The Best Details On The Cross Choke From Mount
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Cross Choke From Mount by Matheus Gonzaga (The Best Details)
As an instructor at the Bernardo Faria branch of the Alliance Academy in Bedford, MA, Matheus Gonzaga is a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu black belt under Daniel Gazoni. Matheus has worked extensively with Master Julio Cesar Pereira and is recognized widely as one of the top rising Brazilian Jiu Jitsu stars while grappling in lower belt divisions. The list of Matheus Gonzaga’s achievements in jiu jitsu is impressive, including IBJJF Boston Summer Int. Champion (2018), Fight 2 Win Pro Superfight Winner (2018), IBJJF New York Spring Int. Open 2nd Place (2018), IBJJF Boston Spring Int. Open 2nd Place (2018), and IBJJF Pan American No-Gi 3rd Place (2018). Matheus is a super tough guy and also very nice. Today Matheus Gonzaga is here with 5 time World Champion Bernardo Faria to demonstrate some high level details on getting the cross choke from the mount position. Watch the video below and then we will break down the technique. Check it out now!
The Cross Choke is an old-school mount choke that is typically ignored after a BJJ students first week of class. But it is one of those old school fundamentals techniques that just work. Too many students (especially blue belts) focus on the new fancy techniques, guard sweeps, etc. But don't ignore the old school fundamental jiu jitsu that just works.
Matheus Gonzaga starts his demonstration from top mount. Often times your training partner will try to go for an elbow escape. To prevent this Matheus Gonzaga pinches his knees as opposed to posting on the mats with his hands and crossing his feet underneath. He claims that this even works again bigger, stronger guys, and has been be able to hold them there for over 30 seconds. That is impressive! From here he feeds his hand deep inside his training partner’s gi collar. Matheus Gonzaga emphasizes that you need to think of your hand as a blade, slicing across your opponent’s artery. Make sure that when you get your grip you turn your arm inwards. Once you go as deep as you can, turn your hand and pressure down with your arm. To add additional pressure you can post with your opposite hand. Make sure that you post to the side you have the collar grip. Matheus Gonzaga emphasizes that your elbow should be positioned on your training partner’s chest. From here, you have several options in terms of how you want to hit the submission. You can go underneath your training partner’s head and submit him from the pressure. Or you can adjust your hips and bring your arm all the way across to the other side of your training partner’s body to secure the cross choke. Typically your opponent’s natural defense will be to put his hand up the block the choke. Matheus demonstrates some very interesting details for how to deal with that. You can use your positioning to force his head to one side which creates space for you to slip in and grab the collar for the cross choke.
It is important to think of this choke like scissors opening and closing. If you open your elbows you are opening the scissors (which in this case is the part doing the choking). So with that in mind you want to tighten you elbows to make the choke happen. What I like the most about this cross choke from Matheus Gonzaga is how he pushes his training partner’s head away with his forearm and it makes it very easy to get the second grip. It is details like this that make a submission all that more effective. If you have ever struggled to get the cross choke from mount then you are probably just missing a few minute details. I recommend watching this video a few times to pick up on all the information and that way you will have all the details fresh in your mind the next time you are in a live roll or competition. Thank you Matheus Gonzaga for sharing this cross choke technique with us today!
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