Crucial Details From The Best K-Guard Players | Technique Showcase
Crucial Details From The Best K-Guard Players | Technique Showcase
Sometimes called the keymaster guard or shallow X-guard, the position is best recognized as the root of the illustrious matrix backtake.
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The K-guard has become a favorite position for backtake specialists and leg lockers alike over the last few years. Sometimes called the keymaster guard or shallow X-guard, the position is best recognized as the root of the illustrious matrix backtake.
But the K-guard is a versatile position which offers several other attacking opportunities in gi and no-gi, not limited to the matrix. In this week’s technique showcase, we look at K-guard techniques and strategies demonstrated by Tommy Langaker, Mikey Musumeci, Joao Miyao, Paulo Miyao and Lachlan Giles.
See the entire Technique Showcase collection here!
What Is The K-Guard?
As shown above, the K-guard is an open guard system in which the attacker wraps his or her foot around the defender’s far thigh near the hip. The toes wrap around the thigh similar to a reverse de la riva guard, but the entire leg stays inside of the defender’s leg. Most importantly, the attacker must keep his knee inside of his opponent’s knee. While grips may vary, the most often utilized grips in this position include collar and sleeve control, or a cross-collar grip and a scoop grip on the far leg.
A Simple Way To Elevate The Top Player
The K-hook operates as a defensive frame. In a standard knee cut position, the top player is free to move his far hip. The K-hook is primarily a wall to prevent the passer from progressing forward. The hook also helps the guard player rotate underneath and begin elevating the top player. Watch here as Tommy Langaker swiveled underneath Isaac Bahiense to scoop the leg, then pushed off the K-hook to complete this simple tilt sweep.
Alternative Attacks When The Top Player Keeps Distance
For most K-guard attacks, it’s vital for the guard player to scoop under the top player’s far leg. Knowing this, the passer may try to keep distance. In the next example, Langaker used the cross-collar grip to try to pull Johnathan Lovell’s leg closer. When Lovell insisted on keeping his leg back, Langaker settled on a sleeve grip and attacked with a basic scissor sweep to score.
Subtle Leg Positioning Lends To Sneaky Traps
When in a neutral seated position, K-guard players can find an easy inside foot position to set up a K-hook. If the other competitor is unaware of that positioning, they can fall into a trap on the way up. In this clip, Langaker found a home for his hook when he and Erberth Santos were seated. As Santos came up, Langaker used the position to shoot a quick triangle and secured the submission.
The Holy Grail Of K-Guard Attacks: The Matrix
From collar and sleeve guard, Langaker attempted a triangle in this match against Marcos Tinoco. The initial threat of the triangle enticed Tinoco to keep his posture high, making room for Langaker’s K-hook. As Tinoco remained upright, Langaker scooped the far leg and inverted, swinging his leg behind and then swiveling his hips underneath to complete the matrix backtake.
An Easy Path To 50-50
En route to his second world title, Mikey Musumeci found himself down two points to Ary Farias with 15 seconds remaining in the match. Mikey quickly entered the K-guard and motioned behind Farias as if attacking the matrix. As Farias distanced himself to prevent the backtake, Musumeci dumped him over and threaded his leg through to earn a 50-50 sweep, scoring the go-ahead points and the win.
A No-Gi Triple Threat
In several matches Joao Miyao has relentlessly spammed attacks from the K-guard. In this one at Kasai Pro 6 against Richard Alarcon, Miyao inverted through, threatening a leg before ultimately shooting for back control. As Alarcon defended, Miyao came up for a sweep. In this exchange, he left his leg behind for a knee bar, but defended it and eventually passed Alarcon’s guard.
K-Guard Was A Fighter Favorite At ADCC
Paulo Miyao utilized K-guard attacks in most of his ADCC matches in 2019. He attempted the matrix twice to no avail against Augusto “Tanquinho” Mendes. He had more success against Tye Rutolo, scoring a 50-50 sweep. Like his brother in the previous clip, Paulo Miyao left his leg exposed to a kneebar but refused to tap.
Lachlan’s Historic Leglocks Came From K-Guard
Paulo Miyao wasn’t the only ADCC competitor with an affinity for K-guard attacks at ADCC. In each of his three earth shattering submission wins, Lachlan Giles used a variant of the K-guard to snatch his opponent’s leg. Most don’t have the leg flexibility or resilience of the Miyao’s, but Giles’ “shallow K-guard” adjusted for that fact. Rather than hooking around his opponent’s hip, Giles hooks his opponent’s knee, keeping his legs tighter to prevent a pull-through kneebar counter.
In this match against Mahamed Aly, Giles transitioned from de la riva to shallow K-guard briefly, before inverting through to 50-50 and finishing his third heel-hook of the day.
K-Guard Leglocks Are Equally Viable In The Gi
Speaking of historic leglocks, Mikey Musumeci earned one to secure his third world title, the fastest submission in a Worlds final match. Musumeci set a K-hook with his left leg and wrapped an achilles grip, then buried his right leg on Rodnei Barbosa’s hip for extra leverage. This position, sometimes called butterfly ashi or short ashi, is another variety of K-guard.
Check Out The Official FloGrappling Leg Entanglement Encyclopedia!
A Pathway To De La Riva
While Musumeci has a dangerous K-guard, his de la riva game is his bread and butter. In this clip, Musumeci began attacking the K-guard against Jose Tiago Barros, then used Barros’ defense against him. As Barros fought away from the threat of the footlock, Musumeci repositioned Barros’ foot to the inside, turning the position from K-guard to de la riva guard, where Musumeci could begin working his A-game.
Tommy's K-Guard Masterclass
Tommy Langaker showed us some of his favorite K-guard or "Keymaster" techniques a few years ago. Check them out here:
Tommy Langaker Technique: Keymaster Triangle Finish
Tommy Langaker Technique: Taking The Back From Keymaster
Tommy Langaker Technique: Finishing The Toe Hold From Keymaster
Lachlan's Post-ADCC Instructional
Lachlan Giles demonstrated how he submitted Kaynan Duarte and Patrick Gaudio, and Shawn Williams did a video analysis of Lachlan's submission over Mahamed Aly:
Lachlan Giles Breaks Down How He Submitted Kaynan Duarte at ADCC
Lachlan Giles Shows The Heel Hook He Used To Submit Patrick Gaudio
Shawn Williams: How Did Lachlan Submit 260lb Mahamed Aly?
Need More Matrix?
Back in March, we had Mikey Musumeci, Tommy Langaker, Roberto Jimenez, Ffion Davies and Marcus Phelan on an epic Who's Number One podcast. Tommy and Mikey started discussing the nuances of the matrix backtake, and soon entered an impromptu troubleshooting session, giving us plenty of technical details to digest.
