De La Riva guard in BJJ: the hook, grips, sweeps and back takes

What the De La Riva guard is

The De La Riva guard is an open guard played against a partner who is standing, or kneeling with one foot up. It ties you to your partner’s lead leg, which makes it hard for them to step around your legs to pass. It sits with the open guards in our guide to BJJ guards, and it is a common starting point for back takes and leg entanglements.

The guard is named after Ricardo de la Riva, a student at Carlson Gracie’s academy in Rio de Janeiro. He developed it in the 1980s as a way to deal with heavier training partners, and the press began calling it by his name after he used it to beat Royler Gracie in competition.

Setting the hook and grips

Take a partner standing with their right leg forward. Your left leg wraps around that leg from the outside, and your foot comes between their legs to hook the inside of their thigh, close to the knee. Your left hand grips their right ankle or, in the gi, the pant leg at the ankle. The ankle grip stops them from stepping that foot back out of the hook.

Your right foot and right hand complete the guard. The foot can push on their far hip, on a biceps or against the far knee, depending on how close they are. The hand takes a sleeve, a collar or the belt in the gi. Without pants to hold, the ankle grip is harder to keep, so no-gi players tend to hold De La Riva only briefly before they attack or change position.

Main sweeps, back takes and transitions

One common De La Riva sweep takes your partner backward over the trapped heel. With the ankle held, their lead foot cannot step back to catch their weight, so a push on the far hip or knee while you pull the upper grip tips them over. If they lean forward to resist, the same grips can take them forward instead.

The berimbolo usually starts once the hook and grips have broken your partner’s balance. You invert, turning upside down under them while the hook stays in, and spin until you come up behind them to take the back. The Mendes brothers and the Miyao brothers helped popularize it in top-level gi competition.

When your partner drives forward and puts weight on the hooked leg, you can slide underneath into X guard or single leg X.

How partners pass it, and how to respond

Most passes start by removing the ankle grip or the hook. Partners strip the grip, step the hooked leg back out of reach, or move the hooked knee until the hook slips off. Common passes include the knee cut, the leg drag, the long step, the backstep and smash passes that pin your legs together.

Re-grip the ankle as soon as it is stripped, before your partner can move the freed leg. When they bring the lead knee inside to start a knee cut, many players switch to reverse De La Riva, in which your other leg hooks the passing leg from the inside instead of the outside.

Common De La Riva mistakes

One common mistake is a loose hook, with the foot resting against the leg instead of pulling on it. A partner can step out of it without breaking any grips.

A second is letting your hips drift away from the foot you hold, which leaves slack between you and gives the leg room to work free.

A third is leaving the free foot idle. With nothing pushing on them, your partner can walk in on top of the hook and start the knee cut.

What a reviewer looks for in De La Riva footage

On video, a black belt checks whether you set the ankle grip before or after the hook, how long you held the guard before attacking, and which grip your partner broke first in each pass. They also note whether you attacked while the weight was on the hooked leg or waited until it had shifted. A verified black belt can mark these moments on your own rolls in a roll review.