Connecting the Kimura to the Crucifix

Posted by Ismail Safi on February 28, 2019

The crucifix is one of those positions that, although isn’t used very often, is still very powerful in regards to control and submissions. The crucifix requires the attacker to acquire control of the defender’s arms with his entire body so that one arm is trapped by the legs and the other is trapped with grips. Due to this odd position, the crucifix can be a difficult position to get ahold of, causing many grapplers to ignore it and even forget of its existence.

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The most commonly used technique for getting crucifix starts in turtle. The attacker needs to position themselves perpendicularly to the defender, trap the far arm with a kimura grip, and trap the close arm with the legs. The hardest part of this technique is managing a way to separate the nearby arm and getting the correct control, and this is because bottom players are weary of placing their arms wide unless they are attempting a single leg takedown.

This doesn’t mean that the kimura can’t be attacked from other positions. One of the best times to attack a crucifix that defenders won’t expect is from a kimura, especially a rolling kimura. Since the crucifix requires a kimura grip, it is obvious that if we can manage getting our hips under the defender and establish control of the far arm, we can enter this position.

In the following video, Thomas Lisboa illustrates just how to execute the crucifix entry from kimura with an immense attention to detail. See below:

This technique works with the rolling kimura well because after getting the grip and doing a forward roll, you end up in the same position Thomas does when he is attacking the crucifix. Realistically though, you can enter this same position anytime you have the kimura from side control or back control as well.

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