Lapel Based Head Removal with Draculino

 

When the legends of BJJ speak, we listen. When you’ve been training BJJ for decades, you’ve been exposed to so many things that it’s likely these pioneers of the sport have forgotten more than most of us will ever know. They’ve heard, seen, and tried it all, and they’ve developed a game that is incredibly stripped down and void of anything unnecessary. They’ve chipped away at the sculpture of their games for so many years, that they are now left with only a beautiful, clear, piece of art, and a deep understanding of how Jiu-jitsu works for themselves and for many others. 

Vinicius “Draculino” Magalhes is among the names of those with a seat at this high table. He has produced some of the most successful competitors in the history of the sport, along with earning plenty of his own accolades, and has contributed largely to the rise of BJJ. He holds knowledge that has been cultivated over the course of a long and prosperous career in the art, and soon he will impart some of this great wisdom on all of us in the form of an instructional with BJJ Fanatics. He will share with us some of his themes and discoveries to assist us in better understanding this art that we all love so much. 

Today, we have a segment of instruction on the guillotine and I can tell you, this is definitely something you’ll want to see. There are a couple of outside the box ideas here that I really enjoyed. Have a look at this!

 

 

The guillotine shows itself in many ways. This particular variation is incredibly unique and once again shows us the versatility of submissions in BJJ and how they can vary from player to player. 

Draculino begins in a front headlock scenario. Quite often the main focus here is on controlling the head and shoulders and this is probably still the best course of action in a no gi setting, but here in the gi, Draculino shows us how he likes to control the position with the aid of the belt. Its likely that this scenario may stem from a failed takedown attempt or the efforts of a bottom player to rise to his knees and begin to once again claim the top. Regardless of how the situation came to be, Draculino has an interesting take on it. 

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With a front headlock secured, Draculino must worry about the power in the bottom players hips. If there’s a lapse in defensive focus here or weight distribution, Draculino knows that his partner can easily come up and begin to drive through him to complete the takedown. A sprawl is a necessity here, which Draculino makes a part of defense, but he also holds the belt or the gi pants to slow down the advancement of the hips. Thought this seems obvious, I’ve never seen it before. I can understand how this would considerably slow the progress of the bottom player and give us time to react. In addition to his positioning he also turns his body at an angle and stiff arms his grip on the belt. This appears to make it nearly impossible for his partner to move forward. 

As Draculino is setting himself up, he’s also looking to set up his guillotine wrap and get four fingers in to his partners lapel with his opposite hand. This type of entry in to the collar may make his opponents feel that they need to move their heads to the opposite side to avoid some common attacks but Draculino has something else in store. 

With the free hand, Draculino now feeds another grip, this time under the armpit of his partner and in to the other lapel, securing yet another four-finger grip. He likens the configuration of the hands to the gripping of a sword. I’m already excited about where this is going and equally annoyed with myself for never thinking of something like this. Be sure to keep your hands in line when gripping the gi and not too far apart, as this type of hand positioning may not serve you well when trying to complete the finish. 

As he closes his elbow with the headlock, he guides his partner’s head to the side where he may feel that has out of danger. This is a false sense of security, as Draculino will now lift his hips and begin to circle in the opposite direction of his partner’s head. As he arrives on the other side, he drops his body down, blocking the head out with his ribs and creating a very tight contraction on the neck. As he continues to drop his weight down to the ground the choke becomes incredibly tight and ultimately his partner is forced to tap. You can tell by the reaction of both men that this choke is incredibly tight. It probably feels like your head is about to be removed from your body at its completion. 

There are some mechanics here reminiscent of the clock choke but where the techniques differ is in the extension of the elbows. The clock choke is usually performed with a tight elbow and here the elbows are being extended a bit with most of the work being done with the hips. 

Being that his choke sort of plays on the defensive efforts of the bottom player, it’s very likely that they will not see this coming and that is always eh best kind of attack. 

Draculino hints that he may have some others like this in his toolbox that we may see on the upcoming release. I’m very interested to see more, as you know everything will be battle tested and more than effective. It looks like we’ll be seeing Draculino’s top and bottom game as well in the coming months. 

Old school concepts and technique will forever stand the test of time. There are BJJ icons that have stayed very true to their roots, yet developed these basic techniques in to unstoppable onslaughts that just seem to always prevail. The amount of time these pioneers have spent analyzing these fundamental principles is staggering and it’s no wonder that such magic emerges from their study. I’m looking forward to seeing more from Draculino! 

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