Double-Ankle Sweep

What it is

The double-ankle sweep knocks a standing opponent onto their back by grabbing both ankles and driving your hips into their thighs. It is the simplest answer when someone stands up in your closed guard. Done early, it turns their attempt to open your guard into you on top.

When to use it

• They stand up inside your closed guard to open it.
• Their weight is forward over their feet and their hands are busy with your legs.
• They have opened the guard and are standing with both feet close to your hips.

How to do it

1. As they stand, keep your guard closed for a moment and let them carry you up.
2. Reach down and grab both ankles, hands cupping the heels.
3. Open your guard and bring your knees up and in, feet close to your body.
4. Drive your hips up and forward into their thighs, pulling the ankles toward you.
5. They fall onto their back. Keep the ankles, sit up and follow them.
6. Come up on your knees, place a knee on their belly or step over a leg and pass to side control.

Key details

• Your hips do the sweep, not your arms. Bridge into the thighs, pull only to stop their feet from moving.
• Timing is everything. Sweep while they are still rising, before their base is set.
• Keep your knees tight to their legs so they cannot step out sideways.
• Sit up straight away. The sweep is half finished until you are on top.

Common mistakes

• Mistake: grabbing the ankles and pulling with your arms only, so they keep their base and pass.
• Mistake: waiting until they are fully upright with a solid stance, so your hips cannot move them.
• Mistake: letting go of the ankles as they fall, so they sit up and you land in their open guard.

What they will try

• They step one foot back out of range before you grab the ankle.
• They drop their weight and smash forward, turning the sweep into a stack pass.