If you’re new to the world of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, then you may be unaware as to what the terms ‘underhook’ and ‘overhook’ actually mean. However, after a few short months you should have learned that they’re both vitally important for BJJ and MMA. After a few years, you’ll realize that underhooks and overhooks are everywhere, and they’re crucially important when training.
A good way of thinking about it is that underhooks can move your opponent upwards and outwards, whereas overhooks can move them downwards and inwards. Here’s our guide to underhooks and overhooks.
Table of Contents
What is the meaning of underhooks?
Underhooks are when you get your arm under the armpit of the opponent. Imagine being stuck in bottom side control, but you can somehow place your arm under the arm of the opponent. Most commonly, underhooks are used in wrestling and can set up takedowns.
Again, imagine standing, then hugging under your opponent with your arms under theirs. If done correctly, then underhooks can setup multiple attacks such as sweeps, takedowns and submissions. They can also be used to escape from side control.
The wrestler in read has an underhook.
Why is the underhook so important?
Imagine trying to do a knee slice pass from top half guard. Instead of securing the underhook of the farside arm, you just slice through. It doesn’t matter how good the rest of your pass is, because now the opponent from bottom half guard has access to your back. This means that as you literally knee slice through, you’re giving the opponent your back.
Similarly, from the bottom half guard position, if you give up your farside underhook, this allows the top passer to be more assertive. From here, they can flatten you out, which allows for various submissions and attacks. Similarly, it can be used to set up a knee slice which is made far easier with an underhook.
In an MMA setting, underhooks are usually used from standing. If you manage to get double underhooks whilst wrestling, then this is very advantageous and allows for body locks to be achieved with your weight under the opponent’s upper body. With this set up in place, you can then start takedowns, whereas the opponent will be forced into defense. As you can imagine, in both BJJ and MMA, there is a strong emphasis on underhooks in most positions as they can win matches.
How do you get an underhook?
Against a skilled opponent, winning the underhook can be very tough and it can turn into a battle. For instance, whilst standing, you may have to do feints to enter an underhook. Similarly, if playing guard then you may need to open up your opponent before getting underhooks.
The best way of thinking about underhook entries is by using ‘Kazushi’ which is a Judo method. Kazushi basically means to off balance your opponent. In other words, if you make them go in one direction, it opens up other avenues, such as obtaining the underhook.
When standing for example, you could use a collar tie to off balance your opponent or throw them in one direction. As the opponent reacts, you can slip in your underhook and start attacking.
On the floor, this could mean getting an underhook from butterfly guard. Here, you could lift the opponent in the air by using armpit grips and your hooks to elevate them. As they land, they’ll be forced to post to regain balance. Whilst doing this, you can get underhooks. In short, be creative and make sure you pressure your opponent into making mistakes. From there, like submissions – openings will happen.
How do you get double underhooks?
As mentioned above, you can get double underhooks from butterfly guard by elevating the opponent. From standing, you can also start by getting a standard underhook, again by using off balancing methods. When there, naturally your opponent may counter by overlooking your arm for defense, or getting their own counter underhook.
This is where you’ll need wrestling experience. In short, with your underhooking arm, you’ll want to rock them to the opposite side and make them stamp on the floor. This can create space to get double underhooks and secure a body lock.
When passing, you can also use the double underhook pass which is also known as the stack pass. This is slightly different, and means underhooking the bottom of the opponent and grabbing onto their hips. Effectively, you’re underhooking their legs, applying pressure and eventually using this to move their hips out the way and secure the pass. To enter this pass, you’ll typically need to get access to both legs with your arms, which sounds easier than it actually is. This usually means disengaging with the opponent completely, then diving into the underhooks.
How do I get out of underhooks?
You may have read by now that getting underhooks put on you is not ideal. To counter this, you’ll want to again use similar methods that got you into trouble in the first place. For those standing, this means off balancing the opponent and using momentum to free your arm. Whilst this won’t be ideal, if you can make them move enough, then you can pummel your arm back into a neutral position.
From half guard in either position, you’ll again need to pummel and escape your arm from an underhook. For instance, from the top position, you may need to back step over the bottom half guard, re-arrange your arm from the floor, then step back to your starting position.
With this done, you can regain your original position and escape the underhook. Having said this, it takes a lot of energy and it’s better to work on underhook defense, as opposed to underhook escapes. A good defense to stop your back getting taken by a duck under is to wrap your trapped arm into an overhook. This may not be perfect but is better than nothing and offers protection to your back.
What is the meaning of overhooks?
As you may have guessed, an overhook is the opposite version of an underhook. In other words, you wrap your arm around the arm of your opponent. In wrestling, this is also referred to as a whizzer which can be used both offensively and defensively.
Not only can the overhook be used to counter an underhook, but it can also be used to set up attacks and sweeps. In MMA, it is mostly used to defend by blocking the opponents am and blocking strikes as a result.
The MMA fighter doing the throw uses an overhook to takedown his opponent.
Why is the overhook so important?
Overhooks are important for reasons similar to underhooks. As stated, imagine someone gets an underhook on you whilst you’re in top half guard. If you do nothing, you’ll get your back taken and choked. However, if you grab an underhook then you can defend the back take.
You may end up getting swept, but it’s better than a back take. If you’re very good, then you can even use this overhook to do a back step and set a pass up. Therefore, it’s fair to say that overhooks aren’t just defensive.
On a similar note, they can set up attacks too. Often, people will use overhooks to attack triangle chokes, as well as mir locks. Basically, they can attack and defend.
When standing, overhooks can also attack. A popular takedown used by both Khabib and Daniel Cormier was getting an underhook on the one side, and overhook on the other. You can then trip the opponent to the overhooked side as the overhook removes the base of the opponent. This means that you can also use overhooks to set up takedowns, so long as you’re not in a vulnerable position yourself.
How do you get an overhook?
An overhook can be gained by an underhook as a defensive counter movement. Alternatively, you can be proactive and overhook the opponents arm to begin with. Usually, this requires close contact with the arms, and from the bottom, you’ll need to explode up and wrap the arm. With this done, you can then enter the overhook.
Remember, it’s important to make sure your overhook is tight and assertive. If it’s too loose, then the opponent can quickly pull out and escape. Also, if the opponent underhooks you, then doing nothing doesn’t mean you’ve got an overhook. Instead, you’ll need to consciously wrap your arm around theirs to keep contact.
If you’re too passive, then a solid overhook can quickly turn into a weak one from your behalf. Therefore, if you do overhook then you should have an idea of what you want to do with it. In other words, you can bait an overhook by allowing the underhook, or just going for the overhook to begin with.
How do I get out of overhooks?
One way to escape an overhook is by creating a ‘dead arm’, which means making it soft and as loose as possible. The reason for this is that it makes your trapped arm less stiff which allows it the space to escape.
For example, if you’re in bottom half guard and the opponent is defending your underhook with a strong overhook, then you can do what people call an ‘air guitar’. This is when you make an air guitar movement with your underhook arm, to get out of the overhook. Once the arm is flaccid, you can then quickly escape the overhook and attack the back.
Overhook and Underhook submissions
Here’s a list of submissions that are available from overhook positions:
- Triangle
- Mir Lock
- Armbar
- Arm in Guillotine
- Darce
Here’s a list of submissions that are available from underhook positions:
- Straight Armlock
- Anaconda
- Armbar
- Triangle
- Electric Chair
- Arm Triangle
As previously mentioned, there’s also a lot of sweeps, takedowns, passes and other offensive and defensive moves that can be used by underhooks and overhooks. Whether you’re on top or on bottom, there’s really endless possibilities when everything is chained together.
Conclusion
In BJJ, underhooks and overhooks are vitally important and without them, you’re in trouble. One thing to note is that arguably, these two tools aren’t as valuable in the gi. The reason is that they can often be mimicked with gi grips. For instance, if knee slicing, you can instead pin the opponent with a gi grip across the throat. In no gi this simply isn’t possible.
Whatever your thoughts, it’s important to understand how underhooks and overhooks work. Although these are commonly used in BJJ, they actually began in wrestling, so if you’re after more material then studying these moves in wrestling is a good place to start, as they can often be applied from BJJ and MMA from there onwards.
