Octopus Guard Back Take
Transition
The Octopus Guard back take is a transition where the bottom player uses their deep underhook and body positioning from octopus guard to circle behind the opponent and establish back control. It exploits the angular off-balancing inherent in octopus guard to create a clear path to the back when the opponent cannot re-square their hips.
Quick Reference
Key principles
- · The deep underhook on the far side arm acts as your primary steering handle to rotate underneath and behind the opponent.
- · Your leg entanglement must control their near-side hip to prevent them from turning into you and re-establishing a neutral position.
- · Circular hip movement rather than pulling drives the transition—you move yourself behind them, not them toward you.
- · When the opponent postures up or tries to back away to escape the guard, that creates the space needed to swing underneath to the back.
- · Maintaining chest-to-back contact throughout the transition prevents scramble opportunities.
Execution
- 1 From octopus guard, confirm your deep underhook across their back gripping near the far armpit or lat, with your head tight against their near-side ribs.
- 2 Use your hooking leg on their near hip to anchor while hip-escaping your body toward their back, walking your shoulders in an arc behind them.
- 3 As you clear their hip line, release the leg hook and swing it over to establish your first back hook on the far side.
- 4 Secure a seatbelt grip as you insert the second hook, settling into full back control with your chest glued to their back.
Common mistakes
- × Releasing the underhook too early to reach for a seatbelt grip, allowing the opponent to turn in and flatten you before hooks are established.
- × Trying to climb onto the back by pulling the opponent down rather than hip-escaping and circling underneath, which stalls the transition and burns energy.
- × Neglecting to block the near-side hip with the hooking leg, letting the opponent simply turn to face you and recover guard or scramble to top position.
Do it from
Positions and situations where the Octopus Guard Back Take shows up.
Octopus Guard Bottom
Where it lands
The position you end up in.
Back Control Top
