Head & Arm Chokes

By Corey Kuropas, August 24, 2016

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In Jiu Jitsu, chokes are still very much the king of techniques. There are some tough people that can power out of certain submissions, but with chokes, it is harder to power out, due to the fact that a good choke only takes a matter of seconds to put someone into unconsciousness. Some of the strongest chokes are head and arm chokes. What is a head and arm choke? It is a choking technique that involves your opponent’s neck and one of his arms. There are many different head and arm chokes, but here are three of my favorites.

D’arce Choke

The d’arce choke is a popular one these days. UFC fighter, Tony Ferguson has quite a few wins by this choke, finishing his last two opponents by this. The d’arce is a great technique to get from half guard top or turtle. Going in with your arm, you lock up the opponent’s arm and neck, using your wrist bone right into the opponent’s neck. Your free arm pushes the opponent’s head down, and you lock up your arms, with your attacking arm grabbing your free arm’s tricep. From there, you sprawl and squeeze your elbows together. Very tight, and very effective. Stephen Kesting talks about the d’arce from half guard top, down below.

Anaconda Choke

The anaconda choke is another great head and arm choke. Very similar to the d’arce, it came to popularity when former PRIDE/UFC champ, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira used it to submit Heath Herring in PRIDE. As mentioned earlier, it is similar in look to the d’arce. It is the opposite arm placement. Instead of going arm to neck, you go from neck to arm with your attacking arm. There are a few ways to finish the anaconda. You can finish it from a guard pull, a sprawl, or a gator roll. It all depends on how you like to finish the choke. Rafael Mendes talks about the way he finishes it.

Arm Triangle Choke

The most fundamental choke on the list, this one will always be a viable option to go to on the mats. The arm triangle is a technique that can be done from mount, side control, or scarfold. There are so many different variations on the technique. You can attack with this technique from near side or far side. You lock up your opponent’s head and arm with a gable grip or a rnc (rear naked choke) grip and get flat to the ground. Driving your shoulder in and finishing with a squeezing motion will get the tap. Once again, here is Stephen Kesting talking about how he finishes the technique, near side from mount.

These chokes can be great to finish matches, and can work on even the toughest of competitors. The beauty of these is that they work in so many different grappling styles and competitions. You regularly see their use in BJJ, submission wrestling, MMA, and Judo. You see these so much because they work, and they happen to work exceptionally well.