Today we’re going to go over the Standing Guillotine Choke used in Judo, Wrestling, and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. It is certainly a move that many MMA fighters have used to choke out their opponents until thy were unconscious. If not applied properly your opponent can slip out and counter the move.
In this article i will go through the steps of applying the standing guillotine choke so you opponent can’t get out of it. I will also go over the possible defenses your opponent can use against you while applying the choke. These are things you can look out for to fend against them.
What Is A Guillotine Choke?
A guillotine choke, also known as Mae Hadaka Jime, meaning “front naked choke” in judo, is a chokehold in martial arts and wrestling applied from in front of the opponent. The choke involves using the arms to encircle the opponent’s neck in a fashion similar to a guillotine.
The simplified word for this is called a wind choke. The choke does two things; prevents air flow to the lungs and blood to the flow to the head. When executed from the ground, the person applying it will try to control the opponent by the hips by using a close guard or something similarly effective.
When the guard is applied it prevents the opponent from escaping the hold, and allows you to be able to apply additional pressure by extending the hips. It is a very deadly maneuver when performed correctly.
The arm is wrapped around the trachea (wind pipe) and the hands are clasped. Pressure is applied upwards to restrict blood flow to the head, eventually causing unconsciousness and, if applied for more time, even death. So now you can see why fighters have this move in their arsenal.
How To Do A Standing Guillotine
The first thing you have to do is get in position to capture your opponent in the guillotine. Sometimes you are lucky enough to execute the move after your opponent has ducked his head under your armpit and grabbed you by the waist in an attempt to take you down. Whatever way you get in position is fine, all that matters is the execution.
The major thing with a standing guillotine is that you are more susceptible to being driven back and losing balance. When your opponent knows you have him in a choke position instinctively he will try to push you backwards or trip you to the ground. So at that moment instead of reaching down for the choke and clasping the hands you should clasp your wrist until you know your base is stable and you are on balance.
Don’t let the choke go. Keep standing and maintain a good posture to lift up and pull towards yourself. If you are in a cage it would be ideal to push your opponent into the cage with the choke putting pressure and forcing more momentum into the choke as his body will have no where to go and will be pushed towards your body.
The key to great execution is applying as much pressure as you can to squeeze your opponents head until he submits or passes out due to lack of air and blood circulation. Any leverage that helps with that is perfect!
Guillotine From Guard Position
When you apply the guillotine from the ground position you will primarily be focused on controlling your opponent with your hips, and being sure that you close your guard to lock in your opponent. The closed guard will prevent your opponent from escaping the choke and gaining position as well as applying additional pressure by extending the hips.
Again, it’s all about focus and paying attention to what you are doing and the movement of your opponent. While he is in your closed guard your goal is to prevent him from assuming good posture. Now stay tight to their shoulders and squeeze with your arms, pulling your opponent’s head into your chest to finish the choke.
Guillotine Choke Escape
Escape 1 – Step & Lift Method
This method is effective against a standing guillotine choke. You can easily escape the choke if you react quick enough. The best defense against any choke is to avoid getting in to one. That is something you have to start being aware of. You need to practice in the gym awareness and having quick responses to your training partner’s offensive moves.
So the first thing to do when someone has you in a guillotine lock is to push against the opponent’s thigh, and turn your head to the side to prevent him from putting pressure to your trachea (windpipe).
Then you encircle his right knee with your left arm. Lift him up and throw a takedown. Sometimes you will be facing a bigger opponent that you can’t life up. That’s okay. You have to use an alternative method. You will have to buckle his knee to get him off balance. The escape from the guillotine extends the opponent’s arm and as soon as he lands to the ground, you can transition into an arm and shoulder lock.
Guillotine Choke Escape Inside Full Guard
Escape 2 – The Stack Escape
When you are in a guillotine choke from guard position you simply take your right arm and wrap it around your opponents until it reaches his back.
This will alleviate some of the pressure of the choke. Then you want to stack him by driving your shoulder into his neck. You do this by propping both your legs up into a sprawl stance where you are on the ball of your feet.
Use your two feet to push forward; driving your shoulder into his neck. down on your opponent’s shoulder and stacking up to stop him from stretching you out. Depending on how tight the choke is you can turn your chin into his shoulder to get more oxygen.
Your next move is to close your legs together put your hand on his knee and push his leg down. If done correctly your hips will come past his legs. Once there, you can twist to your side and push your opponents leg out further with your hand. This will create space for you to move your legs out and gain side control position.
Guillotine Choke UFC
UFC is always the best place to see these types of moves we talk about on our blog. This is because two people are fighting in real life and are executing real MMA moves on an opponent that if fighting them back and resisting every move. This is what you can expect out on the street in a real fight or during a competition bout.
Jon Jones Guillotine – Lyoto Machida
Standing Guillotine Chokes in MMA
Standing Guillotine – Nick Diaz
Escape 3 – Half Guard Guillotine Defense
So this is a simple break down of the Half guard Guillotine Defense/escape. First put your arm around the opponent’s shoulder and start pulling tight. This is to alleviate some of the straight of the choke. The objective that your opponent is trying to reach is to stretch you out as much as possible. If you can keep yourself tight to him, you can prevent him from pulling his shoulders back and take away a lot of pressure from his choke.
Wrap your other arm to over his hips. Then you want to roll through the side and reach up to pull his choking hands down. This will break his grip and create an opening for an arm triangle.
Guillotine Choke Is a Myth
Brian Ebersole was a UFC fighter who said that the rear naked choke is a myth. Strange thing he has been submitted by chokes 3 times, once including a guillotine, so I think he is high on something or sippin’ a little too much Hennessy. Anyhow people on the site wanted me to address it so all I can say is that the guillotine is not a myth and it does work. Scroll up on this page and watch the video, they are as real as they come!