What the toreando pass is
The toreando is a standing guard pass. You control both of your partner’s legs, steer them to one side and circle around to the other, so their hips turn away from you and their legs face the side you just left. It is also called the bullfighter pass, after the way a bullfighter steps aside as the bull charges past. The pass works against open guards where you can reach the legs, and against closed guard once you have stood up and opened it. It sits with the standing passes in our guide to guard passing.
Grips and variations
Instructors differ on the gi grips, such as whether to take the pants from the inside or the outside of the knee. The old-school version holds the ankles instead, which keeps you out of reach of your partner’s grips and makes upkicks harder. You fake one way, throw the legs the other way and step past, often into knee on belly. It still works below the elite level, but at the top of the sport it has largely given way to the versions below.
Other versions force both legs to the floor and circle, push one leg while pulling the other, or spin the legs like a steering wheel toward north-south. Another moves one hand from the leg to the hip, in the same arm position as the knee cut, and circles farther toward the head. Leandro Lo was known for the push-and-pull version. Forcing the legs to the floor depends on the pant grips, so it needs the gi. The other versions also work without it.
Gi gripsNo-gi grips
- Controls both legsBoth pant legs, at or just below the kneesThe knees or shins
- Keeps the feet off youBoth ankles or pant cuffs, held at arm's lengthBoth ankles, held at arm's length
- Presses the legs downThe pant grips push the legs toward the matHands on the knees or shins push the legs toward the mat
- Turns the hips awaySame in no-giOne hand drives a leg across while the other pushes the other knee down
- Blocks the hip as you circleSame in no-giOne hand leaves its leg for the hip, and the other keeps its leg grip
- Holds the finishSame in no-giA crossface or an underhook before the leg grips let go
Used against
How the bottom player counters it
- Forearm chopThe bottom player chops a forearm up along their own shin, which bends the passer's wrist and strips that grip, and repeats it at each regrip.
- Hip frame and leg pummelA frame near the hips, braced on the elbow, buys time to pummel the leg back in and step a foot onto the passer's biceps.
- Lapel drag or arm dragSitting up on a lapel grip, or an arm drag in no-gi, and hopping the hips sideways pulls the passer forward as the bottom player moves out of the way.
- Sit up and stiff armWhen the passer is nearly past, a sleeve grip and a straight arm hold their weight off while the bottom player shrimps back to guard or Granby rolls.
How the pass works
Controlling both legs lets you move them together and steer them out of your path. Pressing them toward the mat takes away much of their movement, so your partner cannot easily bring their legs around to follow you. Make sure their hips have turned away before you arrive at their side. If they have not, the far leg can come back and rebuild the guard.
Move around the legs instead of pushing through them, with your hips low and your posture upright. Passers use two common footwork patterns. Some sprawl their hips and feet back as they pin the legs, then hop around to side control. Others step one leg forward in a semicircle into knee on belly. Some also drop a shoulder onto the belly as they come around, before settling into side control or north-south.
Reading your partner’s reactions
Partners who keep their knees and elbows close leave little room for the version that forces the legs to the floor, and many sit up into butterfly guard against it. A partner who stays down and curls into a ball, with the knees near the armpits, has little of their body on the mat. Some instructors use the steering wheel version here, spinning the legs to take them to north-south.
When your partner follows your movement with their legs, a leg drag is a common follow-up. Pinning the leg to your hip stops it from following you back into guard.
Common toreando mistakes
Bending at the waist to lean over the legs, instead of moving around them, lets your partner pull you back into their guard or invert under you.
Crossing your feet as you circle, or keeping them too close together, leaves you without a base and open to sweeps.
Letting go of the legs before you control the upper body gives your partner room to put their knees back in and recover guard.
What a reviewer looks for in your toreando
A black belt watching your footage checks which grips you took and whether your partner got a foot to your biceps first, whether their hips turned away before you went around, and which reaction stopped the passes that failed. A verified black belt can timestamp these moments in your gi or no-gi rolls in a roll review, with a voiceover over your own footage.