Outside Ashi Entry

Transition

The Outside Ashi Entry is a transition used to move into the Outside Ashi Garami (outside leg entanglement) from various guard and leg lock positions. It involves clearing the opponent's leg to the outside of your hip so that your inside leg crosses over their trapped leg, establishing the dominant outside position for heel hook or other leg attacks.

Quick Reference

Key principles

  • · Control the opponent's foot or ankle tightly to your chest before transitioning to prevent them from freeing the leg.
  • · Use hip movement and angle changes rather than arm strength to reposition around the trapped leg.
  • · Keep your knees pinched and hips close to the opponent's leg throughout the transition to maintain breaking pressure and prevent escape.
  • · Anticipate the opponent pulling their knee free by maintaining constant inward knee pressure on their thigh.
  • · Establish the outside position by getting your hips past the centerline of their trapped leg.

Execution

  1. 1 From your current entanglement or guard position, secure a firm grip on the opponent's foot or ankle and clamp it to your torso.
  2. 2 Swing your outside leg over the opponent's trapped leg while simultaneously shifting your hips to angle toward the outside of their knee line.
  3. 3 Thread your inside leg across their thigh as a cross-body hook, triangling or pinching your legs to lock the Outside Ashi Garami configuration.
  4. 4 Settle your hips tight against their leg with your outside hip on the mat, confirming the entanglement before attacking.

Common mistakes

  • × Leaving space between your hips and the opponent's leg during the transition, allowing them to retract their knee and escape the entanglement.
  • × Focusing only on swinging the top leg over without controlling the foot, which lets the opponent spin or kick free before the position is secured.
  • × Crossing the legs too high on the opponent's thigh instead of near the knee, resulting in a loose entanglement with poor control and no finishing leverage.

Do it from

Positions and situations where the Outside Ashi Entry shows up.

Shin-to-shin Guard Bottom
5 less common
Ashi Garami De La Riva Guard Bottom Kneebar Control Straight Ankle Lock Control Toe Hold Control

Where it lands

The position you end up in.

Outside Ashi Garami