How to Fix Your Darce Choke

The darce choke is an extremely power strangle that can be attacked from a number of positions including turtle, half guard, and side control. This simple head and arm choke is extremely effective at getting taps and is a staple technique in both gi and no gi Jiu Jitsu. I’ve noticed, however, that only a few grapplers are able to master the darce choke, while many others go on to ignore it because of their initial difficulty with it.

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The darce choke is also confusing for many grapplers, and I often get asked what the difference between the darce, guillotine(arm-in), and anaconda choke is. Although the difference is subtle, at least visually, it makes for big variances in when and where you set it up from. For now, let’s discuss the darce choke. A darce choke is a strangle in which the attacker’s choking arm goes under the armpit first, wraps around the head, and is then locked with the support arm.

Because the darce choke is started at the armpit, the defender usually has better mobility of their arm and is able to maneuver it in weird ways to defend and stop the choke. This gives a lot of grapplers problems because they don’t learn how to deal with it, and is why they end up giving up. One hand positioning defenders will use is the under hook. When the defender gets an under hook, they can create enough space between their neck and shoulder to make the choke obsolete.

In the following video, one of the best black belt competitors ever, Edwin Najmi, shows how to deal with the under hook and finish the choke in a detailed and very effective way. 

Although Edwin illustrates this technique from half guard, it can be used in the same way when attacked from side control. Rather than trying to force the under hook away from the top position, rolling on your side gives the necessary space and mobility to get rid of the under hook without using strength.

 If you noticed, when Edwin rolls on his side, he ends up in a position that looks a lot like an anaconda choke. I would bargain that you can also switch to the anaconda choke by doing one simple movement, swinging your arm so that the support arm becomes the choke arm and vice versa.  

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