De La Riva Guard

De La Riva is one of the most important guards in modern jiu-jitsu because it's easy to get to and extremely effective for controlling your opponent. According to JonThomasBJJ, it's versatile with many attack variations including single legs, baron bolos, X guard transitions, and ankle locks.

Distance is the most important factor for setting a good De La Riva hook. You need to create space so your foot can come up to the hip; if your hip is too close, your leg will have to go back before it can go forward. You can create this distance by pushing off the hip or using knee pressure to alternate your hips out.

Once you have the hook high on the hip, you can use it to off-balance your opponent, take them backwards, and create torque on the knee. You can block their foot with your forearm or elbow to prevent them from regaining balance, then swing out and push to create space for the sweep, or transition into attacks like De La Riva X.

When you attack submissions like triangles or armbars from the guard, opponents defend by putting one leg forward and using their elbow to defend. Additionally, when you pull and off-balance an opponent, they naturally need one leg forward and one back to create counter-pressure, which naturally leads to De La Riva hook access.

The De La Riva Guard subfamily covers the open guard position where the guard player hooks one leg around the opponent's lead leg from the outside, wrapping the foot behind the knee, while controlling the ankle of that leg with the hand. The DLR guard provides powerful off-balancing leverage through the hook and ankle control combination, which can stretch the opponent's base and create sweep, back take, and submission opportunities.

The De La Riva guard was developed by and named after Ricardo De La Riva, who used the position innovatively in competition in the 1980s and 1990s. De La Riva's guard innovation spawned an entire family of techniques and is considered one of the most significant contributions to guard play in BJJ history.

IBJJF: legal — Legal — guard is fundamental to BJJ, sweeps from guard score 2 points; IJF: restricted — Guard pulling penalized as non-combativity — groundwork from guard permitted …; ADCC: legal — Legal, guard pull penalized -1 point in points portion; Unified MMA: legal — Legal — no penalty for playing guard; FIAS Sport Sambo: legal — Legal

Danger rating 2/10. Low — guard positions are defensive; injury risk comes from transitions, not the position itself

The standard setup chain: Achieve Guard Contact → Control Grips → Manage Distance → Threaten Submissions/Sweeps.

Standard counters include: Guard Pass — systematically work to clear the legs and establish a dominant position / Leg Pin — control one or both legs to neutralize guard retention / Pressure Passing — use heavy chest pressure to flatten and immobilize the guard player.

Common variants: Spider guard (gripping both sleeves with feet on the biceps for distanc…); De la Riva guard (one hook behind the opponent's lead leg with opposite foo…); Lasso guard (lasso grip wrapping the leg around the opponent's arm); Collar-sleeve guard (controlling collar with one hand and sleeve with the othe…).

Ricardo De La Riva used his eponymous guard to defeat much larger opponents in open-weight BJJ competition, including notable victories over Royler Gracie. The Mendes Brothers' berimbolo system from DLR guard powered multiple IBJJF World Championship titles, with Rafael Mendes winning multiple weight divisions.

Top errors to watch for: Hooking without controlling the far sleeve — the far-side grip prevents the opponent from disengaging / Using a passive hook — the DLR hook must actively pull and off-balance the opponent's leg / Not controlling the opponent's ankle on the hooked side — ankle control prevents them from retreating / Playing DLR against a kneeling opponent — DLR is designed for standing opponents; transition to another guard if they….

The De La Riva Guard is also known as Dera Hība Gādo, De La Riva, DLR Guard, Guarda De La Riva.