In martial arts and combat sports, a takedown is a technique that involves off-balancing an opponent and bringing them to the ground with the attacker landing on top.

Takedowns are usually distinguished from throws by amplitude and impact, where the purpose of a throw is to outright eliminate the opponent while purpose of a takedown is to bring the opponent down on the ground, assume a dominant position and then proceed to finish them with jointlocks, chokeholds, or ground and pound.

Variants of the high crotch correspond to sukui nage (掬投, "scoop throw"[3]), where the opponent is lifted up from the ground,[4] while the typical forward pushing single leg takedown is classified as morote gari[5] (双手刈, "both hands scoop"[3]).

The guillotine choke is also a good counter to a poorly performed double leg takedown.

[5] Morote-gari, despite having been used by judokas for a very long time and being approved of by Jigoro Kano himself, was not accepted until 1982 by the Kodokan[5] as an official judo technique.

Being dismissed by certain traditionalists,[10] the technique was banned in competition by the International Judo Federation in 2010 except as a counter or combination.

A variation performed by a cross body wrist-hold is called Kraft's Carry (Kraft coached by Wrestling's Hall of Fame Ned Blass, designed the move in 1967-70 achieving success as a high school and collegiate wrestler).

This version is accomplished by “throwing” the opponents wrist aside to the left, while ducking under for the standard carry.

Either can be used as the basis for a takedown because underhooks offer the potential for control of the opponent's upper body.