As the defender against the Counter Leg Attack, you are the top player in Inside Sankaku who has established a dominant leg entanglement. Your opponent is attempting to neutralize your positional advantage by threading their free leg around your non-entangled leg, seeking to create mutual 50-50 entanglement or establish their own Ashi Garami. Your primary objective is to prevent this counter-entry while maintaining your Inside Sankaku control and advancing toward your heel hook finish. The counter-attack typically occurs when you shift focus from positional control to submission grips, creating windows where your free leg becomes vulnerable to the opponent’s threading attempts.
Defending this counter requires balancing two competing priorities: maintaining offensive pressure toward the heel hook finish and protecting your free leg from being entangled. The most effective defense is awareness - recognizing the counter-attack attempt early and addressing it before the opponent completes the leg thread. Once they establish a hook on your free leg, the position rapidly deteriorates toward 50-50 where your Inside Sankaku advantage is eliminated. Prevention through proper leg positioning, hip pressure, and strategic timing of your submission attempts is far superior to attempting to strip an established counter-entanglement.
Opponent’s Starting Position: Inside Sankaku (Bottom)
How to Recognize This Attack
How do you know when someone is attempting Counter Leg Attack?
- Opponent’s hips begin rotating toward your free leg side rather than escaping away from the entanglement, indicating they are creating angle for counter-entry
- Opponent’s free leg becomes active and starts probing toward your legs rather than pushing against your hip for standard escape
- Opponent stops defending the heel hook with their hands and redirects hand activity toward controlling your lower body or legs
- You feel opponent’s instep or shin beginning to hook behind your free leg’s knee or calf
- Opponent maintains composure and stops attempting standard escapes, suggesting they are setting up a more calculated counter-attack response
Key Defensive Principles
What are the key principles for defending Counter Leg Attack?
- Keep your free leg retracted and close to your body rather than extended or posted where it becomes accessible for counter-entanglement
- Maintain heavy hip pressure throughout to limit opponent’s ability to create the angle needed for leg threading
- Recognize early signs of counter-attack (opponent’s hip rotation, free leg movement) and address before thread completes
- Prioritize finishing the heel hook quickly when you have grips rather than allowing prolonged exchanges that create counter windows
- Use your free leg actively as a wedge or block against opponent’s threading attempts rather than leaving it passive
- Control the pace of the exchange - a patient, systematic approach to the heel hook leaves fewer openings than rushed grip hunting
Defensive Options
What can you do to defend against Counter Leg Attack?
1. Retract free leg and drive knee toward your own chest to eliminate threading angle
- When to use: As soon as you feel opponent’s free leg probing toward your non-entangled leg or see their hips rotating toward it
- Targets: Inside Sankaku
- If successful: Opponent’s counter-attack is stuffed and they remain trapped in Inside Sankaku with no entanglement on your leg
- Risk: Retracting your leg may temporarily reduce your hip pressure and base stability, creating a brief escape window
2. Accelerate heel hook finish to force a tap before counter-entanglement completes
- When to use: When you already have strong heel grips and opponent is in early stages of counter-entry rather than already having an established hook
- Targets: Inside Sankaku
- If successful: Opponent is forced to abandon counter-attack to address immediate submission danger or taps before completing the thread
- Risk: Rushing the finish with poor mechanics may result in lost grips and wasted energy, giving opponent more time for the counter
3. Transition to Saddle by capturing opponent’s threading leg to trap both their legs
- When to use: When opponent has already begun threading their free leg and you can redirect it into a double leg entanglement rather than fighting the thread
- Targets: Saddle
- If successful: You advance to Saddle position with both opponent’s legs trapped, dramatically increasing your control and submission options
- Risk: If the capture fails, you may end up in a worse scramble with no clear entanglement on either side
4. Post your free leg wide and drive hip pressure forward to flatten opponent and eliminate their hip angle
- When to use: When opponent is in the early hip rotation phase before they have begun the actual leg threading motion
- Targets: Inside Sankaku
- If successful: Opponent is flattened on their back with no hip angle to generate the threading motion, maintaining your dominant control
- Risk: A posted free leg can be more accessible if opponent times their thread to catch the leg while it is extended
Best-Case Outcomes for Defender
What is the best outcome when defending Counter Leg Attack?
→ Inside Sankaku
Recognize the counter-attack early through hip rotation and free leg activity cues. Retract your free leg immediately, drive hip pressure forward to flatten opponent, then resume systematic heel hook attack with your free leg tucked safely.
→ Saddle
When opponent commits their free leg to the threading motion, capture it by triangling your legs around both their legs simultaneously. Use the momentum of their counter-entry to pull their second leg into your entanglement structure, advancing from Inside Sankaku to the superior Saddle position.