Reverse De La Riva

Last updated: June 7, 2026

What is the reverse de la Riva guard?

The reverse de la Riva guard, often shortened to RDLR, is a bottom position used to stop a standing or kneeling opponent from passing and to set up attacks of its own. The defining feature is the hook: the guard player wraps one leg around the inside of the opponent’s same-side lead leg, so a left leg hooks the opponent’s left leg. That inside hook is what separates it from the standard de la Riva, where the hook comes from the outside.

The position grew out of a problem. According to BJJ Heroes, Caio Terra developed it in the early 2000s as an answer to teammates passing his half guard by driving a knee through. By switching to an inside hook, he could kill the knee cut pass and keep his structure. The body position sits close to half guard, which is why so many half guard players end up using it too, often without ever being formally taught the position. Sweeps and back takes open up from there.

How the reverse de la Riva guard works

Picture someone on their back or side with one shin threaded behind and around the opponent’s near leg from the inside. That hook is the anchor. It glues the guard player to the passing leg and takes away the opponent’s ability to drive forward with the knee cut, the most common pass against the regular de la Riva.

Control rarely comes from the leg alone. Mikey Musumeci’s instructional breaks the position down into frames and hooks: the inside hook on the leg, plus a frame on the hip or shin to manage distance. The hands usually do two jobs, one controlling a foot or heel and the other controlling an arm or sleeve. Lose the feet, and the passer can flatten the guard or dive on a leg lock, so grip fighting around the feet is a constant theme in the position.

What makes the RDLR dangerous is that it is not a stalling spot. SUBMETA’s Lachlan Giles describes it as an essential open guard for preventing passes through the legs while opening up back takes, sweeps, and transitions. The signature attack is the kiss of the dragon, a back take that spins under the opponent, also known as the reverse berimbolo.

Reverse de la Riva vs de la Riva guard

This is the comparison most people are searching for, and the difference is smaller than it sounds. Both guards use a leg hook on the opponent’s lead leg. The hook direction is the whole story.

Feature	De la Riva guard	Reverse de la Riva guard
Hook direction	Outside the lead leg	Inside the lead leg
Best against	Standing passers	Knee cut and pressure passes
Signature attack	Berimbolo back take	Kiss of the dragon back take
Body position	More upright, off the back	Closer to half guard

Stephan Kesting of Grapplearts frames them as complementary rather than competing. A regular de la Riva player invites the knee cut pass, and the reverse de la Riva shuts that exact pass down. Strong players run both, switching to whichever the opponent’s reaction leaves open. Kesting also points out the position is more than a block, since arm drags, front headlocks, chokes, and sweeps all flow out of it.

Reverse de la Riva vs inverted de la Riva: the name confusion

The naming around this position trips up a lot of newer grapplers, so it is worth separating the terms. Spiral guard and reverse de la Riva are the same thing, just different gym vocabulary for one position. BJJ Heroes notes the guard gets called inverted de la Riva fairly often, but treats that as a mislabel rather than a true alternate name.

The berimbolo and the kiss of the dragon get mixed up the same way. A berimbolo is the spinning back take from the regular de la Riva, while the kiss of the dragon, sometimes called the reverse berimbolo, is that same spin run from the reverse de la Riva instead. Same movement, different starting hook.

Where the position came from

The reverse de la Riva is not as old as the guards it borrows from, but its roots run deeper than the 2000s. BJJ Heroes traces the earliest use of the inside hook back to old Kosen judo footage, where it appeared mainly as protection against the knee slide rather than a developed attacking system.

In competition, the position surfaced at a high level in 2003, when Mario Reis used it at the CBJJO World Jiu-Jitsu Cup. Caio Terra is credited with developing it into a full game around the same period, and for a while in the Rio de Janeiro circuit, it was reportedly called the Terra Guard. The name never stuck. As the years passed, the guard became closely tied to Rafael Mendes, who used it heavily and helped popularize the reverse de la Riva sweep to the leg drag.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is spiral guard the same as reverse de la Riva?

Yes. Spiral guard is simply another name for the same inside-hook position, used interchangeably from one gym to the next.

Is reverse de la Riva good for beginners?

It is usually treated as an intermediate position. Evolve recommends a solid grasp of the closed, half, and collar-and-sleeve guards first, since one mistake in the RDLR can hand the opponent an easy pass.

Does the reverse de la Riva work in no-gi and MMA?

Yes. The hook and frames do not depend on gripping the gi, so the position carries over to no-gi grappling, and grapplers apply it in MMA as well.

Who invented the reverse de la Riva guard?

Its development is most often credited to Caio Terra in the early 2000s, with Rafael Mendes later popularizing it. The underlying inside hook appeared earlier in Kosen judo.

What is the kiss of the dragon?

It is a back take from the reverse de la Riva, also called the reverse berimbolo, where the bottom grappler spins underneath the opponent to attack the back.

---

Sources

1. BJJ Heroes. “Reverse De La Riva Guard.” Accessed June 2026.
   https://www.bjjheroes.com/techniques/reverse-de-la-riva-guard
2. Evolve Daily. “What Is The Reverse De La Riva Guard In BJJ?” Accessed June 2026.
   https://evolve-mma.com/blog/what-is-the-reverse-de-la-riva-guard-in-bjj/
3. Grapplearts (Stephan Kesting). “Reverse de la Riva Guard” articles. Accessed June 2026.
   https://www.grapplearts.com/tag/reverse-de-la-riva-guard/
4. SUBMETA (Lachlan Giles). “Reverse De La Riva (RDLR).” Accessed June 2026.
   https://submeta.io/@lachlangiles/courses/reverse-de-la-riva-rdlr-
5. BJJ Fanatics. “The Reverse De La Riva System by Mikey Musumeci.” Accessed June 2026.
   https://bjjfanatics.com/products/the-reverse-de-la-riva-system-by-mikey-musumeci

Related MMA Terms