this step and placing your left foot on the mat. Your right leg should be on the opponent’s hips, which is another source of future force.
Nonetheless, you’ll see how much more force you’ll have if you place your left foot on the mat, push down on the mat, and use the momentum to flip the opponent.
Step #7 – Kick your left leg into the opponent’s legs
Now, you want to kick your left leg into the opponent’s legs. Steps #7 (this one) and #8 should happen simultaneously. You want to simultaneously use your legs to create the famous scissor shape and flip the opponent upside down.
This is a critical mistake many grapplers make here. As a result, they’ll be unable to create enough force, let alone if their training partner is heavier than them.
We avoid this mistake using force in 4 directions, with our 2 legs and 2 hands.
Step #8 – Use your right leg for leverage (left side)
The following step is to use your right leg for leverage. You want to apply the pressure in the way you’ll be sweeping your opponent over. In this case, the left side.
Step #9 – Create pressure with your hands to the left
Once you apply force with your legs, you want to use your hands (this will generate around 60% of the force here) to create more leverage to flip the opponent over.
You want to use your legs and hands simultaneously since you’ll create more force this way. There’s never a shortage of force you want to generate in sweeps.
You’re sweeping another person who might weigh more than you. So you want to use as much force as possible, which is why we simultaneously create the force with both our legs and hands.
Step #10 – Flip the opponent
Flipping the opponent is what you’ll focus on next. You use all the force you’ve created, in a scissor shape, to sweep the opponent.
Now, you want to drive your hips forward and finish the sweep by attaining a dominant position; let’s see what it is.
Step #11 – Attain Full Mount
Step #11 is to attain the infamous Full Mount position. Again, you want to use the leverage you’ve created to drive your hips forward while flipping the opponent from top to bottom.
If you don’t drive your hips forward, the chance of succeeding with this sweep and attaining the Mount position slims down.
So make sure to finish the sweep by getting the Full Mount and planning your attack from there.
Final Words
I want to emphasize the importance of control in this sweep. You want to get as tight grips as possible, specifically with your hands. But you also want to place your legs in strategic places that’ll help you drive more force.
The Scissor Sweep is an incredibly effective and quick sweep you can learn and execute in no time. You’ll start implementing its variations after just a few tries with them in training.
It’s a reasonably straightforward sweep you want to learn and master early on, especially if you’re going to take your grappling game to the next level.
Hopefully, you’ve understood how this sweep plays out; However, it’s not the most effective one. Follow this link to read about BJJ’s 5 most effective sweeps and how to perform them flawlessly.
Here are other articles you’d enjoy reading:
Butterfly Sweep 101: BJJ Complete Breakdown
Lumberjack Sweep 101: How to Perform & Master
Flower Sweep (Pendulum): Complete BJJ Breakdown
Mastering the Elevator Sweep in BJJ – Guide
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