Killing the Knee Cut: Darin Conner DeAngelis
There is no one in the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu world quite like Darin Conner DeAngelis. At age 18, DeAngelis completely uprooted his life and moved all the way across the country to study under the legendary Andre Galvao, while living out of his van. Since making that fateful decision, DeAngelis has stormed the sport jiu jitsu scene quickly racking up accomplishments such as winning the IBJJF World Championships at purple belt in both the gi and in no-gi.
To understand why DeAngelis has been so successful, it is important to understand the passing metagame in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. In the early days of the sport, it was quite common to see passers only attempt to pass from their knees, but with the incorporation of modern guards such as spider and lasso guard, almost all passers start from a standing position to combat these and other modern guards.
This change in the metagame has made the knee cut an essential tool in the game of any athlete in the sport. Pioneered by greats such as Lucas Lepri, Marcelo Garcia, and Leandro Lo, the knee cut allows passers to stifle both open guards and the half-guard, as its entry only requires the passer to have one of their legs between both of their opponents.
With an underhook on his opponent’s left side, Lepri enters the butterfly guard of his opponent by placing his right leg in the center of his opponent’s guard, while maintaining a post with his left leg. Since he is in close contact with his opponent, maintaining a strong underhook on the left side, and establishing an overhook via control of his opponent’s belt, Lepri is able to pin his opponent’s back to the mat. Once this is accomplished, Lepri is tripods, keeping his opponent’s hips on the mat and preventing him from hip escaping to either side, completing the knee slide.
Following a takedown attempt, Leandro Lo is able to force his opponent to sit into the butterfly position. Once his opponent establishes butterfly, Lo steps his right leg in to assume a combat base position with both of his left limbs extended to maintain balance. In response, his opponent fights for an underhook on Lo’s weak side, while falling to his back in an attempt to elevate Lo with a shin-on-shin sweep. To prevent a sweep, Lo re-pummels and obtains an underhook on his right side, creating enough pressure on his opponent’s upper body to force his back to the mat. Once his opponent is glued to the mat, Lo shifts his hips so that they are facing away from his opponent, which at the same time misaligns his opponents body, as in his opponent’s chest and hips are now facing different directions, leading to a successful pass.
In both of these examples, the first priority of each of these athletes once they enter the knee cut position is to force their opponents’ back to mat. As this guard pass is statistically the most prominent in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, it is imperative for any athlete with competitive aspirations to be able to defend the knee cut, or to prevent passers from even entering the knee cut position.
Much of DeAngelis’ success in the sport jiu-jitsu world can be credited to his understanding of the knee cut position, and specifically how to make it work in his favor. DeAngelis so far has primarily been known for his seagull sweep, which is a direct counter to the knee cut and its close relative the knee smash.
DeAngelis starts this sequence with cross side collar control and an ankle grip. As his opponent enters the knee cut position, DeAngelis shifts his hips so that they are directly facing his opponent’s knee cutting leg, stopping his hips from being flattened on the mat. Once his opponent attempts to extend his left leg to start the knee cut, DeAngelis further reinforces his hip position by placing his knee on the inside of his opponent’s right hip, once again preventing his hips from being flattened. At the same time, DeAngelis pummels his leg to the inside of his opponent’s left leg, before pulling him forward, off balancing his opponent. This offbalacing causes his opponent to place his free hand on the mat. DeAngelis further exaggerates this problem for his opponent by extending his right leg, continually dragging his opponent’s collar, and by starting to do a technical stand up. Once DeAngelis is able to create a post, via his left knee, he plants his right leg on the ground to trip his opponent while simultaneously pushing on his opponent’s collar and pulling with the ankle grip, completing the takedown and entering the proper knee cut position himself.
Here, DeAngelis’ opponent enters the knee cut position, but is looking to finish with a knee smash, which entails collapsing DeAngelis’ right knee in order to have a viable path to pass on his left side. DeAngelis once again starts with the cross collar sleeve grip and an ankle grip. When his opponent sits directly on his right leg, DeAngelis pulls his opponent forward and to his right, allowing him to pummel his left shin underneath his opponent’s leg. Once this is accomplished, his opponent’s base is compromised, allowing DeAngelis to attempt a technical stand up. Once DeAngelis is able to create a solid post with his back knee, he once again straightens his right leg, while pushing on his opponents collar, and pulling at his ankle, finishing the sweep.
DeAngelis’ seagull sweep is not only limited to when his opponents attempt to enter the knee cut, as it is also extremely effective from X-guard.
DeAngelis starts this sequence with grips on both sides of his opponent’s pants, while entering the X-guard. Once he establishes the position, DeAngelis extends his right leg to off-balance his opponent and force his opponent to create a post on the mat. Once his opponent makes the post, he is on longer able to attack, allowing DeAngelis to go on the offensive. DeAneglis once again extends his legs, further extending his opponent so that he has more than enough space to complete a technical stand up. Once on his feet, DeAngelis maintains the grip on his opponent’s near side leg, while creating a new grip on his opponent’s collar, allowing him to completely control one side of his opponent’s body. Once this control is established, his opponent has no choice but to attempt to maintain his balance for as long as possible, until DeAngelis is able to drive him to the mat, while maintaining both grips.
One of the key details that can be easily overlooked in this technique is that throughout the sweep, DeAngelis keeps his grip on his opponent’s pants. This prevents his opponents from not only scrambling, but from forcing any open guard or even closed guard on DeAngelis, putting him in prime position to start smash passing.
Following the completion of the sweep, DeAngelis maintains the pants’ grip on his opponent, forcing his knee to the ground, preventing his opponent from being able to attack.
Once he obtains top position, DeAngelis applies a variety of smash passing techniques to pass his opponents guard.
Here, DeAngelis enters the knee cut position. Immediately DeAngelis looks to obtain a crossface while simultaneously making a grip on his opponent’s left hip. The crossface allows DeAngelis to flatten his opponent’s upper body to the mat, while the grip on his opponent’s hip allows him to flatten his opponent’s lower body, giving DeAngelis enough space to slide his trapped knee to the mat. Once his knee is on the mat, DeAngelis uses the hip grip to stop his opponent from re-trapping his right leg once DeAngelis frees it, and allows him to obtain side control.
In addition to the knee cut, DeAngelis favors the over-over pass.
DeAngelis starts this sequence in a similar position to that of a knee cut, with a grip on his opponent’s left leg. To start the pass, DeAngelis shuffles to his left, with his left elbow on the inside of his opponent’s right knee. This motion forces his opponents right leg to the mat while trapping his opponent’s left leg under the weight of his entire body. Once his opponent’s legs are trapped, DeAngelis extracts his right arm and wraps both arms around his opponent’s torso, while tripoding. This forces his opponent’s upper body to the mat and once his opponent attempts to create space using his legs, DeAngelis easily steps over into side control.
Darin Conner DeAngelis is one of the top prospects in the Brazilian Jiu Jitsu world because he attacks the modern Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu metagame. While the knee cut is an extremely effective pass, it only works once you control your opponent’s upper body and when you trap one of your opponent’s knees. DeAngelis’ seagull sweep allows his opponent to get in range for the knee cut, but does not allow for these two crucial factors to be enacted. In addition, the ending of DeAngelis’ sweep allows him to fully control one side of his opponent, and puts him in prime position to work his smash passing game. Next time you see DeAngelis win, don’t be surprised it’s because of these techniques.