Two BJJ Players Walk Into A Bar.... Story Time With Jeff Glover

 

The D’arce choke is a fantastic submission that we can apply gi or no gi. Though it can be tricky to pick the D’arce choke out among its brothers and sisters, there are some requirements for body positioning that will lend themselves to the D’arce in particular. The submission itself must be acquired by entering one of your arms through your partner’s armpit area and then exiting at the neck. This is different than an arm triangle or anaconda style choke and when were first trying to understand these submissions separately, it can be a little confusing.

Jeff Glover is here today to get rid of that confusion for you and help you understand the D’arce choke a little better. He uses a fun and easy principle we can adhere to, to help us know when we’re in the proper position for the D’arce. This great, have a look! 

 

Glover sets up the scene. Two guys are having a drink at the bar and one has had too much. Glover decides its time to take away his friend’s drink after some crazy talk. As his buddy reaches across to take back his beverage, Glover can enter in his first hand for the D’arce. He shoots his hand through the armpit area, exiting out the neck on the opposite side. Here he can lock the D’arce and begin to finish the choke. 

This is a funny, lighthearted method to remember how to apply the D’arce choke, but it’s also a great reference point. To acquire a D’arce we must be next to our partner. This is the only way that we can get the length out of our arm to actually solidify the position and work toward a finish. This little parable can serve as a great reminder of how we must position ourselves if we hope to have success pursuing the D’arce choke. 

Let’s look at some more D’arce material. IN this next video, Edwin Najmi demonstrates a D’arce choke from the top half guard. This is a great one to check out because if there’s one thing we can usually count on, it’s the bottom player will likely try to come up and achieve an under hook from the position. An under hook almost always creates an opportunity for a D’arce choke and that’s what Najmi shows us here!

 

From the half guard, Najmi’s partner sits up and secures and under hook. Najmi doesn’t work to the D’arce just yet, instead he immediately attacks an arm in guillotine style choke, encapsulating the head and arm inside of his own arms. 

From here Najmi must begin to move. He comes forward, flattening his partner but keeping the guillotine grip tight. As he uses his head as a post, Najmi the uses his free foot as a prying mechanism to remove his trapped foot. This allows Najmi to release his body and back step, placing his hip on the mat. 

From this position, Najmi doesn’t wait for a scramble to take place. He immediately begins to switch the orientation of his legs and quickly travels to his knees, closing his right elbow to clear his partners arm from his hip. As he gets topside, Najmi then begins to circle toward his partner, essentially getting right next to him (think about Glover’s bar reference here). Now in position, Najmi can easily shoot his hand nice and deep and lock his bicep to begin to finish. 

If you run in to trouble here and your partner’s arm is still on your hip, Najmi recommends resetting the position with a sprawl to clear the arm and then returning to finish the technique.

This is an incredibly common scenario in BJJ, where we can pick up a D’arce. Most guard players will look for that under hook in the bottom half guard and when they do, it’s time to react!

Moving on to another D’arce variation, Mario Delgado takes another incredibly common scenario and adds a D’arce in to the mix. This one is pretty sneaky, check it out! 

 

When we’re talking no gi, the knee cut pass is a heavy hitter. It can be performed quickly and with precision, cutting through the guard and earning us the pass. This type of pass can also create favorable scrambles that we can take advantage of, which is what Delgado shows us here. 

As Delgado cuts his knee through, he’s careful to keep the far hip pinned. If his partner gets an under hook and also has the luxury of being able to close the gap between them, this could be disastrous. As the under hook is acquired, Delgado enters that first hand for the D’arce, changes course, and no longer stays on his original l passing path. He slides his knee out and begins to run away from his partner, traveling up to his knees to a more north south style position. This is also a bait to get his partner to scramble up to his knees as well.

Now turning to the side, a bit, Delgado locks in a half nelson and begins to use the leverage to turn his partner over. Here, Delgado can shoot his arm to the proper depth and lock his bicep. Delgado shares an important detail here, saying he never finishes this choke from his knees. He prefers to transition to his hip, step on his partner with his foot, and use this post to drive his weight back toward the choke. 

Great instruction here from another common D’arce scenario!

So, now that you’ve had an introduction to the D’arce, it’s time to grab a drink with your buddies and see who the first one is to make the mistake of having too much! Good luck and be careful! 

The No Gi Formula: For Masters Competitors by Mario Delgado is sure to up your game ESPECIALLY if you are looking for material with the older grappler in mind. Keep it simple, Keep it DOMINANT with Mario Delgado!

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