The De La Riva System

Guard SystemDevelopingCONCEPT-GRD-DLR-SYSTEMHook on the back of the standing leg — a single hook that delivers many sweep and back-take entries

The De La Riva (DLR) system is built on a single hook: the bottom player’s near-side foot wraps around the back of the standing opponent’s lead leg, with the heel of the hooking foot pressing into the opponent’s hip. The hook’s role is twofold — it controls the opponent’s lead-leg base by denying backward retreat, and it provides a fixed point around which the bottom player can rotate to attack angles. Reverse DLR (RDLR) inverts the mechanic: the hook wraps inside the lead leg from below, controlling forward pressure rather than backward retreat.

Both DLR and RDLR are open-guard positions — the opponent is standing or in a passing stance. The system is most prominent in no-gi when the opponent is upright and pressuring forward; the hook denies them the lead-leg pass and forces them to either commit to a different pass entry or step back. Both responses generate an attack window: forward commitment opens the back take; stepping back opens the sweep.

hand posts create offenceAttack angle is created by off-setting the body from the opponent’s centreline.

DLR’s hook gives the bottom player a stable point to rotate around. Every DLR attack — back take, sweep, leg-lock entry — relies on rotating the body to a 90-degree or greater offset from the opponent’s centreline. The hook is what makes the rotation possible without losing the position.

elbow connectionsSweeps require destabilising the opponent in a direction they cannot post.

DLR sweeps destabilise the opponent in the direction of the hooking foot — the back of the lead leg becomes the levered direction. The required post (backward, around the hooking leg) is denied because the hook is wrapped around the leg the post would need to use.

face the passerOpen guards depend on at least one point of leg contact with the opponent.

DLR is the canonical single-hook open guard. The hook is the only guaranteed point of contact; the second point (free foot, knee, shin) is added as the attack develops. A DLR with no auxiliary contact is unstable; a DLR with the hook plus shin or grip is a complete attack platform.

hip controls the leg lineEvery leg entanglement exposes one player’s back more than the other’s.

DLR’s primary attack — the back take — is a direct expression of this invariant. The hook configuration places the bottom player rotationally behind the opponent’s lead leg; commitment to the rotation lands them on the back. The DLR-to-back sequence is one of the cleanest examples of leg-position-driven back exposure.

De La RivaThe baseline DLR position — hook around the back of the lead leg.

Reverse De La RivaRDLR variant — hook inside the lead leg from below, forward-pressure-denying.