How to Do a Double Leg Takedown

Learn how to drop your opponents using a double leg takedown

Last Updated: May 23, 2022

In amateur mat wrestling, the double-leg takedown is typically the first takedown taught to wrestlers. Executed properly, it can be an effective way of getting your opponent onto the mat. In mixed martial arts, it's a more complicated maneuver, somewhat less reliable because of the complexities of strikes and guards available, though it's still a commonly used takedown, especially from mat specialists.

Method 1

Method 1 of 2:

Shooting Doubles In Wrestling

1
Perfect your shoot step. The shoot is the building block of lots of wrestling takedowns. The double-leg takedown is essentially a quick shoot in at your opponent's lower body that ends with you wrapping up the legs and dropping to the mat. Since a good wrestler will practice shoots frequently throughout the week, it's a good way of starting to think about getting a double-leg takedown into your repertoire of moves.^{[1]
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- Stay in your stance with your lead leg slightly forward, bent over at the hips, with your head up.
- Take a penetration step with your lead foot and place your knee in between their legs. As you do this, lower your level to make your center of gravity lower which gives you more balance and makes the shot much more difficult to block.
- Bring your trail leg up while your front knee secures your position on the mat, keeping your hands in a defensive position. Bring your front leg back up and return to the staggered stance. Practice strings of these shoots regularly to get into good wrestling shape.
2
Get in close enough to touch your opponent's shoulder. To execute the takedown properly, you need to get low enough and close enough to get past your opponent's defense. That's partially speed, which will come with practice, but also shooting from the right position. For some wrestlers, that can be as many as two or three feet, while others may need to be in closer. You need to be close enough to maintain balance in your shoot step, so it doesn't turn into an advantage for your opponent.
- Some wrestlers can shoot from farther away, while some need to be closer to do it properly. Practice your doubles on sparring partners to learn how close you need to be to do it properly with your strength and speed.
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3
Put your lead foot between your opponent's legs. To shoot in, push off with your trailing foot from the staggered position and get your lead foot between your opponent's feet. Keep your elbows in tight as you're preparing to shoot in for the takedown, maintaining a good defensive positioning and stance, and stay as low as possible.^{[2]
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- While you are taking the penetration step, lower your level to give yourself more balance and make the shot harder to counter. You should end up with your knee between their legs.
4
Snake their legs with your hands. Do this by wrapping your hands around the outside of their legs and grabbing the inside of their knees.
5
Bring your back leg forward and place your foot on the outside of their leg. Then put your head on the side of their hip so your can push their body with your head.
- Trying to wrap up too high on the legs might seem like a better way of controlling your opponent, but most wrestlers' thighs will be much too strong to control with your upper body. It's unlikely you'll be able to overpower the other wrestler's center of gravity.
- Putting your ear to the side of their hip make everything tighter. Plus, not doing it leaves your head in in either of two different places: Either in the middle, which isn't good; or way off to the side, which is awkward and can make your throw less powerful.
6
Step forward with your trailing leg and get to your feet. You shot in and wrapped up your opponent, but now it's still up to you to get back to the mat and get some points. To make it happen, bring your trailing foot forward, without dragging your knee, and push off with your lead foot, taking a little stagger step to the outside of your opponent's body, if necessary. Keep pushing forward to drive through your opponent and take them off balance.
- Your step to get up to your foot should be almost like another shoot, or a hop, powering through your opponent's body and throwing them off their gravity. You've stolen that gravity by wrapping it up, now take them down.
- Keep your shoulder in tight, your arms snaked around your opponents lower legs, and driving forward and your opponent should be on the mat in no time. Keep moving forward
7
Try to make a T with your opponent's body. When you take your opponent onto the back, keep pressure on his torso with your shoulder, as if you were trying to drive through the other wrestler's body and into the mat. Flatten out, chest-to-chest, if you can. At this point, you've successfully executed the double-leg take down and can attempt to go for the pin, or some other offensive maneuver.
- Good wrestlers will flop over onto their belly when you execute a double-leg take down. If so, this is still points for you, so take advantage of it by staying behind in a dominant position.

Method 2

Method 2 of 2:

Setting Up Doubles in MMA

1
Focus on set-ups. The only difference between the double-leg takedown in mixed martial arts and in wrestling is the set-up. Without the right set-up for the maneuver, shooting in for a takedown of this sort in MMA can get you choked out quickly, because of the variety of strikes, chokes, and other defensive maneuvers available. For this reason, setting up your opponent for a double-leg takedown is almost more important than the maneuver itself.
- If you shoot in from too far away and drop to your knee with your head in your opponent's armpit, you might as well wear a sign that says, "Hey, guillotine-choke me!" You've got to use this move in tandem with set-ups to get your opponents arms out of the way and get them to the ground before a strike is possible.
2
Set up the takedown with a strike. One of the most straight-forward and common ways of trying to set up the double-leg takedown is by striking at the head with jabs to draw your opponent's arms up into a defensive position, then shooting in for the takedown.^{[3]
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Research source} While this still leaves you open to a knee or to a choke, you can get past your opponent's guard if you do it quick enough.
- Alternatively, faking a double-leg is sometimes a good way of dropping your opponent's arms to open up for strike attacks.
3
Juke-shoot to draw a knee. One of the best ways of defending a quick wrestling-style shoot for a takedown is with a hard knee strike to the head. It's a quick way to end the match and a devastating strike. Since you know this, you can try to draw out a premature knee by juking in as if you're about to shoot, but pulling up short.
- Practice half-shoots, in which you fake a shoot from far away, keeping your eye on your opponent's knee the whole time, to make sure you come up short when it's thrown. As soon as you see it up in the air, shoot back in to finish off the job. Your opponent will already be off-balance with one leg in the air.
4
Chop your opponent's elbows. Shooting in for a double is usually best after you've worn each other down some, and your opponent is grabbing for your shoulders, rather than striking out. A quick chop upward with your hands, striking your opponent's elbows with the space between your thumb and forefinger, should be effective in breaking their grip and allowing you to shoot in for a takedown. Stay low and watch for knees, then chop upward hard, using a short jab with your hands to get your opponent's arms up. Shoot in normally.
5
Start with a Russian arm bar. Another effective method of setting up a double-leg takedown in MMA is with a Russian arm bar combination, which will allow you to tangle your opponent's arms and open up the lower body for a takedown.^{[4]
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- When your opponent reaches in to grab the back of your head with one hand, grasp the forearm with a baseball-style grip, hugging it close into your body in a Russian arm bar. Your opponent's natural instinct will be to push away from you with the other hand, at which point you can duck down, shoot the barred arm up into the other arm, tangling them and getting them out of the way. Drop into your shoot for the double-leg takedown.