Butterfly Hook Sweep
Butterfly hook sweep — underhook controls direction, hook elevates and tips the top player. Foundation of the butterfly system.
Adapted from InGrappling, Butterfly Hook Sweep. System Games did not invent this curriculum.
Manage injuries →Position map Connects to 4 positions across 2 relationshipsOpen in the map →1234←Enters from
The butterfly hook sweep is the foundational sweep of butterfly guard. From a sitting position with both butterfly hooks inserted — the insteps of the bottom player’s feet pressing into the top player’s inner thighs — the bottom player establishes an underhook on one side, uses the underhook to pull the top player’s elbow outward and break their base, and then drives the butterfly hook on that side upward while leaning into the top player to tip them over.
This is typically the first sweep practitioners learn from butterfly guard, and for good reason: it teaches the two structural components that appear in virtually every butterfly guard attack. First, the underhook controls direction. Second, the hook provides elevation. Every butterfly guard technique is a variation on these two components — different grips, different timing, different exits — but the same underlying structure. The hook sweep teaches that structure in its clearest form.
The sweep exits to mount in the standard case. When the top player steps their free leg back to defend, the bottom player can adapt by chasing with a single leg or following the defending leg into a different angle — but the primary exit is mount after the top player is tipped to their side.
INV-11Invariant "The side of the body with the underhook controls the hip on that side. Hip control determines directional movement."
Why it works hereThe underhook on the sweep side ties the bottom player's torso to the top player's hip on that same side, so the only direction the top player can be tipped is toward the underhook. Pulling the underhook arm shortens the connection and rotates the top player's hip into the path of the rising butterfly hook. Sweeping away from the underhook is mechanically impossible from this grip — there is no controlled hip on the far side to drive the rotation.
See full invariant page → The underhook is the directional control for the butterfly hook sweep. The sweep goes to the underhook side — not away from it. The underhook arm threads under the top player’s arm on the same side as the working butterfly hook, and the body connection it creates determines which way the top player will be tipped. Attempting to sweep to the opposite side from the underhook is a common and fundamental error — the underhook and the sweep direction must always match.
INV-G05Invariant "The bottom player's hips must remain mobile. A flattened bottom player cannot generate the movement needed to recover guard, sweep, or attack."