Year: 2022

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FilmJitsu – BJJ in The Expanse S3 E3: Assured Destruction

The rear naked choke (often shortened to RNC even though the choke has no political affiliation) is the most effective and simplest choke in all of BJJ. It’s a choke that can still be effective even when done poorly and applied to the windpipe instead of the carotid artery.

The rear naked choke is so simple and effective that even at the highest level of competition against skilled opponents, it is far and away the most commonly effective choke in the UFC with 49% of all submissions by RNC (the next closest is the guillotine at 14%) according to BJJ Tribes in December 2020. 

Also, because the rear naked choke is a blood choke it is mostly undetectable as a cause of death. Where a windpipe choke would leave bruising and damage to the windpipe, the rear naked choke just shuts off blood to the brain like kinking a hose.

So it’s not surprising that the well trained former soldier Cotyar used it to quickly and reliably dispense of the nervous nelly and noted turncoat Theo in The Expanse S3 E3: Assured Destruction. Theo started as an electrician on Jules-Pierre Mao’s Guanshiyin luxury space yacht and helped Chrisjen Avasarala, Bobbie Draper, and Cotyar escape. So he was a friend but then as soon as the heat was on, was willing to lie about that to save his skin when the U.N.N. ship Agatha King picked them up. 

So when Cotyar needed a way to quickly, efficiently, and most of all undetectably kill Theo, he used the old faithful rear naked choke. While Cotyar executed the RNC correctly, The Expanse is still a TV show and they need to show to non-fight sport enthusiasts that Theo had no chance of surviving the choke so they added in a TV Trope neck snap.

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Filmjitsu – BJJ on The Bachelor

Bachelor contestant Susie showed why she’s the obvious choice for Clayton tonight when her choice for a date during Hometowns was to bring The Bachelor to her BJJ gym (which from her Instagram looks to be Breakaway Jiu-Jitsu and Self Defense in Newport News, VA). Shoutout to Susie for showing Jiu-Jitsu some love while she’d on her own quest for love.

Susie, who is a blue belt in BJJ, brought Clayton in to see what makes her the best woman on the show. She brought Clayton in for an introduction to BJJ where he learned an arm bar, what seemed like a rubber guard style triangle for inflexible people, and most importantly: the shrimp!

Then Susie showed off that she’s a badass and showed him a mean triangle from guard.

Susie’s love of BJJ is proof that Clayton is a toe-head moron if he doesn’t choose her. She can face adversity, fight through pain, is unafraid of uncomfortable positions, likes getting choked, is in great shape, knows what to do with her body, and most importantly (and unique to a BJJ practitioner) she is comfortable with having her face smashed into dirty, stinky mats by stinky people. So he can get real lax with showering and not risk grossing her out, every man’s dream!

Via @susiecevans Instagram.

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How To Do a Ninja Choke

One of the best advantages of an in-depth knowledge of BJJ is the depth of options available in any given situation. If you’ve studied Jiu-Jitsu even a little bit you’ve probably discovered that no matter what happens and how your initial plan gets derailed, you still have options. 

Case in point is the ninja choke off of a failed guillotine attempt. When your opponent stops your guillotine choke by removing your choking hand, you could fight back against them and force your arm back under their chin, but that requires your one arm to be stronger than their two, which is a dumb fight to get in. Instead, you have the option to allow them to remove your choking hand and just take advantage of their two-on-one arm strategy and replace it with your free hand, making that the choking arm.

Trading back and forth between a guillotine choke and a ninja choke will frustrate your opponent and wear them down until one choke or the other is too much for them to defend and you end up with a submission. 

Start: Guillotine 

Step 1: Opponent uses two hands to pull your choking hand out, and you feed your free hand through in the space created, making that the choking hand

Step 2: Figure four choking arm’s hand onto non-choking arm bicep

Step 3: Drop non-choking hand onto opponent’s back

Step 4: Drop non Choking elbow down while you lift choking arm up and squeeze

Finish: Submission via Ninja Choke

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How To Do The Ghost Side Control Escape

The Ghost side control escape is a 10th planet jiu jitsu technique that uses one of the fundamentals of BJJ – using your opponent’s energy against them. The Ghost escape starts like a normal side control escape, using your forearms to protect your neck and keep your opponent from getting too close. Then, you threaten a traditional guard recovery side control escape and when your opponent reacts, you use the space they create to slip away like a ghost.

Bonus: check out the Mortal Kombat intro music and try to stop yourself from saying GET OVER HERE like scorpion. If that doesn’t make you want to do some ninja stuff and choke someone out in a cool way, you’re dead inside and nothing can help you.

Start: Side control bottom

Step 1: Establish forearm blocks with T-Rex arms

Step 2: Shrimp away from opponent and face them

Step 3: Use inside hand to stiff arm or pimp hand and block opponent’s hip.

Step 4: Switch outside hand to whizzer overhook

Step 5: Attempt to step outside foot over opponent’s bottom side leg

Step 6: When opponent reacts, reach inside arm through under their body and between their knee and arm

Step 7: Swing feet away from opponent and punch inside arm through to spin around to all fours as you rotate away from opponent

Finish: Scramble

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How To Do A Twisting Arm Control Submission

The twisting arm control submission is an excellent BJJ attack that draws on a fundamental principle of Jiu-Jitsu and uses an opponent’s energy against them.

Mount is an extremely effective and dominant position in BJJ, but you may find yourself unable to finish a submission from mount due to your opponent’s strength, excellent defense, or escape attempts. In those cases, the twisting arm control submission is a useful transition to the back and the rear naked choke. 

Twisting arm control is a frustrating position for the bottom player, and many BJJ fighters will fall into this trap just to move out of the position. In MMA or a fight, the position leaves one of the top fighter’s hands free for punches, forcing the bottom fighter to escape or be knocked out.

This technique by the great Rener Gracie for his Gracie Jiu-Jitsu Academy Youtube channel is part of the Gracie How To Get a Blue Belt in BJJ guide.

Start: Mount

Step 1: Secure a cross-grip on one of opponent’s wrists and using your free hand to push their elbow, drag that wrist across their body to their opposite shoulder

Step 2: Lay your chest on the twisted arm and post your gripping hand into the mat to secure their arm in place

Step 3: Slide your free hand under opponent’s neck and grab their wrist, switching which hand has the grip

Step 4: Slide your back knee (the side that now has the grip on opponent’s wrist) up behind their shoulders and post front foot next to their stomach

Step 5: Pull opponent’s wrist towards you while pushing their elbow with your free hand, forcing them to turn away

Step 6: When opponent turtles (either out of frustration, to escape punches, or to avoid the discomfort of your heel digging into their stomach), abandon the twisting arm control and post both hands on the ground to get both hooks in and take the back.

Step 7: Slide one arm under opponent’s neck and through to other side, figure four your arms and reach free hand behind their head to finish a rear naked choke

Finish: Tap due to Twisting Arm Control Submission

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How To Do A Triangle Transition Straight Armbar From Guard

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu has been compared to chess. While nobody ever got choked out during a chess match, the similarities are striking (no striking allowed in either chess or Jiu-Jitsu). In both games, you could easily achieve your goal if the other player were not playing, or followed simple responses to all of your moves so that your far side arm bar from side control worked perfectly every time. But in both chess and BJJ, your opponent wants to beat you as badly as you want to beat them, so they will fight and do everything in their power to stop your strategy while furthering their own. While that’s what makes this sport fun, it can be frustrating to hit a move dead on in practice a hundred times only to have it easily countered while rolling. But there’s always a counter to a counter.

That’s why live rolling is so much more important to developing your BJJ game than just knowing techniques. Even an encyclopedic knowledge of BJJ submissions with no rolling isn’t as good as a shallow understanding with experience on the mat.  In that same vein, having two options for an attack is crucial to success. 

The first one of these two-for-one techniques that a BJJ fighter should learn is the triangle and arm bar from guard. The triangle from guard pairs perfectly with the arm bar. If your triangle attack is stopped, or you lose the trap you had on your opponent’s head, you still have control of their arm and the arm bar from guard is sitting waiting for you. The essential piece of this puzzle is called the diamond position, and you may recognize it as the step in the triangle from guard where you hang from your opponent’s neck like a scarf before you figure-four your legs. 

Furthermore, learning this combination proves what many BJJ coaches will tell you over and over as your journey progresses: position before submission. Once you have the diamond position, a step in the triangle setup, you can branch off into the arm bar if your triangle is defended.

Start: Diamond position (closed guard with one arm and head in, one arm out) with opponent posturing up to counter triangle

Step 1: Open guard and drop foot of non- choking leg (on side with opponent’s arm trapped) to their hip

Step 2: Kick off hip to swing that leg over opponent’s head

Step 3: Grab opponent’s trapped hand and drive hips forward into elbow

Finish: Submission via Triangle Transition Straight Armbar From Guard

This submission is an essential BJJ technique included in the How To Get a Blue Belt in BJJ Series.

This great video is by Connection Rio Jiu-Jitsu Academy on Youtube.