John Danaher Demonstrates a Basic Principle of Defending Guard Passes

John Danaher talks, and we listen. Head coach of the now-defunct Danaher Death Squad, Danaher might be the most sought-after jiu-jitsu instructor on the planet. In a recent video released by BJJ Fanatic, we see a clip of Danaher’s guard retention instructional in which he explains and demonstrates a basic principle of guard retention: crossovers.

In the video above, Danaher demonstrates the first step to defending against an outside guard pass. Once the passing player is able to manipulate one leg, the defending player needs to involve his other, free leg by “crossing over” to regain position.

“If someone is in front of my hip line and they go to push my foot over to the other side, there’s a danger now that they’re gonna pass my knee and get up to my hip line. So I should always, when one foot gets compromised, to be able to use the other foot to form a connection to my opponent and correct myself,” Danaher explained.

The leader of the famed (and recently ended) Danaher Death Squad, Danaher has been the head coach to top no-gi competitors like Gordon Ryan, Nicky Ryan, Garry Tonon, and Nick Rodriguez, among many others.