Marcus Phelan, The King of De la Riva
Marcus is an Irish black belt under Darragh O’Conaill. He was born on May 12, 1992, in Ireland. His passion for jiu jitsu developed in his teenagehood and led him to compete numerous times. He has won multiple championships, such as the IBJJF Dublin Open (2019), the IBJJF Berlin Open (2019), the IBJJF London Fall NoGi Open (2019), and many other major events.
As one of Europe's top-tier lightweight jiu jitsu competitors, he attracted a lot of attention for his precise execution of the De la Riva guard. Roughly 50% of his match wins are by submission, and he relies heavily on the De la Riva to set him up for those submission opportunities.
What is De la Riva Guard?
De la Riva Guard is one of the open guards consisting of one leg controlling the opponent’s leg, often with a cross collar grip or far sleeve grip. Since De la Riva guard has control over a leg and the upper body, it is frequently used by any world-class competitor looking to play offensive guard. As Marcus demonstrates in his "De la Phelan" course here on Jiu Jitsu X, there are countless attacks that stem from the De la Riva. With the leg and cross collar control, off-balancing and chaining it with other variations from the De la Riva guard becomes very convenient. If you want to improve your overall bottom game or find a specific guard to implement to step up your offensive guard play, Marcus’ course is a great place to start.
How comfortable are you playing De la Riva guard, one of the most offensive guards?
Playing a good guard is important. But what’s often more important is being able to enter the desired position without taking any risk. In Marcus’s course “De la Phelan,” you will explore options to position yourself into De la Riva guard, arriving safe and sound.
Being able to adapt to any type of control is another advantage you will gain after watching this course. Limiting yourself to one or two positions is unrealistic. It's an open invitation for your training partners to become familiar with your typical guard play and learn to easily defeat it. That's why "De la Phelan" does not limit itself! You'll explore these factors and become adept at applying the right tips to any scenario:
Upper Body Control (cross collar, far sleeve, close sleeve, belt grip, and lapel grip)
Hip positions (whether it is inside or outside position)
Leg Control (Pants grip, grabbing the ankle, tight hook, and under hook)
Understanding how individual grip and hip position differ from others will increase your offense quickly.
Along with the differences between each grip and position, you will discover multiple sequences of attack. Perfect control of the De la Riva guard offers perfect attacks such as:
Sweeps
Wrestling up
Berimbolo
Berimbolo variations depending on the opponent’s reactions
Submissions options (Triangle, Armbar, and Omoplata)
Transition to De le Riva X
Back takes
Marcus will go over the technique itself and exactly HOW to get to the proper position to attack, including simple and efficient variations to make it work no matter what.
Make a small but mighty investment into your jiu jitsu game with Marcus. Solidify your guard game and start spamming all the attacks one from the other! Ceaseless attacks are bound to make your opponents tire out and give up position. You’ll learn to trust your plan of attack more and more as you succeed!
There are also 3 free videos available for every single course, including Marcus’ “De la Phelan”! Click on any of them to access and start stepping up your jiu jitsu game!
Marcus’ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/marcusphelanbjj/
