So you want to learn the De La Riva Guard. That’s excellent news because you came to the right place. You also want to learn to finish from it, which we’ll also review in great detail.
All in all, this article will help you to learn, understand, and experiment with this type of Open Guard that you want to know about. Learning more in BJJ—is almost always better. The almost here is thoughtfully placed as replacing good ol’ practice with learning—is something you want to avoid.
I’m confident that this article will serve as the only source of knowledge concerning the De La Riva Guard you’ll need. You’ll be able to start getting your first taps against your opponent once you finish reading.
You can do plenty when you’re in this position. Once you have attained it, which we’ll examine how you can do so soon, you have an endless set of options to choose from. It’s even possible to get Back Mount, which is much more dominant.
I think that’s enough chit-chat. Let’s dive into the practical things we’re all really here for.
What Is the De La Riva Guard?
Here is a position you want to learn and get comfortable with. The De La Riva Guard will eventually allow you many options, such as (1) sweeping the opponent, (2) finishing the fight, or (3) attaining a more dominant position, such as Side Contro, Full Mount, and Back Mount.
So let’s see what it is and why it’s useful.
The De La Riva Guard is a position primarily taught in BJJ which utilizes hooking one of your feet around the opponent’s hamstrings and the other placed on his hips, of the same side. It’s a type of Open Guard, as your legs aren’t locked. Lastly, you want to grab the opponent’s ankle for more control.
This position is best used against a standing opponent. Your opponent will be too far away for most positions, such as Butterfly Guard and Half-Guard, if he’s standing. That’s why using the De La Riva Guard is extremely effective since it’ll allow you to control the opponent from a far distance, making you more capable and dynamic.
You have 4 contact points when in the De La Riva Guard, and the more you have, the more control you possess over the opponent. What are your contact points?
- Hooked leg (pulling leg)
- Foot on his thigh (pushing leg)
- Ankle grip (close side)
- Collar/far sleeve/close sleeve (far side)
Ensure you get these, as you’ll see in the following demonstration.
De La Riva Guard Fundamentals
You now know what the De La Riva Guard is and why it’s effective. The primary key here is that it allows you 4 control contact points with the opponent. In which scenario will you better control your opponent, with one leg or all your limbs?
Of course you’ll control him better when you use 4 limbs, rather than a single one. That’s why ensuring 4 contact points is critical.
This section will be about the fundamentals of this position. You must know these if you desire to become successful with the De La Riva and start getting your first batch of results. And trust me, it’ll feel good.
So let’s get into the 1st one!
#1 – Each of your legs serves a different purpose
The 1st fundamental you want to keep in mind is that each of your legs serves a different purpose. One of your legs, which will be the close one, will serve as a pulling leg. The other, which you place on the opponent’s hips, will only push.
Can you see how that will drop the opponent off-balance? If you want the opponent to be off-balanced and give you more control over his next moves, you must utilize this push-pull system.
So which leg goes where?
When your hips are closer to the opponent’s right leg, your left leg hooks (pull) and your right leg should be placed on the opponent’s thigh (push.)
Understand this mechanism and you’ll start on the right foot with this move (no pun intended!)
#2 – Hook your close leg over the opponent’s hamstrings (pull leg)
The 2nd fundamental is to hook your close leg around the opponent’s right hamstring. This will give you the pulling motion when you go for a sweep or submission.
This is a critical part you never want to skip. It’s one out of 4 contact points you must place to gain more control.
#3 – Place your other foot on the opponent’s hips (push leg)
Next, you want to place your other foot on the opponent’s hips, or thighs, if you have shorter legs. This will give you the push motion.
When you apply both the pull and push motions simultaneously, the opponent will be knocked off-balance. This is the first part of many submissions from the De La Riva Guard.
Once the opponent is off-balance, guess what his next move would be. He would, instinctively, do anything to avoid having his head hit the floor. Therefore, he’ll use his hands to post, giving you room to go for a submission.
But I’m getting too far ahead in the future. For now, know that by placing your other foot on the opponent’s thigh or hips, you’re gaining more control and the ability to knock your opponent off-balance.
#4 – Trap the opponent using your legs
The 4th fundamental is to trap the opponent using your legs. You want to ensure the opponent is unable of escaping your dominant position. How can you do that?
The best way to go about it is to ensure he’s trapped. And, you know what’s really amazing? How good your leg placements are will dictate how trapped the opponent is.
We’ll soon see how you can use your hands for more control. But, when you first begin practicing, you want to experiment with your legs to see just how much control you can maintain only with them!
When you’re more than comfortable in being and using the De La Riva Guard, your opponent will find it hellacious to pass your guard, as you’ve got him trapped extremely well.
#5 – Grip the opponent’s ankle
The 5th thing you want to understand is that you need to use your hands in one way or another, preferably to gain more control over the opponent. Therefore, it’ll be worth it to experiment with different hand grips, such as gripping the opponent’s thigh or even his sleeve.
There’s one placement you’ll find great returns from, and that’s to grip the opponent’s ankle. The hand you want to use is on the same side of the foot that hooks the opponent’s hamstrings.
If you’re in Gi, you can even grip his Gi around the ankle area. With No-Gi, however, it’ll be best to cup his ankle from the back (palm facing you.) This will give you most of the control.
#6 – Grab the opponent’s sleeve/collar
Now you already have 3 contact points. Lastly, with the hand that’s on the same side of the pushing leg, you want to grab somewhere. Grabbing anywhere will lead to more control, which is what we want.
So where should you grab? It’ll be best to experiment to see which placement fits you best, as you might have longer arms than me, which makes you capable of reaching places I can’t.
The best place I’ve found to grab with your second hand is the opponent’s sleeve, on the same side as your hand. This placement will also help set up specific sweeps, which we’ll get into later.
These are the 6 fundamentals you want to know and understand before we continue to the more fun part, submissions. If you understood everything thus far, I’m confident that you now can advance into more advanced techniques. More specifically, we’ll review submissions, which are critical to learn and get comfortable with.
Submissions From the De La Riva Guard
Alright. So we have reached the fun part of this article, that’s great. I’m already super eager to share what I know about submissions from the De La Riva Guard, as they’ll motivate you to keep learning.
I’ve found, from my experience thus far, that submitting the opponent with a submission you learned not that long ago, is the most satisfying experience in BJJ. You watch how your countless hours and practice rounds come to life.
You’re able to force your training partner, who might or might not be more competent than you, to tap out and surrender. I think it’s an amazing, exceptionally motivating, feeling. And reading the following section will help you refuel your motivation tank and continue learning.
Let’s dive into the first submission, the Triangle Choke!
#1 – Triangle Choke
The first submission we’ll review is the Triangle Choke. If you’re unfamiliar with it, you must be living under a rock. It’s one of BJJ’s most popular and effective chokes you want to learn.
By the way, if you want to read about BJJ’s most effective chokes, follow this link!
Anyways, let’s examine the steps to performing this Triangle Choke from our infamous De La Riva Guard.
You first want to begin in the De La Riva Guard, so hook your left foot around the opponent’s right hamstring and place your other foot on his right hip. The left foot will serve as your pulling mechanism while your right as a pushing mechanism.
Then, you grab the opponent’s collar while pulling him toward you and knocking him off-balance. You then trap his head and arm by wrapping your right leg under his armpit. Finally, you lock your legs and squeeze.
This is one nasty choke. To see its true potency, I invite you to ask one of your training partners to try it on you. See just how unbearable it can be if your partner performs it correctly.
#2 – Kimura
The Kimura is a prominent submission in BJJ that utilizes hyperextension of the shoulder, which in return causes a lot of pain and a fast tap. You must learn it if you want to call yourself a grappler. It doesn’t matter which belt color you currently are in, white, blue, or purple: learning this submission—is critical.
So how can I start to learn it? You might ask. Great question. The best way to start learning this submission is by getting comfortable with one of its variations and continuing to learn the rest. You can perform the Kimura from numerous positions, such as Mount, Closed Guard, Open Guard, and even Butterfly Guard.
Follow each link above to read about the individual position.
Anyways, here’s how to perform the Kimura from De La Riva Guard:
You first want to start in the De La Riva Guard. Then, you take your pushing leg off the opponent. Next, your opponent is likely to step backward, allowing you to take his arm. Once that happens, you grip his arm and pull him toward you. Finally, you hyperextend his arm to get the Kimura.
If you want to master the Kimura, follow this link.
#3 – Armbar
The Armbar is one of BJJ’s most prominent and effective submissions. it, again, utilizes shoulder and arm extension to force your opponent to tap out.
Here’s how to perform it:
First, start in De La Riva Guard. Then:
- Pull yourself back
- Trap the opponent’s right leg with your left leg
- Grab the opponent’s right wrist with your right hand
- Cup his right ankle with your left hand
- Twist to the left
- Place your right leg on his right biceps
- Push with the same leg to knock him off balance
- Move your right leg to his thigh
- Pull his arm, isolating it
- Trap his arm with your legs
- Apply downward elbow pressure
- Wait for the tap
This is a submission I love seeing and using, as it can be extremely effective when used properly. It’s critical you understand the steps to performing it properly.
The first part of this Armbar variant is to trap the opponent by switching your grips around. You want to ensure you go through these steps, as they’ll help you sweep the opponent and set up this submission.
After that, it’s a matter of sweeping the opponent and pulling his arm to you, isolating it.
#4 – Omoplata
The last submission we’ll review is the Omoplata. It’s exceptionally effective, as it’ll allow you to isolate his arm with your legs. You’ll sit and have his arm in your complete control, making you more likely to get the tap.
Here’s how you perform the Omoplata from De La Riva Guard:
- Start in De La Riva Guard
- Open your left leg
- Grab his right elbow
- Pull his elbow toward you
- Kick your left leg at the same time
- Place your left foot on his belt
- Lift your hips
- Pinch his right shoulder with your knees
- Grab his collar
- Grab his arm with your left hand
- Throw your leg across his isolated shoulder
- Lock your feet
- Pinch your knees
- Place your left hand on his hips
- Extend your legs and sit
- You’re now in the Omoplata position
- Hyperextend his arm
- Wait for the tap
This is the longest breakdown I’ve done so far. That’s not because it’s overly complicated since it’s not. But it has many small details that are important to understand. Therefore, this is why there are 18 steps in this breakdown.
However, if you simplify it, it’s about 8 steps until you’re in the Omoplata position. So if you want to learn more about the Omoplata, hence how to set it up and finish it properly, follow this link.
De La Riva Guard Sweeps
You now know how to finish from the De La Riva Guard. So you’re now a better grappler than you were before. I hope you can appreciate the difficulty in learning to submit the opponent, from any position.
Winning in BJJ, especially in the beginning, is difficult. You’ll have to set up a submission on the opponent, and do it quickly. If you hesitate whenever you set up a submission, you’ll find it hard to get taps.
In this section—we’ll review 2 sweeps you want to know about. Sweeps allow you to take the opponent from this guard position and attain a more dominant position, such as Full Mount.
Here’s the first one!
#1 – Cross Hand Sweep
This is the simplest sweep I’ve learned in my training, as you don’t need to understand a lot about how to sweep properly to make it work.
To perform the Cross Hand Sweep—you want to start in the De La Riva Guard, which means having 4 contact points (2 legs and 2 hands.) You want to grip the opponent’s sleeves (same side grips) and cross them. Then, you pull the opponent and roll on top of him, attaining Mount.
While it’s possible to get Side Control, it’s not something you want to mess with in this sweep. Since you don’t have as much maneuverability here, the best option is to go for the Full Mount.
#2 – Split Sweep
This second sweep is one I prefer to use more, as it’s more effective. Your opponents will find it much more difficult to defend against this than the cross sweep.
So, here’s how this sweep works:
You want to start in your typical De La Riva Guard and hook your right leg to the inside of his leg, rather than pushing it. You then push his leg down. In a quick motion, the last step is to cross your legs while using your collar grip to flip the opponent and attain Full Mount.
It’s fairly simple and easy to understand. You’ll be able to gain results with it quickly, as it won’t take long to learn, as you can see.
Here’s a visual aid:
How to Escape De La Riva Guard
The first step in escaping the De La Riva Guard is to break the opponent’s hand grip. If he grabs your collar, for example, use your two hands to push his hand away, freeing his grip. Then, in one quick motion, you push both his legs outward while extending your own.
What this will cause is breaking all 4 contact points, which is what you need in order to escape the De La Riva. Focus on breaking one contact point at a time. This will allow you to do exactly what you desire to achieve, which is to escape.
De La Riva Guard Tips
This, unfortunately, will be the last part of this article. I’ve prepared two tips for you that’ll boost your De La Riva Guard game. If you want to start seeing more results from using this guard, keep reading through.
Alright. Let’s get into the first tip!
#1 – Keep the opponent moving
The first tip will look into is to keep the opponent moving. You have all the control in the world. What does that mean? That means that the opponent will always feel off-balance because this is the primary outcome of having the push-pull leg system in play.
Therefore, you want to keep the opponent moving by faking moves, going for sweeps, and switching your grips around. You also want to always push and pull your legs, which in return will bring you more control.
So keep the opponent moving to gain the upper hand.
#2 – Pre-plan a finishing move
The 2nd tip is to have a finishing move in mind before you begin sweeping or going for a submission. Although you want to remain adaptive and flexible, you also want to have a plan in mind.
This will create order in your head, allowing you to think more clearly.
Remember! Have a plan in mind before you begin your attack and keep the opponent moving.
Final Words
This was the infamous De La Riva Guard. It’s such an effective and dominant BJJ position since it allows you plenty of control, which is the goal of BJJ.
BJJ is all about control. The more you have, the more options you have. And the more options you have, the more likely you are to win. This guard position gives you an endless set of options. So appreciate this fact and get on the mat to practice everything you’ve learned in this article!
The De La Riva Guard isn’t the most effective type of guard. Follow this link to learn more about BJJ’s best guard positions you must learn (and how to use each one!)
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Here are other articles you’d enjoy reading:
BJJ 101: Reverse De La Riva Guard
X-Guard – BJJ 101 (How to Use and Finish)
BJJ 101: Spider Guard (The Proper Way)
BJJ 101: Butterfly Guard (Lots of Sweeps & Submissions)
Closed Guard 101 – Complete BJJ Guide
Pull Guard BJJ – Everything You Need to Know
13 Best Submissions From Closed & Open Guard (BJJ)
11 Best Half Guard Submissions From Top and Bottom
BJJ 101: Half-Guard (And How to Finish From It)