Perhaps not many people knew who Eoghan O’Flanagan was prior to ADCC 2022, but now everyone is more than aware of the British leg lock aficionado. The submission hunter is somewhat of a unique personality, training mainly at open mats and learning more from instructional than actual live coaches. His level is unquestionable, though, and his teaching skills seem to match his competitive ones, as the Down Right Sloppy Half Butterfly DVD clearly proves.
Overview
This Eoghan O’Flanagan BJJ instructional covers a very popular position in the half butterfly guard. While many people see it as a lazy person’s half guard for sweeping, or a launching pad for leg locks, O’Flanagan demonstrates in his Half Butterfly DVD that you can do a lot more from the position. His instruction is a precise and detailed guide into everything related to the half butterfly, from gripping and controlling to switching between offense and defense and upper and lower body focus.
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Instructor Background
Eoghan O’Flanagan is a BJJ black belt from Harlsedon, London, UK, with a lifelong pedigree in grappling. He started Judo at the age of just 4 and through it, ended up in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, earning his black belt at the age of 21.
A predominantly No-Gi grappler, O’Flanagan states YouTube, Flograppling, and UFC Fight Pass as his main sources of learning. Another curious thing is that although he is associated with New school BJJ and New Wave Academy, he mostly trains nomadically, visiting open mats as much as he can. Given his affinity for leg locks, it is not surprising that Eoghan O’Flanagan states Gordon Ryan, Eddie Cummings, Garry Tonon, and Ethan Crelinsten as his inspiration.
His performances at the 2022 ADCC turned many heads when the European trails winner faced off against Xande Ribeiro and Mason Fowler, defeating both.
Subject
The Down Right Sloppy Half Butterfly DVD by Eoghan O’Flanagan is pretty straightforward when it comes to the subject matter. The directions O’Flanagan covers in this instructional is where this BJJ DVD differs from all others covering the same subject.
O’Flanagan starts covering the defensive aspects, retaining the guard despite the actions of the person on top, including even body lock attacks. He then covers offensive grip fighting by way of arm saddles which expose sweeps, submissions, back attacks, and the like.
Many submissions also feature, ranging from armlocks to leg locks, with chokes and strangles sprinkled in between. Leg locks, of course, make up most of the submissions in an Eoghan O’Flanagan BJJ DVD instructional.
Technical Details
The instructional is well put together, with a very nice progression content-wise. Eoghan O’Flanagan starts with basic positioning and pass prevention, then moves on to attacking the base, before switching to submissions hallway through. The third volume covers all types of submissions, while the fourth is dedicated to the half-butterfly leg-locking game.
The instructional has four volumes, like every other modern BJJ DVD. Each volume lasts around 30 minutes, with a total time of 2 hours. Given O’Flanagan’s pedigree, the Half Butterfly DVD is a No-Gi instructional.
All the production aspects of the DVD, like video quality, audio quality, camera work, and the like are up to BJJ Fanatics standards.
The instructional is available in DVD and digital formats, both with high-definition quality.
Complexity
This is a No-Gi DVD only, and despite most stuff without the Gi being applicable to Gi, that is not the case here. The grips change dramatically when it comes to playing half guard, so this instructional is mostly going to benefit No-Gi players.
In terms of the position itself, despite the half butterfly being somewhat complicated, O’Flanagan does a great job at really, really simplifying your tasks from the position, and yet, offering depth and detail that will keep the interest of even seasoned half-guard players/leg lockers peaked.
I guess the only pre-requisite for this one is knowing what half-guard is and some of the half-guard basics, since O’Flanagan brushed over those quickly, but I think most people that have a few months of training under their belt will be able to use the Half Butterfly DVD immediately.
Detailed Analysis
DVD #1
After the mandatory introduction, Eoghan O’Flanagan starts explaining the position, although he doesn’t spend too much time on body positioning. Instead, the focus is on gripping in order to maintain guard against some of the most common passes that often foil the half-butterfly.
A really cool chapter covers dealing with negative partners which are often an issue for any guard. There’s an easy solution how to make someone engage when they’re trying to stall from the half-butterfly, though.
The passes that Eoghan O’Flanagan solves in this DVD are mostly from the smash variety, like weave pass variations and body locks. He also explains the knee lever (shoveling concept) really clearly and concisely.
DVD #2
In the second volume of the Down Right Sloppy Half Butterfly DVD goes on the offense. He focuses his offensive salvo around the arm saddle, using it to break the top person’s posture and take away their base.
Most of the volume covers grip fighting to achieve the arm saddle, which is a point of no return for the top person – once you get it, they can’t do anything if they do not break it.
The volume ends with a few really cool and applicable reactive scenarios based on the opponent’s actions/
DVD #3
Offense intensifies in past the halfway point of this instructional, with O’Flanagan turning to submissions in the form of Kimura, Triangle choke, Shotgun armlocks nad a couple of slick back takes, including fun inversions.
All of the submissions for ma loop are interchangeable, meaning that when one fails, either another one opens, or you can immediately turn to concepts and techniques from the previous volumes to constantly stay in control.
DVD #4
This is the volume most people probably thought of when they saw the words Half Butterfly DVD and Eoghan O’Flanagan. It contains leg lock entries and threats, along with a few more transitions to the back.
Once again there is a heavy focus on grips that work to set up the saddle as well as utilize false reaps to counter sprawling and shin staple pass attempts. The K-guard is never far away from false reaps and the saddle, and O’Flanagan presents it as the best friend and neighbor to the half-butterfly guard.
The Boston crab double leg lock helps O’Flanagan wrap this one in style.
How We Grade The “Down Right Sloppy Half Butterfly DVD” By Eoghan O’Flanagan
Considering this Down Right Sloppy Half Butterfly instructional DVD’s technical aspects and quality of content, we come to an overall score for this instructional that I’ll deliberate in short below.
Technical Quality: 9/10
The fact that this is an exclusive No-Gi instructional takes away from the perfect grade. Apart from that every other technical aspect of the DVD, down to the cover art is impeccable.
Quality of Content: 10/10
Eoghan O’Flanagn leaves nothing to be desired. Submission hunters, leg lock specialists, and half-guard players are all going to find things in this that they will immediately be able to integrate into their games.
Moreover, it offers a complete offensive and defensive approach to the half-butterfly position and a tested system that you can put to use quickly.
Overall: 9/10
A solid DVD instructional across the board. Flanagan has a bit of an eccentric flare which further makes him an unorthodox and entertaining coach, who has lots of knowledge on the subject he is covering in this BJJ DVD.
Wrap Up
Among the huge number of half-butterfly DVD instructionals available, Eoghan O’Flanagan’s is one of the first ones to begin exploring the position, if you don’t already know how the guard works. Even then, you’ll find an approach not many others have, including seasoned leg lockers like Eddie Cummings and Robert Degle.
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