REAR NAKED CHOKE (Forrest Griffin)

Chokes are the most dangerous submissions because rather than threatening your joints, they threaten blood flow to your brain, which can result in death, shitting yourself, or both. To protect your neck, always keep your chin pinned to your chest. If at any point your opponent should obtain a dominant position and apply a choke, immediately latch onto his choking arm with both hands and rip it away from your neck. Do not make the mistake of trying to escape the position before blocking the choke because it only takes a few seconds to pass out. Once you have removed your opponent’s arm from your neck, that’s when you focus on improving your position. If the roles are reversed and you are in a position to choke your opponent, immediately go for the finish (sweep the leg, Johnny). If your opponent’s defenses are extremely sharp, instead of wasting energy trying to lock it in, move on to strikes or another submission. As soon as you have your opponent distracted, return to the choke.

I’ve taken Neil’s back and secured over-under control. If you should find yourself in Neil’s shoes, you should immediately protect your neck by grabbing your opponent’s choking arm with both hands and pulling it downward.

Neil fails to protect his neck, so I immediately begin transitioning to the rear naked choke by cupping my right hand behind his left shoulder to secure my arm in place and pulling my left arm out from underneath his left arm. Although it looks like I’m pinching his nipple in this photo, this is not a part of the technique. If you attempt this, it will either anger your opponent or lead to heavy moaning.

To secure the rear naked choke, I grab my left bicep with my right hand and cup my left hand around the back of Neil’s head. To cut off the blood flow to his brain, I drive his head downward using my left hand and squeeze my arms tight.