Butterfly guard is the seated open guard where both your feet hook inside your partner's thighs, ready to lift them and sweep. It is one of the oldest guards in grappling and still one of the best for sweeping a kneeling opponent.
- In BJJ: bjjheroes.com gives the Portuguese names guarda de gancho and guarda borboleta, the hooks guard, and calls it a classic guard.
- History: bjjheroes.com traces the hooks guard back to judo, noting its connection with tomoe nage, the sacrifice throw, and describes how Marcelo Garcia set up his guillotine and X-guard from the butterfly hooks.
- Purpose: the hooks exist to break the top player's base, with your feet lifting their legs from the inside.
What is butterfly guard?
You sit facing your partner, who is kneeling, with your shins between you and your feet hooked under their thighs. Your upper body is tight to theirs, usually with an underhook on one side and a grip on the other arm or the belt. From there, a lean to one side and a lift of the opposite hook tips them over.
The bjjheroes.com page on the guard describes the Bolão sweep from the 1980s, where one leg presses on the opponent's biceps while the other hooks, with a grip on the trouser leg on the opposite side.
How do you play butterfly guard?
- Sit up with your chest close to theirs. Butterfly guard played at arm's length is just an invitation to pass.
- Hook both feet inside their thighs, toes flexed, knees wide, so your shins make a frame between you.
- Get an underhook on one side and control the other arm at the sleeve, wrist or elbow, so they have nothing to post with.
- Load the sweep: fall to the side of your underhook, chest tight, and lift the opposite hook as you fall.
- Finish on top in side control, or follow them up into the X-guard if they step over your hook.
The most common mistake is falling straight back while lifting. The sweep works sideways and over your shoulder, with your hook lifting their leg as you turn. Straight back puts you flat with your hooks exposed.
How do you score from butterfly guard?
The IBJJF Rules Book defines the guard as using one or more legs to block the opponent from reaching side control or north-south. Getting past the legs to side control or north-south and holding it for three seconds scores the guard pass, 3 points; a reversal from the guard held for three seconds scores the sweep, 2 points.
Two fouls catch guard players: pulling guard, sitting or kneeling without first taking a grip, and gripping inside the opening of the sleeve or trouser leg with the fingers. Both are serious fouls.
Where does butterfly guard fit in a game?
Butterfly guard is the natural seated guard without the gi and the usual place to go when a closed guard gets opened. It also links to the single leg X and the X-guard, which is why many no-gi games are built on it. Our BJJ training gear has the kit for the rounds.
Sources
- Bjjheroes.com gives, BJJ Heroes
- IBJJF Rules Book, IBJJF
Related terms
X-guard, Open guard, Tomoe nage (circle throw), Sweep, Guillotine.