Double Leg Takedown
Takedown · Standing
Takes you from standing at open distance to side control. Shoot when they stand tall with the feet wide or their hands rise to a feint: the hips are open and the weight is already committed. Drop the level with the knees, back straight, and step the lead foot deep between their feet so your hips arrive under theirs; wrap both legs behind the knees with your head up and tight, forehead on the chest or ear on the hip. Step the back leg up, keep the feet driving and finish by turning the corner at an angle, not by pushing straight. Beginners stop after the grab or shoot from full height and get sprawled on. If they sprawl, switch to a single leg; if they catch the neck, defend the guillotine.
How to do it
- Set it up: feint to the head with a hand fake so they raise their hands or step toward you. Shoot as the hands come up or the lead foot lands, because at that moment their hips are open and their weight is committed.
- Change levels by bending the knees, not the waist: the hips drop straight down and the body lowers as one unit. Your back stays straight, chin up, elbows close to your ribs.
- Penetration step: your lead foot lands deep between their feet and the lead knee touches the mat under you without crashing down, while the back leg pushes you forward. Your hips travel in under theirs, so you arrive with your chest against them, not your hands.
- Wrap both legs behind the knees, hands cupping the backs of the knees and pulling them toward you. Your head is up and tight to their body: forehead on the chest on a straight shot, ear against the hip on an angled one.
- Step up with the back leg so you are back on your feet under them, the knees still pulled tight to your chest. Do not stop after the grab: the feet keep driving.
- Finish by driving at an angle and turning the corner while pulling the knees in, not by pushing straight into them. Keep driving until they fall, and land on top in side control.
Key details
- Level change first, then the step: drop the hips and lower the whole body, never bend at the waist. Shooting from your full height is seen early and sprawled.
- Head up and tight to their body: forehead to the chest on a straight shot, ear to the hip on an angled one. Never chin to chest: the back rounds and their weight crushes you down or catches the neck.
- The lead foot lands deep between their feet and the lead knee touches the mat without crashing down. The deep step puts your hips under theirs; dropping the back knee instead kills your forward drive.
- Finish by turning the corner, not by pushing straight into them. Straight back they simply step back and rebalance; at an angle they have no foot to catch the fall.
- Keep the feet driving after contact until they are down. The moment you stop, they sprawl the legs back and drop their weight on you.
- Time the shot for the moment their feet are side by side, in one line: with no foot behind them they cannot brace, and your knee steps over the line between their feet.
Common mistakes
- Shooting from too far, diving at the legs. — You land short, on your knees with your arms reaching, and they sprawl their hips onto your back. — Get close first with grips or a feint; the shot is one long step that brings your hips under theirs, not a dive.
- Looking down at their legs during the shot. — The back rounds, the head drops below their chest and the neck is offered for a guillotine. — Keep the chin up and the spine straight through the whole shot, eyes on their chest.
- Stopping after the grab, kneeling with the legs wrapped. — With no drive they sprawl the legs back, drop their hips on you and you end under them. — Keep the feet moving: step up with the back leg and drive at an angle until they are down.
How to drill it
Penetration steps across the mat, 2 × 10 each leg; then 10 shots on a partner who gives the legs.
Safety
Break the fall of your partner: land with them and do not dive on their head.
What comes next
Where it comes from