Butterfly Guard

What it is

Butterfly guard is a seated guard where your feet are hooked inside your opponent's thighs and your chest is close to theirs. The hooks let you lift and tilt their whole body, so the position is built for sweeps and for getting up: the butterfly sweep, the arm drag to the back and the technical stand-up. It lives on an underhook and head position: sit up and stay close and it is one of the best guards in the sport; lie flat with your hooks in and it is just a slow way to get passed.

What you want from here

• On bottom: the opponent is on their knees in front of you and you want to sweep them over or get to their back.
• On bottom: your opponent has broken your closed guard, and you sit up rather than lie back.
• On bottom: you want to stand up and reset, using the hooks to make space for the technical stand-up.
• On top: keep your hips back and your weight low, strip the underhook, and pass by pinning the hooks or hopping over them.

Key details

• Sit up, chest close, head under their chin or beside their head. Distance is what kills this guard.
• Hooks tucked inside the thighs with the feet flexed, so you can lift with the legs, not just the hips.
• Underhook on one side, head on that side, and a grip on the other arm so they cannot post.
• Sweep toward the arm you control: fall onto that shoulder and lift with the hook on the underhook side.
• Keep the hips moving. If they pin one hook, sit up and change angle rather than staying put.

Common mistakes

• Mistake: lying flat with your hooks in. They push your knees to the mat and pass.
• Mistake: sweeping without an underhook or a controlled arm. They post a hand and stay on top.
• Mistake: letting them get chest to chest with their hips back and low. Your hooks have nothing to lift.

How it is escaped or passed

• Keeping the hips back and low and killing the underhook with a crossface or an overhook.
• Pinning one hook to the mat and passing to that side (the knee cut or the smash pass).
• Standing up out of the hooks before the bottom player can get close.

Gi and no-gi

Without the gi the butterfly guard is used even more, because there are no sleeve grips to slow the sweep; the controlling grips are the underhook, the wrist and the back of the head.