Leg Drag De La Riva DLR Guard Pass by Greg Hamilton BJJ - To The Left and Right Side CTRL or Mount

The De La Riva guard, now a foundational position in modern sport Jiu-Jitsu, owes its widespread adoption to Ricardo De La Riva, who, by reputation, developed its core mechanics in the late 1980s and early 1990s at the Carlson Gracie Academy in Copacabana, Rio de Janeiro. Before this period, the position, often involving a foot-on-hip or shin-on-shin configuration, existed in various forms within judo and early Jiu-Jitsu, but De La Riva is credited with systematically articulating the controls and sweeps that define it today. His innovation was not necessarily the *existence* of the outside leg entanglement, but rather the *specificity* of the outside hook, the grip exchanges, and the subsequent sweep and submission entries.

The leg drag pass, which the linked video explores as a counter to the De La Riva guard, has a less singular origin but gained prominence as a direct response to the increasing efficacy of open guards in the early 2000s. As competitors began to extensively utilize spider guard, De La Riva, and its various offshoots, passing strategies shifted from largely pressure-based, top-heavy approaches to more agile, movement-based passes. The leg drag, which often involves clearing one leg to one side and then controlling the hip and far knee to achieve a dominant angle, became a primary weapon against guards that relied on intricate leg entanglements. Marcelo Garcia is often credited with popularizing the leg drag and its associated entries and finishes, particularly his distinctive control over the opponent's shin and the subsequent transition to side control or the back.

The evolution of guards and passes in Jiu-Jitsu is a continuous dialectic, where every effective offensive technique eventually begets a defensive counter, which in turn leads to a new offensive adaptation. The De La Riva guard created problems for traditional passing, leading to the development of passes like the leg drag, and now, as demonstrated in the video, we see increasingly sophisticated entries and finishes *from* the leg drag itself, often involving transitions to the mount or back control. This iterative process highlights the dynamic nature of the sport, where innovation is constantly driven by competitive pressure.

What might be an underappreciated aspect of the De La Riva guard's long-term impact on Jiu-Jitsu is its role in fostering the "guard retention" mindset, where maintaining distance and controlling the opponent's posture through leg dexterity became as critical as achieving the sweep or submission itself.

The initial widespread adoption of the De La Riva guard, as HoG Historian notes, is largely attributed to Ricardo De La Riva, particularly from his time at the Carlson Gracie Academy. However, it is important to consider the stylistic evolutions that allowed the De La Riva guard to transition from a specific, named technique into a ubiquitous foundational position, especially in the context of passing techniques like the leg drag. The leg drag itself, as a distinct passing methodology, gained significant traction and refinement roughly between 2008 and 2012, propelled by competitors like the Mendes Brothers, Rafael and Guilherme, and later by practitioners such as Lucas Lepri.

Prior to this period, many passes against a DLR entry would involve either a knee slide or a toreando-style movement, often focusing on disengaging the outside leg hook. The leg drag, by contrast, emphasizes pinning the opponent's DLR-hooking leg to the mat, often leading directly into side control or back takes, rather than primarily attempting to shed the hook and then pass. This shift represents a broader trend in competitive jiu-jitsu towards more controlled, pressure-based passing systems that aim to minimize scramble opportunities and maintain a dominant position throughout the passing sequence. The leg drag, in particular, leverages the opponent's entanglement of one leg to open up an angle for the passer's hips to cut through, which, in the context of the DLR guard, often means manipulating the DLR-hooked leg to the opposite side of the opponent's body.

While the De La Riva guard’s origins are relatively clear, the systematic development of *passes against it*, like the leg drag, reveals a dynamic interplay between offensive and defensive innovations in the sport. It demonstrates how a single guard, once established, then stimulates the creation of entire families of counter-techniques, evolving the game from both sides of the exchange. One might wonder, given the current meta, if the prevalence of deep DLR entries and inversions has begun to diminish the utility of the traditional leg drag, or if it has simply forced further adaptations in the passing game.

That De La Riva leg drag pass is a good one, solid control after the pass. At GB, our fundamentals curriculum actually introduces the basic leg drag pass around week 3. It's not off a DLR specifically, more from standing or knee-slicing distance, but the principles of getting that hip control and isolating the leg are definitely there. They don't typically teach advanced DLR counters in the beginner classes; that's more for the advanced class curriculum. It's interesting how different academies structure their foundational material. I remember a purple belt from a different affiliation dropping into our noon class once and he was completely lost during the warm-up because he wasn't used to the formal line-up and bowing-in sequence we do before every class. It’s a culture shock if you're not used to it.

We've been working leg drags in class for a few weeks, mostly from standing or when they try to invert. This DLR specific one makes a lot of sense, especially the way he gets that second hand on the hip to really kill the mobility. I’m thinking about how many times I've tried to just force the leg drag from DLR and ended up getting swept because I didn't have that hip control.

My coach, Mark, has us drill getting perpendicular to the hips after the drag and I think this pass fits right in with that. The setup looks quick, too. I like how he pushes the knee down to clear that hook. Definitely something I'll try to incorporate next open mat. Thanks for sharing.

The instructionals and videos keep getting more specific, which is great for the advanced student, but it also creates a problem for gyms. When I'm teaching a 30-person fundamentals class, the last thing I can do is break down specific DLR entries for leg drags from five different angles. My job is to give the newest white belts the most broadly applicable tools. If I start teaching too many niche techniques, I risk overwhelming them, and then I have parents asking for refunds after two weeks. We saw a spike in refund requests back in 2018 when we tried to integrate more sport-specific techniques into our intro classes. It's a balance between giving people what they want and what they need to actually stick with BJJ.

The DLR entry for the leg drag is interesting. From my judo background, it often feels like we're just rediscovering certain forms of kuzushi under different names in BJJ. That second hand on the hip that Marcus (blue_belt_journey) mentioned is pure tsukuri – disrupting their base before the finish. I’ve found that specific hand placement really dictates how much control you have for the eventual kosoto or even a sankaku position from there. My initial thought on seeing this was the parallels to breaking an opponent's posture for a throw, but from a seated guard. While my judo experience from 2004 helps me see some of these underlying mechanics, the mat-time gap for BJJ means I still have to drill these entries like a brand new white belt.