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Techniques, Tutorials and Gear for BJJ, MMA and Submission Grappling

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Home » Guillotine Choke

Guillotine Choke

How to Do the Von Flue Choke

April 30, 2024 by Stephan Kesting

The Von Flue Choke as a Guillotine Choke Escape and Counter

The guillotine choke is the second most popular submission in MMA (after the rear naked choke) and an omnipresent threat in no gi grappling and gi jiu-jitsu, so you need a solid guillotine defense game! But the only thing better than defending against a guillotine is reversing it and using his choke attempt to set up a submission of your own. That's where the Von Flue choke comes in! This … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Grappling Techniques Tagged With: Chokes, Escapes, Gi, Guillotine Choke, MMA, No Gi, Techniques, Video, Von Flue Choke

Fake Low, Go High; How to Use Level Change Fakes to Set Up Takedowns and Submissions

January 25, 2023 by Stephan Kesting

Low Single Leg Takedown

There's a universal combative principle known as 'fake east, go west.' This idea has been valid since forever. It has been used effectively in small-scale fights between individuals and also at the grand strategic level in huge wars. That's because it only always works. The idea is to distract your opponent by doing one thing over here and then hit them hard somewhere else. One … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Grappling Techniques Tagged With: Elliott Bayev, Guillotine Choke, No Gi, Single Leg Takedown, Strategy, Takedowns, Video

Jumping Guillotine Choke

November 4, 2022 by Stephan Kesting

Jumping Guillotine Choke

A lot of jiu-jitsu guys struggle on their feet, especially when they're facing a superior wrestler. Fortunately there's a way to use a wrestler's own reactions against him, and that's by jumping into a guillotine choke In this technique you first fake low and threaten a double leg takedown or a low single takedown. When he does the right thing and level changes to defend against the shot … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Grappling Techniques Tagged With: 30 Second Fight Finishes, Competition, Elliott Bayev, Guillotine Choke, Strategy, Takedowns, Techniques, Video

The 16 Most Important Techniques for the BJJ Beginner

June 24, 2021 by Stephan Kesting

16 BJJ Beginner Techniques

What's the most common problem (aside from getting caught under side control) facing the BJJ beginner? It's probably feeling overwhelmed by the staggering number of techniques that Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu contains! There are a thousand variations of sweeps and locks and chokes and pins and escapes and guard passes.  It's enough to make your head spin! So where then do you start?  Which … [Read more...]

Filed Under: For Beginners, Grappling Techniques Tagged With: Americana, Armbar, BJJ, Collar Chokes, Fundamentals, Guard Passes, Guard Sweeps, Guillotine Choke, Mark Mullen, MMA, Rear Naked Choke, Submission, Techniques, Triangle Choke, Video

The 6 Steps of a Good Submission

October 11, 2019 by Stephan Kesting

Heel Hook Submission

Did you know that there's an actual physics and biomechanics-based procedure that'll definitely help you tap out many more people in BJJ? At a high level there's so much more more to getting a choke or an armlock than simply seeing an opportunity and jumping on it. That approach rarely works against good people. Instead it's about gradually manoeuvring your opponent into worse and worse … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Grappling Techniques, Podcasts, Training Tagged With: Anaconda Choke, Armbar, Baseball Choke, BJJ, Bow and Arrow Choke, Brabo choke, Chokes, Collar Chokes, Cutting Armbar, D'Arce Choke, Guillotine Choke, Head and Arm Choke, Interviews, Kimura, North-South Choke, Rear Naked Choke, Reverse Armbar, Rob Biernacki, Sleeve Choke, Submission, Submission Grappling, The Mental Aspect, The Strenuous Life BJJ Podcast with Stephan Kesting, Triangle Choke

5 Tips for Switching from Gi to No Gi

March 24, 2019 by Stephan Kesting

Switching from Gi to No Gi

If you've mostly been grappling with the gi on then transitioning to no gi submission grappling can be difficult. In fact many people find the process super frustrating and end up walking away in disgust. It DOESN'T need to be that way!!  Here are 5 tips that will make the transition to no gi much easier... The 5 Tips in Video and Podcast Form Here's a video from my youtube channel with a lot … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Podcasts, Training Tagged With: BJJ, Butterfly Guard, Concepts, Gi vs No Gi, Guillotine Choke, Leglocks, No Gi, The Mental Aspect, The Strenuous Life BJJ Podcast with Stephan Kesting, Video

The Strong and Weak Sides of the Guillotine Choke (And How to Use Them for Offense and Defense)

October 23, 2018 by Stephan Kesting

OK, today we're going to talk about something that's both very simple and incredibly important. I've explained this to SO many grapplers over the years it's not even funny, and most of the time the reaction is a "Doh! I should have known that!!!" Here's what I'm talking about... The guillotine choke has a strong side and a weak side. Attacking with a strong sided guillotine is MUCH … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Grappling Techniques Tagged With: BJJ, Chokes, Drills, Escapes, Guillotine Choke, No Gi, Submission, Techniques, Video

The Ultimate Guide to the Guillotine Choke in BJJ

August 19, 2018 by Stephan Kesting

guillotine choke

The guillotine choke is a powerful submission in BJJ, no gi grappling, and mixed martial arts. At first glance it seems like a simple submission - you just wrap your opponent's neck with your arms, pull up and squeeze, right? Not so fast... There are a LOT of subtleties that you need to master before this submission starts being reliable for you, especially if you don't spend 4 hours a … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Grappling Techniques, Mixed Martial Arts Tagged With: Chokes, Guillotine Choke, Rob Biernacki, Techniques, Video

Standing Guillotine Choke Escapes

June 25, 2018 by Stephan Kesting

guillotine choke escape

Standing guillotine chokes are really tough to escape, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't try to get out! I recently met up with my friend Ando Mierzwa, and we shot something on the topic of guillotine prevention and escape for his martial arts oriented Youtube channel. It's a video in 3 parts... The first part of the video is about guillotine prevention.   It's always easier to … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Grappling Techniques, Self Defense Tagged With: Ando Mierzwa, Clinching, Escapes, Guillotine Choke, Self Defense, Techniques, Video

Flying Guillotine Choke Submission

April 16, 2018 by Stephan Kesting

The flying guillotine is one of the most surprising submissions in BJJ, no gi grappling and MMA. You and your opponent are both circling each other, looking for an angle to shoot or initiate grips, when suddenly you jump for his neck, lock on the guillotine choke and before you know it he's tapping out - it's all over! But it's a little more complicated than that... The best way to attack … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Grappling Techniques Tagged With: Elliott Bayev, Guillotine Choke, Jeff Glover, Single Leg Takedown, Takedowns, Techniques, Video

The 10 Second Choke Fix (or How to Tap Out More People)

February 20, 2017 by Stephan Kesting

fixing the triangle choke

How many times has a sparring partner told you "Man, I was SO close to tapping" after you'd been squeezing their neck like crazy in a desperate attempt to choke them, but then decided that it wasn't working and gave up on the submission? Frustrating, isn't it? Or have you ever held a choke for so long that you completely burn out your grips and have to fight the rest of the match with jello … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Grappling Techniques Tagged With: Anaconda Choke, Bow and Arrow Choke, Brabo choke, Chokes, Collar Chokes, D'Arce Choke, Elliott Bayev, Guillotine Choke, Head and Arm Choke, Rear Naked Choke, Sleeve Choke, Submission, Techniques, Training, Triangle Choke, Von Flue Choke

10 Key Techniques and Tactics of Marcelo Garcia

November 17, 2016 by Stephan Kesting

The techniques and tactics of Marcelo Garcia

Marcelo Garcia is probably the most dominant jiu-jitsu athlete of the last 15 years. When he was competing he owned both the gi and the no gi divisions (4 x ADCC champion, 5 x Mundial World Champion).  As if that wasn't enough, his amazing performances in the absolute division against giants like Ricco Rodriguez have ensured his place in grappling history. It’s always a good idea to … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Competition, Featured, Miscellaneous Tagged With: Arm Drag, Armbar, Butterfly Guard, Gameplan, Guillotine Choke, Inspiration, Marcelo Garcia, Marceloplata, North-South, North-South Choke, Rear Mount, Rear Naked Choke, Reverse Armbar, Single Leg X Guard, Strategy, Submission, Video, X Guard

How to Maintain Rear Mount, Improve Guillotines, and Thwart ‘Combatives’ Experts

July 21, 2013 by Stephan Kesting

Rear mount seems like such a simple position: I mean, you're basically just piggybacking on your opponent, right? Well, success in jiu-jitsu usually means doing simple, fundamental things with a high degree of sophistication and attention to detail. And rear mount is no different - switch your grip by a couple of inches, have your hand open instead of closed, do the wrong thing for even a … [Read more...]

Filed Under: For Beginners, Grappling Techniques Tagged With: Ankle Lock, Escapes, Gripfighting, Guillotine Choke, Rear Mount, Self Defense, Submission

How to Counter the Armlock from the Underhook

November 14, 2012 by Stephan Kesting

If you have any exposure to standup grappling then you know the power of a standing underhook. It allows you to dominate your opponent, move him around, and set up lots of throws, takedowns and other moves. In fact, at every single UFC event you hear some cornerman yelling "underhook, Underhook, UNDERHOOK! But have you ever gone for an underhook in the clinch only to have your opponent wrap … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Grappling Techniques, Mixed Martial Arts Tagged With: Armlocks, Clinching, Erik Paulson, Front Headlock, Guillotine Choke, Submission, Takedowns, Techniques, Underhook, Video

How Not to Break Your Neck Doing Takedowns

June 11, 2012 by Stephan Kesting

There's no getting around it, all contact sports are inherently dangerous.  And it's hard to have more contact in a sport than in MMA. Now it's true that MMA might not be the most dangerous contact sport - that dubious title could arguably go to boxing or pro football - but in the past few years there have still been been some very, very serious injuries in MMA related to takedowns... … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Health & Nutrition, Mixed Martial Arts Tagged With: Guillotine Choke, Injuries, MMA, Takedowns, Video

Chris Brennan’s 10 Finger Guillotine

May 2, 2012 by Stephan Kesting

Originally published in the December 2006 issue of Ultimate Grappling The 10 finger guillotine is a curious technique. There has probably been more speculation about how to properly apply this guillotine than just about any other technique. It is the Loch Ness monster of grappling – everyone knows someone who has seen it, but nobody can even agree what it looks like. You might have seen … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Grappling Techniques Tagged With: Chokes, Chris Brennan, Guillotine Choke, Submission, Techniques

Never Get Guillotined Again!

April 12, 2012 by Stephan Kesting

OK, I have to admit that I’m exaggerating with the whole “never get guillotined again” title, but it’s almost true. If you incorporate principle that I’m about to share with into your grappling two things will happen: you’ll tap out to many, many fewer guillotine chokes, and you’ll really increase how often you manage to finish your opponent’s with the same choke. I was very happy when … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Grappling Techniques, Mixed Martial Arts Tagged With: Closed Guard, Guillotine Choke, Half Guard, Submission, Techniques, Video, Von Flue Choke

Marcelo Garcia Chokes Me Out Repeatedly

April 19, 2011 by Stephan Kesting

Marcelo Garcia is maybe the very best person in the world at attacking the turtle position. But before I tell you how I know this first hand, I should point out that as you get better you'll run into the turtle position more often. This is because when you're pinned by an advanced player it's pretty damn hard to put them back into your guard.  And the other main escape option is to go to … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Grappling Techniques Tagged With: BJJ, Butterfly Guard, Chokes, Classes, Concepts, Crucifix Position, Gi, Guillotine Choke, Marcelo Garcia, Rear Mount, Sparring, Submission, Submission Grappling

One more Von Flue Choke

August 31, 2008 by Stephan Kesting

As you know, in the last few newsletters we've been discussing body position for guillotine chokes and using the 'Von Flue' choke to recounter the guillotine. If you missed them you can click to see the first post here and the second post here. Well, thanks to Shaldag on the Sherdog.net forums I recently I found yet ANOTHER example of a the Von Flue choke being used in competition. This one is … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Grappling Techniques, Mixed Martial Arts Tagged With: Chokes, Closed Guard, Escapes, Guillotine Choke, Half Guard, MMA, Open Guard, Submission, Von Flue Choke

Everybody Was Von Flue Fighting…

August 29, 2008 by Stephan Kesting

When people first learn the Von Flue choke they often find that their opponent can bridge them over and then they end up on the bottom. If this is happening to you and you're getting rolled into a bad position when trying this choke then first check that your legs are perpendicular (i.e. at 90 degrees) to your opponent. If his head is pointing to 12 o'clock, then your legs should either be to 3 … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Grappling Techniques, Mixed Martial Arts Tagged With: Chokes, Closed Guard, Guillotine Choke, Half Guard, MMA, Open Guard, Submission, Techniques, Video, Von Flue Choke

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