Luiza Monteiro: She’s Got (Your) Legs and She Knows How to Break Them
Luiza Monteiro is a two-time world champion in the gi and a five-time world champion in no-gi, so—as Bernardo says—she’s a high-level competitor.
Even better, Monteiro gives us a sample of her competition knowledge in her BJJ Fanatics DVD series, IBJJF Legal Leglocks by Luiza Monteiro.
In the video below, she shows us three leg attacks that we can add to our own bag of tricks.
The first leg lock Monteiro demonstrates is one that she uses in response to a leg drag. Monteiro begins in the De la Riva while Bernardo attempts a leg drag on her right leg. Monteiro’s first response to an attempted leg drag is to switch her legs (1:39).
When she switches her legs, Monteiro ends up closer to Bernardo’s right leg. That proximity is what gives her an opportunity for a leg lock. She underhooks Bernardo’s right leg with her left arm and then locks her hands together in a gable grip. Monteiro then lifts her hips so that she can plant her right ankle against Bernardo’s backside. The pressure from her ankle forces Bernardo to fall forward, and Monteiro follows him, rolling over to her other side.
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As soon as Bernardo falls, Monteiro makes sure to hide her left foot. Meanwhile, she holds Bernardo’s foot against the mat using her head. This prevents Bernardo from defending the leg lock. Monteiro then uses her left hand to hold his ankle and her right arm to hug his calf. To get the tap, Monteiro squeezes her legs together to hold Bernardo’s leg firmly as she pulls his foot toward her.
Monteiro’s next leg lock begins with her in an open guard. Her feet are against Bernardo’s hips and her left hand grips Bernardo’s ankle while her right hand grips Bernardo’s left sleeve. She wants to keep her hip close to the leg she is gripping to make it difficult for Bernardo to move around.
From this set up, Monteiro puts her right foot against Bernardo’s left biceps. To get more power, she plants her left foot against the mat. Then, while still holding Bernardo’s right ankle in place, she pushes him to her right.
Bernardo’s right leg is now isolated from the rest of his body and is an easy target for Monteiro, who uses her left foot to place a hook on his inner thigh. Her right foot then goes from Bernardo’s biceps to form a hook behind his other knee. Next, Monteiro moves the foot that was hooking Bernardo’s inner thigh to his other shin.
Monteiro then uses both feet to pull Bernardo’s left leg out from under him and she locks the calf slice.
Bernardo is now in position for Monteiro to attempt a toe hold. She closes her right elbow against the back of Bernardo’s knee. She then wraps her right arm behind Bernardo’s leg, locks a figure four grip with her left wrist and torques Bernardo’s foot away from her to secure the submission.
If, however, she feels that her opponent is flexible enough to withstand the toe hold, Monteiro switches her target to the calf slice. She passes Bernardo’s leg to her right side while she brings her right arm over his leg to control his thigh (5:29).
She then sits up, grabbing and controlling Bernardo’s belt. Monteiro then uses her feet on Bernardo’s other leg to bring his leg flat as she hugs Bernardo’s waist, getting the tap.
Monteiro’s final leg attack begins with her on top. Bernardo is using a lapel guard on Monteiro, with her left lapel around her left leg.
Monteiro tells us that she came up with this attack because she had been having difficulty with this guard position. Since she loves knee bars, Monteiro found a way to turn this problem into a knee bar opportunity.
Usually, the lapel guard is a prelude to the omoplata, so when her opponent lifts his hips and swivels to set up the omoplata, Monteiro uses her left hand to control Bernardo’s leg on the thigh just above his knee.
It is essential for this knee bar that Bernardo’s leg be placed between her legs. To get his leg in position, Monteiro steps forward with her right foot and then falls back. When she falls back, she must be sure to hide her left foot so that Bernardo cannot attack it.
After falling back, Monteiro slips both ankles behind Bernardo’s leg so that she can use them together as the pivot point for her knee bar. She applies pressure with both ankles against Bernardo’s backside as she closes her knees and straightens her spine, securing the knee bar and getting the tap.
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