Key Takeaways
- A compact three-volume instructional built around one clear idea: turn pressure passing into a continuous chain of control, progression, and submissions.
- The material leans heavily on body positioning, hip and upper-body control, and making every passing phase feel threatening rather than transitional.
- Volume 2 is the real identity piece here, with the Dog Bar and Dog House material giving the set a distinct flavor.
- The biggest strength is clarity of focus; the biggest limitation is that this is a relatively short instructional, so some viewers will want more depth and more extended troubleshooting.
- Rating: 9/10
DOWNLOAD PASSING AND SUBMISSIONS WILLIAM DORMAN DVD
The Passing And Submissions William Dorman DVD is one of those instructionals that makes its purpose clear right away. Rather than selling guard passing as a separate skill that ends once you clear the legs, it presents top pressure as a full attacking framework: pass, pin, force reactions, and finish. That is the core promise of the set, and it is also the main reason it stands out from a lot of broader passing releases.
Plenty of passing instructionals teach movement patterns well enough, but fewer really organize the material around what happens after contact is made and space starts disappearing. Here, the idea is to make your opponent feel like every inch they give up creates a new problem. That makes the Passing and Submissions William Dorman DVD especially appealing for people who want a pressure passing instructional with a true attacking identity, not just a menu of passes.
Pressure Passing in Modern Jiu-Jitsu
Pressure passing has never gone out of style, but it has become easier to misunderstand. A lot of people hear pressure and think slow, static, or overly dependent on physicality. Good pressure passing is none of those things. It is really about connection, weight placement, and the ability to deny movement before your opponent has time to build their next layer of guard.
That is why guard passing to submissions is such an important idea. Passing is great, but passing with no follow-up often gives strong guard players a second life. You clear the legs, settle a little late, and suddenly they are framing, hip-escaping, inverting, or re-guarding. The better route is to think of pressure as a chain. Clear a layer, pin something meaningful, threaten a finish, and force the next bad decision.
That mindset is where the Passing and Submissions William Dorman DVD earns most of its value. It is not trying to reinvent top game control from scratch. It is organizing it around continuity. Instead of separating passing, pinning, and submission hunting into different boxes, it pushes them together. In real rolling, that is usually how the best top players feel anyway: one problem flowing into the next.
The Inspirational Story of William Dorman
William Dorman has the kind of background that makes a pressure-first teaching style believable. The 43-year-old 3rd-degree black belt has more than 16 years of Jiu-Jitsu experience, based in Sarasota while traveling extensively and teaching seminars in multiple countries. He is a grappler someone who values learning from many styles and building a personal game rather than treating Jiu-Jitsu as a fixed template.
Dorman is also a retired U.S. Navy Diver Senior Chief with 24 years of service, including 14 years at DEVGRU as a diver and combatives instructor. He got his 3rd-degree black belt under Gustavo Machado. Post-retirement, Dorman has been teaching often at BJJ Globetrotter camps and supporting veterans through the We Defy Foundation.
That does not automatically make every instructional great, of course. But it does explain why the Passing and Submissions William Dorman DVD feels like it is built around pressure, control, and practical dominance rather than flashy movement. Dorman comes across as someone whose Jiu-Jitsu has been shaped by function, travel, teaching, and a lot of mat time.
The Full Passing And Submissions William Dorman DVD Review
The Passing and Submissions William Dorman DVD is split into three volumes. Based on the listed chapter times, it is a compact set that runs just over an hour, which is both a strength and a potential drawback. The strength is obvious: you can get through it quickly and return to specific sections without feeling buried. The drawback is that there is less room for deep troubleshooting than you would get in a more expansive instructional
Volume 1 – Pressure Passing
The first volume is where Dorman lays down the identity of the set. It starts with side-control pressure and a “feet, knees, hips” concept, then moves into passing chains like closed guard track star to knee cut and a failed knee cut into Darce. From there, it shifts into butterfly passing, a DLR pigeon pass drill, and finishes with control-oriented submission material like a baby cradle wrist lock.
That is a smart opening structure. Rather than spending forever on abstract theory, Dorman ties concepts to sequences quickly. The result is that Volume 1 feels like a map of the system rather than a lecture about what pressure should be in theory. The movement names are a little quirky in places, but the overall direction is easy to understand: pin efficiently, pass with intent, and start building submission threat early.
This is also where the Passing and Submissions William Dorman DVD starts to show its best habit: it never seems interested in just passing. Even when the emphasis is on getting through the guard, the chapters point toward what comes next.
Volume 2 – The Dog House
Volume 2 is the engine room of the instructional. This is where the Dog Bar material appears, along with transitions into the Dog House, passes off that control, and finishing routes such as the rifle wrist lock, reverse Americana, toe hold, and plenty more original stuff.
In practical terms, this is the section that gives the Passing and Submissions William Dorman DVD its strongest personality. The Dog Bar system is not just a random add-on; it feels like the bridge between pressure and submission.
I also like that this volume keeps the theme of top game control intact while making the threat level climb. It does not suddenly become a submission anthology. Everything still appears tied to passing pressure and positional progression. For grapplers who hate disconnected instructionals, that matters a lot.
Volume 3 – Over-Under Magic
The third volume narrows the focus further by going into over-under finishing. The chapters cover the regular finish and plenty of reactions to moves such as inverted triangle, turning opponents, bigger opponents, etc.
This is a good choice for a closing volume because over-under passing is already one of the classic homes for heavy top pressure. Instead of ending the set with a grab bag of bonus material, Dorman uses a specific passing position to tie together finishing mechanics and reaction management. That gives the Passing and Submissions William Dorman DVD a cleaner ending than many short instructionals manage.
Pressure Passing Control
The best way to use the Passing and Submissions William Dorman DVD is not by trying to copy every named pass right away. The smarter route is to take the core principles first: body positioning, weight distribution, upper-body control, and the idea that passing should blend directly into pinning and finishing. That is exactly how the product describes the system, and it is the part most likely to improve your game fastest.
From a training standpoint, this works well in positional rounds. Start in butterfly, knee shield, or over-under passing scenarios and try to build the sequence one layer at a time. If you treat this as a pure move-collecting project, you will miss the main value. The value is in creating a top game control loop where your partner never feels fully safe.
Because the set is short, it is also very rewatchable. That makes it a strong study piece for people who like focused review rather than marathon instructionals. One or two concepts per week, tested in live rounds, would be a realistic and productive way to work through it.
PRESSURE PASSING AND SUBMISSIONS WILLIAM DORMAN DVD HERE
Who Is This For?
The Passing and Submissions William Dorman DVD is best for grapplers who already know they prefer top pressure to loose movement-heavy passing. Blue belts and above will probably get the most immediate value, especially if they already have some passing experience and want a more connected system.
It also suits people who are not relying on speed or explosiveness. The product explicitly frames the material around body positioning, weight distribution, control of the hips, shoulders, and head, and breaking down opponents without depending on raw athletic pop. That makes it attractive for older grapplers, coaches, and anyone trying to build a durable passing style.
Brand-new white belts can still learn from it, but they may need more foundational context than this set provides. On the other end, highly advanced passers might enjoy the structure and specific transitions, but they may also wish the instructional went longer. In other words, this is a strong middle-lane product: clear enough for developing grapplers, focused enough to still interest experienced ones.
Pros & Potential Drawbacks
Pros:
- Clear system identity: The material stays centered on pressure, progression, and finishes instead of drifting into unrelated top-game content.
- Strong middle section: The Dog Bar and Dog House material gives the set a memorable core rather than just another collection of passing clips.
- Compact and rewatchable: At just over an hour, it is easy to revisit and easy to study in blocks.
- Practical emphasis: The content looks aimed at usable top pressure, not performance for the camera.
- Good conceptual through-line: The passing-to-submission connection is the strongest idea in the whole instructional.
Potential Drawbacks:
- Short runtime: Some chapters and themes feel like they could use more troubleshooting and live-problem discussion.
- Narrow lane by design: Grapplers looking for a broad encyclopedia of pressure passing may find the scope too tight.
- Assumes some passing literacy: Absolute beginners may not squeeze maximum value out of it right away.
From Pressure to Submission
The Passing and Submissions William Dorman DVD does a lot right because it knows exactly what it wants to be. It is not a giant reference manual, and it is not pretending to cover every passing problem in the sport. It is a focused top-game instructional about making pressure meaningful, turning positional wins into submission threats, and building a style that feels heavy from start to finish.
