Underhook from Butterfly Guard

Underhook from Butterfly Guard is a passing sequence that clears the legs built around a handful of repeatable controls. The butterfly player has the underhook but the opponent is posting on the mat with the free hand or framing on the chest, denying the hook sweep. Another common starting shape: top player is in front of a seated butterfly guard player who has both hooks under the thighs. The ideas that hold it together are come up over the underhook, post defeats sweep, sweep defeats post, and drive into the leg.

The underhook chain is a sequence of small controls, not one athletic burst. Use the underhook to come up to the knees rather than fight the post. Reach the underhook hand around to the back of the leg as the head comes up. Drive forward into the trapped leg; the opponent's posting hand becomes irrelevant once the body is past. Drive a same-side underhook deep, gable-grip behind the bottom player's back if available. Use head pressure to drive the bottom shoulder line to the mat. Step the far leg up and over the hook once the bottom player is flattened. Pummel the inside arm under the top player's far armpit before the cross-face seals. Frame the free hand on the top player's biceps to manage distance. The attacker has come up to the knees, secured a single leg with the underhook arm, and put the opponent down to land in side control or top half.

Later in the underhook, flatten the shoulder before clearing the hook, pummel before pin, and weight follows the underhook tend to decide whether the position stays on track. Watch for these mistakes: Continuing to wrestle for the sweep when the post is set, wasting energy. Coming up too high before securing the leg, allowing the opponent to sprawl. Reaching for the underhook without the head pressure, getting rolled. Stepping over before the shoulder is flat, getting re-hooked. The high-percentage version of underhook from butterfly guard is the one you can still chain when the bottom player recovers a hook.