Arm triangle choke


Arm triangle choke, side choke, or head and arm choke are generic terms describing blood chokeholds in which the opponent is strangled in between their own shoulder and the practitioner's arm. This is as opposed to the regular triangle choke, which denotes a chokehold using the legs, albeit with a similar mechanism of strangulation against the opponent's own shoulder. An arm triangle choke where the practitioner is on the side of the opponent and presses a forearm into the opposite side of the neck of the opponent is known as a side choke, such as from the kata-gatame hold.

Anaconda choke

An anaconda choke is an arm triangle from the front headlock position. The performer threads his or her arm under the opponent's neck and through the armpit, and grasps the biceps of the opposing arm. The performer then attempts to pin the opponent onto the trapped shoulder so as to better interrupt the flow of blood, all the while applying pressure with the grasped biceps. The performer may accomplish this by rolling the opponent over the trapped shoulder, and use the momentum to turn the opponent onto his or her trapped shoulder.

D'Arce choke/Brabo choke

The D'Arce choke, or Brabo choke, is similar to the Anaconda choke. The difference is that the choking arm is threaded under the near arm, in front of the opponent's neck, and on top of the far arm. The choke gets its name from Joe D'Arce, a third-degree Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt under Renzo Gracie. Though not the inventor of the choke, D'Arce performed this choke often and with great success in many Jiu-Jitsu and submission grappling tournaments. During a sparring session with Jason Miller, the choke surprised Miller, who gave it the name and pronunciation "Darce" rather than the proper "D-Arsee," when D'Arce did not have a title for the technique.