Flower Sweep

Sweep

The Flower Sweep (also called the Pendulum Sweep) is a fundamental sweep from closed guard that uses a grip on the sleeve and opposite pant leg to off-balance the opponent laterally, rolling them over your leg to land in mount. It is most effective when the opponent posts both hands on your torso or is leaning forward with their weight centered.

Quick Reference

Key principles

  • · Control one sleeve and grip the same-side pant leg near the knee to create a unified pulling direction.
  • · Your hips must angle off-center toward the sweeping side before executing, creating the pendulum arc with your legs.
  • · The high leg swings forcefully over your own head like a pendulum while the low leg blocks their base at the knee line.
  • · Timing works best when the opponent drives weight forward or after you pull them toward you to load their weight over your hips.
  • · If they post the free hand to resist, transition to an armbar or triangle on the posted arm since it is now isolated.

Execution

  1. 1 From closed guard, grip their same-side sleeve with one hand and use the other hand to grab their pant leg at or below the knee on the opposite side.
  2. 2 Open your guard, hip escape slightly toward the pant-grip side, and place your foot on the mat on the sleeve-grip side for leverage.
  3. 3 Pull their sleeve across your body while lifting with the pant grip, simultaneously swinging your leg on the pant-grip side high over your head in a large pendulum arc.
  4. 4 Use your other leg to chop across their trapped knee, removing their base while your pendulum leg's momentum carries them over.
  5. 5 Follow the sweep momentum and rise directly into mount, maintaining the sleeve grip throughout the transition.

Common mistakes

  • × Staying flat with hips square instead of angling off to the side, which eliminates the pendulum arc and makes the sweep feel like a stalling bridge.
  • × Gripping the pant leg too low near the ankle instead of at the knee, reducing your mechanical leverage to lift and rotate their base.
  • × Swinging the pendulum leg out to the side rather than up and over your own head, which wastes momentum and fails to generate the rotational force needed to complete the sweep.

Do it from

Positions and situations where the Flower Sweep shows up.

Closed Guard Bottom
1 less common
Double Sleeve Guard

Where it lands

The position you end up in.

Mount Top