We’re trapped. We’re trapped.

But one good thing that comes out of this quarantine is that it has given me the opportunity to delve into a lot of matches and glean little pieces of knowledge.

Case in point:

Not that long ago, Erberth Santos faced off against Henrique Cardosa at the Sul Brasileiro in Brazil, and in the opening moments, there was an exchange that I found quite interesting.

Get this.

It all started off of a failed double leg transition to the single leg, which was fascinating in its own right.

From that point on, though, there are quite a few micro battles before the best sweep attempt.

The first happened in a split second. Henrique was in the position, and he had a cross collar grip but abandoned it almost immediately. Why?

It’s because Erberth went for the sleeve.

And that sleeve grip is death.

If an opponent establishes control of that sleeve (the right one if you have a left single leg x hook), it will anchor them to you and make sweeping them an almost impossible task without a major transition.

Then Henrique went for the classic single leg x sweep. Yup, he elevated his hips and rotated out, but Erberth was like a rock. He barely moved. After that, Erberth went for the second primary defensive response against single leg x.

He tried to clear the foot off the hip.

And once again, Henrique was savvy. He abandoned it for a moment, so that Erberth couldn’t grab the foot.

That grip is death too.

If an opponent establishes control of it and pushes it forward, it will kill the hips, which also make sweeping an almost impossible task. Man, so many hidden dangers.

But in the midst of that footsie battle, an important grip was established.

This time, though, it was Henrique who took the initiative. He got a grip on Erberth’s far leg, and that was a wrap. Controlling both legs in single leg x is god mode.

The sweep is hard to stop.

But in this case, sitting Erberth on his butt wasn’t enough.

Why?

It’s because he immediately used the tech stand to escape, and he was just a little bit quicker. There were so many lessons in that little exchange, and the single leg x position is quite interesting.

In fact, if that’s a game you’d like to explore…..

Just the other day, I put a whole series for the position on tape. It has two entries, and a logical sequence of offense that flows from the two simplest sweeps, a method for latching onto the ankle lock before an opponent recognizes the danger, what to do when an opponent tries to pull the foot off the hip, a transition to the x guard that leads immediately to the sweep, and transition into the leg lock death position commonly known as the texas cloverleaf.

You’ll be able to grab it here soon, if you so wish: