Crucifix Master Thomas Lisboa Shares 3 Techniques For BJJ

Revitalize Your Game With The Crucifix! It Is An Amazing Technique That Fell Out Of Style, But Thomas Lisboa Is Bringing It Back

As one of the top feather weights of his generation, Thomas Lisboa is a Brazilian jiu jitsu black belt under Fábio Gurgel who represents the Alliance Jiu Jitsu team in the sport’s international circuit. Lisboa has medaled in some of the most prestigious tournaments in BJJ, including the IBJJF World No Gi Championship and European International Open Championship. In 2011 brown belt Thomas Lisboa was invited by Bruno Malfacine to train with him in Orlando, Florida in the United States. Upon returning to Brazil Lisboa moved to Sao Paulo in order to train full time when he was awarded his black belt in December, 2012. In 2015 after becoming the IBJJF No Gi World Champion Thomas was invited to coach at the Alliance gym in Vancouver, Canada. After this initial visit Lisboa was invited to be part of the team as an official instructor. Since then, Thomas has medaled in tournaments such as IBJJF Rio Fall, IBJJF Floripa Ope, IBJJF Floripa Open, CBJJ Brazilian National, IBJJF Pan American and much more.

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Although most would consider the crucifix a “new school” technique, it really fell out of popularity after the 1990s. Originally, many high level BJJ practitioners favored the crucifix for the fact that it would allow choking techniques to be done with one hand. When we think about crucifix masters we often think about Marcelo Garcia, Baret Yoshida, and of course, Thomas Lisboa.

Thomas Lisboa has a great new instructional series called “Cruci-fixing: 30 Easy Setups and Finishes from This Forgotten Position” available exclusively on BJJFanatics.com. The crucifix may be one of the best positions in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, yet so many people neglect it. But this series from Thomas exposes just how truly powerful this position can be as he shares some of his best secrets for mastering this highly effective position. Let’s explore some of what you can find in this series. Here are three techniques from crucifix master Thomas Lisboa!

#1: Knee Inside Exposing the Arm

When facing a turtled opponent, the first thing crucifix master Thomas Lisboa looks to do is wedge his knee in between his opponent’s leg to expose the near side arm. If he does not have a chance to throw his leg over and hook the leg he will simply use his hip and his knee to slide the arm away from his opponent’s body in order to capture it. The details for how Thomas gets his knee inside the guard are important. He uses a seat belt grip to control his opponent as he slides he knee in directly over his training partner’s thigh. This helps him get his knee on the inside when the gap is very tight. Now he can start to expose the arm. Once Thomas has the arm he straightens it out, hooks it with his foot and then squares up against his training partner by coming up to his knees. To finish his opponent, Thomas feeds his arm under his opponent’s neck and tightens up the choke.

#2: Kimura To Crucifix From Side Control

The great thing about the crucifix is that it can be combined with a variety of techniques, including the kimura as seen in the video above. In this case, Thomas starts with a kimura from top side control. If he does not see an opportunity to submit his opponent then he jumps over his opponent, getting his body on the other side of his training partner’s head. Every time you are in this situation your training partner is going to start to turn towards the kimura. Thomas keeps his arm nice and straight to event his training partner from coming up, never letting go of his kimura grip. This also gives him a chance to throw his hook over his opponent’s thigh. Or, instead of going to the leg to take the back, Thomas will place his foot on the inside of his opponent’s bicep very close to his hand. He does this in order to break his opponent’s grip. As soon as the grip is broken, Thomas will extend the arm outwards and catch it with his other leg. This allows him to switch his arms in order to start working any kind of submission he wants from the crucifix.

#3: Choke From The Bridge

This is a great way to finish your opponent from the crucifix position when your opponent is defending. If Thomas can’t get his opponent to tap with a straight arm lock then he will wait for his training partner to bridge. Once his opponent bridges he will prevent him from coming back. Instead Thomas traps the arm and turns his chest, causing his opponent to backwards roll over his side. This leaves no space for his opponent to move. Thomas is neither on the bottom or the top of his opponent, but he still has his back and can start working for a rear naked choke or a palm to palm choke.

If you have never truly explored the power of the crucifix then you are missing out. Even if the crucifix is not as popular as it used to be, give it a try. It sure looks cool as hell and everyone will think you are a pro if you are able to get it. Also be sure to check out Thomas Lisboa’s amazing new instructional series all about the crucifix called “Cruci-fixing: 30 Easy Setups and Finishes from This Forgotten Position” available exclusively on BJJFanatics.com!

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