De la Riva Guard

What it is

De la Riva guard is an open guard against a standing opponent where your outside leg hooks their lead leg from the outside, heel curled behind the knee, while your same-side hand holds that ankle and your free foot pushes the far hip. The hook and the ankle grip own the lead leg, and the far foot keeps their posture off you. It is a guard for off-balancing: sweeps, back takes and the berimbolo all start from it.

What you want from here

• They are standing in your open guard with one leg forward and the knee pointing out.
• You want to keep a standing passer at distance while you set up a sweep or a back take.
• They step a leg forward to pass, which hands you the leg to hook.
• On top: you need to turn the knee in, strip the ankle grip and pass before the sweep comes.

Key details

• Heel behind the knee, toes pulled back. A tight hook turns their knee out; a loose one is just a foot on their leg.
• Hold the ankle on the hook side so the foot cannot step back out of the hook.
• The free foot on the far hip blocks their posture. Pair it with a collar, sleeve or wrist grip so they stay bent.
• Stay on your side and angled out toward the hooked leg, not flat on your back square to them.
• Watch the knee. Knee out, keep the hook; knee in, switch to reverse De la Riva before the hook is flattened.

Common mistakes

• Mistake: a loose hook with the toes pointed. They step straight through it and knee cut.
• Mistake: holding the guard and waiting. They turn the knee in, flatten the hook and pass.
• Mistake: lying flat with only the ankle grip. They toreando around your legs to side control.
• Mistake: no grip on the upper body. They drive their posture forward over the hook and stack you.

How it is escaped or passed

• Turning the hooked knee in and down to flatten the hook, then knee cutting.
• Breaking the ankle grip and stepping the leg back out of the hook.
• Dropping the knee to the mat and leg dragging or passing to the side away from the hook.

Gi and no-gi

Without the gi there are no collar or sleeve grips, so the upper body is controlled with wrist grips and the hook does more of the work. Against a sweaty leg the hook slips more, so move between hooks faster.