In any grappling sport, it is crucial to learn how to take your opponent to the ground. Although BJJ is an art mainly on the ground, you still got to first take the fight to the ground!  

Takedowns are super important if you want to be a complete grappler. But when it comes to takedowns, most are thinking of Single Leg or Double Leg Takedowns. One simple yet very effective takedown technique sometimes overlooked is the hip toss in BJJ.   

A hip toss is a phenomenal technique that looks complicated, but is really simple once you understand the movement. In this guide, we take a look how to effectively execute a hip toss! We’ll detail where hip tosses originated, numerous types of hip tosses, and some details to remember if you are trying to master the move. 

Origin of the Hip Toss 

Hip tosses were popularized within the Judo community and later adopted by amateur wrestling, Jiu Jitsu, and Sambo. Since Jiu Jitsu and Sambo branched off from Judo it was natural that they would adopt Judo techniques. Especially with the hip tosses.  

In amateur freestyle wrestling, it is very common for wrestlers to learn and implement hip tosses into their games.  

Within MMA we have seen hip tosses numerous times over the years starting with Karo Parisyan and later with Ronda Rousey.

Wrestling Hip Toss (Koshi Guruma)

The koshi guruma is a popular hip throw that amateur wrestling adopted. Here are the entails for how to do a No-Gi koshi guruma.  

For this wrestling variation, you’re going to step in and take a single leg. Once you have their leg, you’re going to switch to the hip toss in BJJ set in two steps.  

Take a penetration step with your lead leg and then a backstep with your other in between your opponent's legs. As you do this, you pull them forward and turn your hip into them.  

The forward momentum takes them right over to complete your hip toss. Watch double champ Henry Cejudo break down this technique in this video.

No-Gi O Goshi Hip Toss

An O Goshi is another one of the basic hip tosses in Judo. This variation of the o goshi in No-Gi is when you have a deep underhook cupping the opponent’s shoulder.  

Start by going in to grab your deep underhook and take wrist control on their other hand. The steps are exactly the same as the last technique.  

Take your penetration step along with a backstep putting your feet parallel between your opponent’s feet. Have your hips lower than your opponent’s and they should go right over your hip to complete the toss. 

Ippon Seoi Nage Hip Toss

This is one of the classic  Judo hip tosses implemented in Jiu Jitsu and wrestling. In Gi, you start with a grip behind the opponent’s elbow and their collar.  

The steps for the ippon seoi nage are the exact same as o goshi and koshi guruma. Just your hand placement is different.  

When you do your step in and backstep pulling your opponent forward, your collar grip goes under their arm. The crook of your arm connects with their armpit. If you go too deep or too low on the arm, your opponent will immediately take your back.  

In one fluid motion, you take your steps, hook the arm, bend down, and take them over with ease. For a visual check out the details in this video.

Koshi Guruma In Gi

We already detailed the Koshi Guruma, but here are the details in the Gi. With these hip tosses you always start with a grip under the elbow and collar grip.  

Like always, this hip toss starts with a step in and backstep. You pull the opponent forward with the elbow grip and reach around their head grabbing the Gi.  

The opponent’s forward momentum pulls them up and over easily when you do these steps correctly. Watch below to see how the koshi guruma is properly executed. 

Key Details To Remember

A lot of people make hip tosses harder than they need to be. They are very simple as long as you do the steps correctly. Here are the key details to remember when you go for hip tosses.

How To Defend A Hip Toss

If you want to be able to do hip tosses you have to know how to defend them. You have to understand both, so that you can do a hip toss and not get hip tossed. Here is how you defend a bjj hip toss 

Final Thoughts

People that do Jiu Jitsu sometimes tend to avoid doing hip tosses, because they may think its difficult and cost a lot of energy. 

They actually take little to know strength to do them when you do the steps correctly!  

A hip toss in bjj is all about using an opponent’s energy against them to take them down.

 If you want to have a more complete Jiu Jitsu game, then you definitely should learn a thing or two about a few hip tosses!