Reverse de la Riva: the hook turned in

Position and problem

You have a de la Riva hook on the passer's lead leg, and they drive that knee inward and down across your thigh, the start of a knee cut. Your hook is on the outside of the leg, pulling on a knee that is already travelling away from it, and your hips are about to be pinned under a shin on its way to the mat. The reverse de la Riva, usually shortened to RDLR, meets that knee from the other side. Your leg wraps the inside of their lead leg with your knee pointing across your own body, so the shin sits in the path the knee cut needs and their knee has to get through your leg before it can reach the floor.

Objective

Wrap the passer's lead leg from the inside so their knee cannot cross your centreline, then use that hold to turn the leg, off-balance them, or bring your hips under it into single-leg X.

Core concept

The reverse hook controls the lead leg from the side the knee is travelling toward. A regular de la Riva hook sits on the outside of the lead leg and steers it by drawing the knee outward and forward. It holds up while the passer stays outside your hips, and it loses its leverage once the knee drives inward across you, because a hook behind a knee cannot stop that knee moving away from it. The reverse hook swaps sides. Your shin lies along the inside of their leg, your foot wraps round behind it, and your knee points across your body, so the passer's knee meets your shin as it comes in. A hand on the ankle of the hooked leg stops the foot stepping back out of the wrap, and the free foot or the other hand works the far hip, knee or arm so they cannot simply walk around you. From there the leg is steered rather than lifted. Turning their knee outward against your shin rotates their base, and bringing your hips underneath the lead leg converts the reverse hook to single-leg X, where the leg is held between both of your legs instead of by one. That conversion is often the point of the position: the reverse hook catches the leg, and single-leg X or a deeper entanglement keeps it. The hook also leaves your hips under the passer's lead leg, which is the start of inverted routes to the back. The one most associated with the position is the kiss of the dragon, also called the reverse berimbolo, in which the guard player inverts beneath the passer and comes out behind them. It puts weight across the shoulders and neck, and it is learned on the mat with a coach who teaches inversion. Without trousers to hold, the reverse hook tends to be held only briefly in no-gi. The ankle grip is on skin and the knee slides free more easily, so it is more often a step toward single-leg X, an entanglement or coming up on the leg than a place to wait.

Key mechanics

1. 01Set the hook from the inside with your knee pointing across your body. The shin in front of their knee is what blocks the cut; a hook with the knee pointing outward has slid round behind the leg and given the block up.
2. 02Hold the ankle of the hooked leg. The hook stops the knee coming in; the grip stops the foot stepping back out of the wrap.
3. 03Keep your hips turned toward the hooked leg and close to its foot. Hips drifting away let the passer straighten the leg and draw it back through the hook.
4. 04Occupy the far side with the free foot or a hand. A passer whose far leg is free can step around the hook, so a foot on the far hip or knee, or a grip on the far arm, keeps them facing you.
5. 05Turn their knee outward instead of pulling the leg toward you. Rotating the leg against your shin moves their base; pulling it in brings their weight down onto your hips.
6. 06Slide your hips under the leg into single-leg X as the hook starts to lose. When the passer steps back or turns the knee out of the wrap, moving under it keeps the leg held by two legs instead of one.
7. 07Let the hook go once the knee has crossed. With their knee past your shin and on the mat, the hook is behind the pass, and recovering guard with your hips beats holding a hook that no longer blocks anything.

Common errors

• ×Hooking with the knee pointing outward, which puts the shin behind the passer's knee instead of in front of it.
• ×Leaving the ankle free, so the passer steps back and strips the hook without having to pass it.
• ×Letting the hips drift away from the lead foot, which straightens the passer's leg and leaves a wrap around a shin they can pull free.
• ×Holding the reverse hook after the knee has crossed, which keeps your leg trapped under a passer who is already settling their weight.
• ×Starting an inversion before the leg is controlled, which puts your shoulders under the passer with nothing keeping them still.

Safety

Training progression

1. 01Static: partner stands with one foot forward. Set the reverse hook with your knee pointing across your body, hold the ankle and put the free foot on the far hip, then check that your shin sits in front of their knee.
2. 02Cooperative: partner starts a slow knee cut into the hook. Meet the knee with your shin, keep the ankle, and turn the leg outward until they have to step to stay balanced.
3. 03Cooperative: partner steps back to free the leg. Follow by sliding your hips under it into single-leg X, then reset in the reverse hook.
4. 04Constrained: the passer may only knee cut or step back. You may only keep the hook, reset it or convert to single-leg X, with no inversions.
5. 05Positional: start in the reverse hook at full resistance, with inversions left out unless a coach has taught them. You score by sweeping, coming up on the leg or settling single-leg X; the passer scores by getting the knee to the mat past your shin.
6. 06Live rounds: go to the reverse hook as the knee starts to drive inward, not after the regular hook has already lost it.

Related entries

• The de la Riva hook
• The knee cut pass
• Single-leg X: the leg is the guard
• Guard retention: the hips back underneath