KNEEBAR FROM DE LA RIVA

The kneebar from De La Riva is the leg-attack variation in which the bottom player uses the De La Riva hook as the entry point to a kneebar on the opponent's hooked leg. The technique converts a position primarily used for sweeps and back-takes into a direct submission threat, and is one of the canonical no-gi answers to a standing opponent who has stopped responding to conventional DLR threats.

The entry begins from established De La Riva guard with the hook deep around the outside of the opponent's leg. Rather than transitioning to a sweep or berimbolo, the bottom player extends the inverted-leg position to capture the opponent's hooked leg in a figure-four configuration: the De La Riva hook becomes the lower portion of the figure-four, while the bottom player's free leg swings over the captured thigh to complete the lock. From this position the bottom player extends the hips forward to drive the kneebar finish.

The technique is structurally devastating because it threatens the opponent from the same configuration that conventionally threatens sweeps and back-takes — the opponent who has developed defenses against the DLR sweep and the berimbolo may have no answer to the kneebar. Lachlan Giles, Craig Jones, and the modern Australian B-Team competitive system have used this entry extensively in no-gi competition. The kneebar is illegal in IBJJF gi competition but legal in no-gi at brown belt and above. Defensively the technique is countered by stepping the hooked leg out before the figure-four closes, by hand-fighting to strip the De La Riva hook, or by tap-to-grip when the lock has engaged.