Jozef Chen passed Gabriel Brod’s locked half guard at ADCC 2026 with his head on the mat and his hips in the air. That’s close to the opposite of how most of us learn to pass half guard: low, tight, knees under you, hips heavy. It won him the -88kg bronze medal match 13-0, and he passed the same way twice in that match, which tells you it’s how he passes, not a one-off scramble.
This post walks through the three details that make it work, what he does when the bottom player gives him a butterfly hook instead, and the free flowchart that puts the whole thing on one page. The details come from the match itself and from Jozef’s own teaching at B-Team.
Jozef Chen: passing half guard with your hips in the air (free flowchart) grappleflows.comThe position
Brod has the half guard locked: both of his legs wrapped around one of Jozef’s. From there the bottom player has two ways back into the match. He can get a knee or a frame inside and rebuild the guard, or he can use a hook to off-balance the top player and come up. Everything Jozef does is aimed at taking both of those away before he tries to free the leg.
Detail 1: the head goes to the far side
Watch his head. It goes to the mat on the far side of Brod’s head, across the body. Not on the chest, and not on the near side.
Jozef teaches exactly why. If the head is on the same side, the bottom player shoots a knee through and rebuilds. Put it across the body and that lane is gone. It also turns his head into a post, which matters for the next detail.
Detail 2: hips high, legs long
Most half guard passing is taught low and heavy. In this match Jozef’s weight is on his head and his hips are the highest point in the frame.
His cue in class is to elongate. When you’re tight, the bottom player’s frames and legs have something to push on and they can carry your weight. Long and high, there’s nothing for them to lift. He teaches that cue against the knee shield, earlier in the same sequence, but the logic carries straight over to the locked half guard.
Detail 3: the free leg does the work
This is the part that’s easy to miss at full speed. One leg can’t pull itself out of two locked legs. So Jozef’s free foot pushes Brod’s legs down while his trapped knee comes up toward his chest. The two move in opposite directions, so the lock slides off instead of tightening.
Because his head and hips already have Brod pinned, Brod can’t turn in and lock it back up. Side control, three points.
The slow part a highlight doesn’t show
After the first pass, Brod turned to his knees, rolled through, and got his guard back. Jozef then spent most of the next minute and a half on top of that same half guard, head down, hips up, without forcing anything. He calls this camping: keeping an advantage over time so the bottom player gets tired. Then the points came fast. Eight of his thirteen came in the last seventy seconds.
That’s worth copying as much as the mechanics. Holding the position while the bottom player spends energy trying to recover is part of the pass.
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Free flowchart See every step of Jozef's pass, with his explanation and the match clip on each card. Open the map →
The other branch: the butterfly hook
Brod locked his legs. In Jozef’s tripod passing, that’s one of the two reactions he expects at this point. The other is a butterfly hook, and that’s the one he says he actually prefers to pass against. He lays out both reactions in his B-Team class:
Against the hook, the first thing he does is flatten over it. If your hips move away from a hook, you give it strength. Then he reads what the bottom player fights with:
- If they fight for inside position with an arm, he puts a hand on the hip and an elbow on the quad, and steps straight up to mount.
- If they frame on his knee, he pushes the knee through and goes double unders.
The whole pass on one map
Here’s the read in one line: top of half guard, head on the mat on the far side, hips up. If the bottom player locks the legs, free the leg from on top with the free foot. If they insert a butterfly hook, flatten it and step up.
The flowchart lays that out card by card. Tap a card to read Jozef’s explanation and play the moment from his B-Team class where he teaches it, so you can check each detail against the footage instead of trusting a summary.
Open the full flowchart on Grapple Flows for a bigger view.
Drilling it
Start with the head. Have a partner lock half guard and do nothing but put your head on the far side and lift your hips, then let them try to get a knee through. You’ll feel the lane close. Add the free-foot push once the top position feels stable, and only then let your partner choose between the lock and the butterfly hook so you practice the read.
Next time you’re stuck on top of someone’s half guard: head on the mat, hips up, and read what they give you.
Match footage: FloGrappling. Jozef’s teaching: B-Team Jiu Jitsu, “Guard passing with ADCC Trials champion Jozef Chen!” and “Jozef Chen Interplay Between Passing Styles”.
Common questions
How does Jozef Chen pass half guard?
Against a locked half guard he puts his head on the mat on the far side of the bottom player's head, keeps his hips high and his legs long, then uses his free foot to push the bottom player's legs down while the trapped knee comes up toward his chest. The lock slides off and he settles in side control.
Why does Jozef Chen put his head on the far side?
With the head on the near side, the bottom player has a lane to bring a knee or frame through and rebuild the guard. With the head across the body on the far side, that lane is closed. Jozef teaches this in his B-Team passing class.
Why keep your hips high when passing half guard?
Jozef's cue is to stay long. When the passer is tight and low, the bottom player's frames and legs have weight to push on and can carry it. With the weight on the head and the hips high, there's nothing for the frames to lift.
What does Jozef Chen do against a butterfly hook instead of a locked half guard?
He flattens over the hook first, because moving the hips away from a hook gives it strength. If the bottom player fights for inside position with an arm, he puts a hand on the hip and an elbow on the quad and steps up to mount. If they frame on his knee, he pushes the knee through and goes double unders.
Who did Jozef Chen beat for bronze at ADCC 2026?
Gabriel Brod, 13-0, in the -88kg bronze medal match. Eight of his thirteen points came in the last seventy seconds.
