Sweep Single

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The sweep single — also known as running the pipe — is a single leg finish in which the attacker, holding a single leg, circles to the outside of the trapped leg and sweeps the opponent’s far ankle out from under them. The opponent, hopping on their remaining base leg to maintain balance, has that base leg removed by the sweep and falls backward and to the side. The takedown finishes with the attacker on top, the swept leg now on the mat, and the trapped leg still controlled.

The sweep single is one of the three primary single-leg finishes alongside the cut-the-corner trip and the lift-and-dump. It is the highest-percentage finish against an opponent who is hopping (still moving) rather than rooted, and it is the structural bridge between the single leg as a leg-control technique and the ankle pick as a foot-attack technique — both finish by removing the far ankle’s base, just from different starting positions.

INV-ST01Invariant "Destabilising the opponent requires controlling the secondary leg — the leg that is not the primary base. Moving the secondary leg removes the opponent's ability to rebalance."

Why it works hereThe single leg has already controlled the primary leg — the one in the attacker's hands. The sweep single completes the destabilisation by removing the secondary leg (the far ankle), which has just become the opponent's only base because the trapped leg is off the mat. The hop the opponent uses to chase the attacker's circle is exactly the moment the secondary leg becomes a single point of contact; the sweep fires on that contact. Without the secondary-leg sweep, the single leg is a control without a finish — the opponent hops indefinitely.

See full invariant page → INV-ST02Invariant "Hip access is the functional goal of all single-leg attacks. Controlling the leg without accessing the hip allows the opponent to sprawl and recover."

Why it works hereThe sweep single requires hip access — the attacker's chest must be at the opponent's hip line during the circle, not just their hands on the leg. With hip access, the circle is tight and the sweep arrives in the opponent's path; without it, the circle is wide and the sweep arrives at empty space behind a hopping opponent. Hip access also denies the sprawl that defeats the wider circle. The sweep single is hip access converted into geometric advantage at the far ankle.

The sweep single begins from an established single leg with hip access — chest at the opponent’s hip, the trapped leg held high (knee at or above waist height), the trapped foot pinned against the attacker’s body. The grip on the trapped leg is high — at the knee or thigh, not at the ankle. A low single leg has weaker hip access and worse sweep geometry.