Lockdown Counter
Guard pass · Half Guard
The lockdown counter takes you from half guard top with your leg locked down to mount or side control. The moment is when he wraps both legs around your trapped leg and stretches it back to break your base and come up on the underhook. First flatten him: crossface turning his face away and an underhook on his far arm, chest heavy, hips low, so he stays flat on his back, where the lockdown can only hold. Keep the trapped knee bent and your weight forward on his chest, so his stretch cannot straighten your leg or pull your hands to the mat. Then, with your head on the far side and hips sprawled low, hook your free foot over the top of his bottom leg near the thigh and pin it to the mat without lifting your hips; the lockdown cannot follow, so lift the trapped foot up and out and drive the knee through into a knee cut. If he wins the underhook again, flatten him again.
How to do it
- Flatten him first: crossface with your forearm across his jaw, turning his face away, and a deep underhook on his far arm, hand high on the shoulder blade. Flat on his back he cannot use the lockdown to sweep or take your back, only to hold.
- Drop your hips low and keep your chest heavy on his upper chest; widen your free leg out to the side as a base.
- Keep the trapped knee bent and your weight forward when he stretches his legs: a bent knee and forward weight stop him straightening your leg, lifting your chest or pulling your hands to the mat.
- Turn your free knee out and pummel that foot over the top of his bottom leg, nearer the thigh than the shin, as a hook; pin his leg to the mat without lifting your hips, so the lockdown can no longer follow your leg.
- Keeping that leg pinned, drop your weight back a little, lift the trapped foot up and out, and drive the knee straight through into a knee cut.
- Settle in mount or side control, keeping the crossface and underhook until you are stable.
Key details
- Flatten before you touch the legs: the lockdown is dangerous only when he is on his side with the underhook; flat, it only holds.
- Trapped knee bent, weight forward: his stretch needs your leg straight and your weight going back.
- The free foot opens the lock, the hands stay on his upper body: hands posted on the mat give him the underhook.
- Free the knee, not the foot: once the knee is over his thigh, the lock has nothing to hold.
- Take your head to the far side and sprawl the hips low out to the side: from there he cannot pull you back over for the underhook while your foot works.
- Another safe exit: stay low on his hips, pinch your thighs on his bottom leg, pull your heel to your butt to unlock, flick the foot out and step the knee high so he cannot re-catch it.
Common mistakes
- Ripping the trapped leg straight back. — The lock tightens as the leg straightens, your chest lifts, and he comes up on the underhook. — Keep the knee bent and the chest down, and open the lock with your free foot.
- Posting the hands on the mat when he stretches your leg. — Your arms leave his upper body, so he takes the underhook and comes to his side to sweep. — Keep the crossface and underhook and widen the free leg for base instead.
- Working on the legs while he is still on his side. — On his side with the underhook he can stretch you and attack the back or sweep. — Flatten him with the crossface first; re-flatten every time he comes back up.
- Lifting the hips to bring the free foot over. — He off-balances you toward him and gets the underhook. — Stay sprawled and drag the foot over with your hips low.
How to drill it
Your partner starts in half guard bottom with the lockdown and stretches your leg at half power while fighting for the underhook. You flatten him, open the lock with your free foot and slide to mount: five reps on each side, then he resists fully.
Safety
The lockdown stretch twists the knee of the trapped leg: keep it bent, and the partner on the bottom stretches gradually, never with a sudden whip. Tap if the knee hurts. Put the crossface on the jaw, not the throat.