Also known as: Hooks Guard · Seated Butterfly · Double Hooks
Seated with both shins hooked inside the opponent’s thighs. Butterfly hooks are elevators: combined with an underhook or arm drag they launch sweeps, X-guard entries, and back takes. It is the single most important no-gi guard because it works without any cloth to hold.
Gi & No-gi · Category: Guards
What can you do from Butterfly Guard?
Butterfly player (positional score +1/10)
Sweeps
Butterfly Sweep — The king of no-gi sweeps: underhook one side, load them onto your hooks, and elevate one hook while you fall to the opposite shoulder — they land flat, you land in mount.
Back Takes
Arm Drag from Butterfly — Marcelo Garcia’s bread and butter: from seated butterfly, drag their arm across your body and slide your chest past their shoulder to the back before they can re-square.
Transitions
X-Guard Entry — When they stand or post a leg up to smash your butterfly, swim underneath and build the X: one shoulder under their thigh, legs crossed behind their other knee.
Top player
This side of the position is about defending and rebuilding — see the escapes and transitions from the other role.