The X-Guard is a variation on the butterfly guard, where you cross your ankles across your opponent’s knees (to create the ‘X’) and shit to the side as much as possible. This isn’t stressed enough in the following pictures and videos. (And yes, they are rubber duckies on my socks)
Like all sweeps, this one relies on the forward pressure/momentum of your opponent. To set up a sweep or any attacks from X-Guard. With my left hand I grab Matthew’s wrist as well.
I pull Matthew’s left hand towards my body. This takes away his base.
I fall onto my left shoulder and kick my right foot upwards.
After Matthew’s been sweeped over I keep downward pressure with my arms/chest and kick over into side control. This is generally the safer option than trying for mount as you can easily end up in half guard.
If Matthew gets an underhook, I can do the same sweep with an overhook. It’s important that I sit further out to the side however, as I don’t have the same control over his body.
With the overhook, the technique becomes more upper body dependent. You really have to drive your right shoulder towards the ground. You can see in the picture that I’m almost standing up, pressing down against Matthew to get up.
Here’s the video of the sweeps
If the sweep fails, you have the option of going into a triangle. If your opponent blocks the sweep by posting withdraw your left foot by pulling your knee to your chest.
Hey Presto, Triangle!