Black Belts! Do You Have These Three Important Submission in Your Arsenal?

What do you get when you gather three of the most prominent figures in the BJJ community in the same room? Magic.

Craig Jones, Bernardo Faria, and John Danaher would like to share three of their favorite techniques with us, and that’s just fine. When we get the chance to learn from some of the most successful icons of BJJ, we’re all ears. Moments like these command our full attention. I had a chance to view the entire video, and I was quickly treated to several quick fixes and game changing details. But don’t take my word for it. Have a look for yourself!

In this video we get a look at a straight ankle lock from Craig Jones, Bernardo Faria’s version of the north/south choke, and an arm bar variation from John Danaher. Enjoy!

We begin with some advice from leg lock specialist, Craig Jones. He’s chosen the straight ankle lock as his technique. Jones begins with addressing a common fallacy of the straight ankle lock. Many times, when we first being attempting the submission we stay flat on our backs, struggling to finish the lock by raising our hips. But this type of effort brings little success, and only offers one-dimensional stress to the foot. Jones has a method of securing the straight ankle lock that treats the submission like more of a toe hold, adding more pressure and breaking power to the lock.

Craig Jones has been making a lot of waves lately in the grappling scene, quickly becoming one of the premier athletes in the Super Fight game of Jiu-Jitsu, WANT TO KNOW WHY? Click Learn More!

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He begins by securing the ankle with a shallow thumb grip at the achilles. This next detail I believe may be the missing link in many of our straight ankle lock endeavors. Once Jones has acquired the ankle, he begins to walk his elbow behind him in a circular direction. This conforms the foot into a toe hold type position, adding weight and pressure to the lock. Jones is continually collapsing his weight on to his partner’s ankle as he continues to circle and tighten his elbow to his side.

Jones is essentially only using one hand to finish the submission. This is a great indicator of how much force and pressure is being applied by the body mechanics of the technique alone. I’m sure you could connect the hands to add an extra level of control, but with this variation it seems to not be a necessity.

Let’s move on to the north/south choke from Bernardo Faria. We all know the great Marcelo Garcia possesses a killer north/south choke. As Faria reminds us, he spent a great deal of time teaching and training at Garcia’s academy in NYC. During his time there he undoubtedly picked up some great details on this elusive choke.

Faria begins in knee on belly, which I love. Id have to say that most bottom players wouldn’t expect that your headed for the north/south position when you’re in knee on belly. As Faria applies pressure to his partner’s abdomen, this will likely cause him to lift his head from the floor, tightening his stomach to deal with Faria’s weight. This is where the opportunity presents itself.

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As his partner lifts his head, Faria promptly wraps the head and switches his base with a quick movement, landing in the north/south position with the neck secured. From here, Faria begins to elongate his body backward, and begins to lower himself as much as possible. Next, he clears his partners elbow and positions his head on the outside of his partners bicep. He then connects his hands using a gable grip with the choking palm down. With a light squeeze, Faria is able to produce the tap.

Don’t skip the palm down detail on the choking arm here. This provides the perfect vice for your partner’s neck and makes a tremendous difference if it is performed in a different way.

John Danaher will be the last to demonstrate his technique in this video. He’s going to show us an arm bar. I personally have had immense troubles securing and finishing this particular variation of the armlock. It's never made a great deal of sense to me. After watching this video, I realized the mistakes I’ve been making and hope to correct them so I can begin using this variation more effectively.

Danaher throws at reminder at us at the onset of his instruction. Not all submissions are meant to be carried through to their completion every time. There are times we can use a submission to get the cooperation of our opponents and funnel them into a larger plan. Keep this in mind as you are stringing together your favorite attacking chains.

Danaher begins by showing how to enter the position from a seated guard. Getting to an under hook on an experienced player is no easy task, so Danaher shows us how to go about it in a way that makes a great deal of sense. To achieve an under hook, Danaher begins with an inside bicep tie, and a collar tie. As he snaps his partner forward a bit, his partner is forced to open the elbows a bit. This gives Danaher an opportunity to swim inside to an under hook.

Danaher keeps the collar tie until he’s able to fall to his side, so that posture doesn’t disrupt his plans. Danaher keeps his bottom knee in front of his partner’s shoulder and his top knee behind his partner shoulder, which traps the head and the arm in place and constricts movement.

Danaher then hugs the arm and connect his elbow to his partners elbow. He’s careful to point his own elbow forward and toward his training partner’s ear. This aids in his ability to keep his partner from rising up and disrupting the position. Danaher also reinforces his elbow with his own hand, adding another layer to the security of the position.

Pay close attention to the finish. Danaher takes his own head toward his partner while simultaneously moving his hips away. I think this may be where many of us go wrong. We attempt to use a grip to load pressure to the joint rather that employing our whole body. With controls this tight, and everything in its pace, Danaher has created an inescapable lock on the joint that’s made incredibly powerful by calling up the use of his entire body to bring the submission to fruition.

This video was joy to break down. The amount of relevance, knowledge and experience being displayed here is just simply amazing. I’m sure that no matter what stage you’re at in your BJJ, you were able to pick up something useful that you can begin to implement immediately.

Learn the leg locks Craig Jones uses to finish his opponents by watching his new Down Under Leg Attacks DVD! Get it here!

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