When Ed turns his hips to set the armbar (frame 6 last week) John defends by sitting back in his base and moving his left arm behind Ed's right leg in an attempt to pass to side control. Ed prevents this by dropping his right hand to grab John's tricep, controlling the arm and preventing John from passing easily.
Ed drops his left foot to control John's hip. Notice the hand position from step one is still in place on the tricep to maintain control.
Now that he has regained control of John's posture, Ed posts on his left elbow, lifts his hips, and extends his right leg to begin the triangle. Again note how Ed maintains control of John's arm with the grip on the tricep. This grip is key to applying a tight triagle especially in sweat slicked no-gi applications.
From the first position, Ed swings his hips out and drops his right leg straight across the back of John's neck. Notice how the leg is cutting across the back of the neck and not angled down John's back. This "lazy leg" is a common mistake that makes it difficult to set the triangle.
Here is the correct leg position. It is tightly held across the neck providing Ed with control over John's head.
Here we see the "lazy leg" position that often results in a fighter either failing to secure the triangle or getting easily passed and side mounted.
Next Ed brings his left leg around his foot, frames John's head, and begins to set the triangle. Notice that Ed maintains his grip on John's tricep throughout the entire technique.
having framed John's head and arm, Ed moves to set the triangle. To do so he grabs his heel and pulls his foot down. Once he positions his right foot under his left knee, he secures the position by bending his left leg over his foot. Two important things to note here are Eds hand position and the position of Johns right arm. In the former, Ed grabs his heel, not his foot. This is another common mistake all the way up to the UFC level. When you pull your foot, the give in your ankle loosens the triangle as you cannot bring the foot as deep. In the later, the hand position that Ed has held the entire technique has guided John's arm across his throat.
Here is the incorrect hand position. When Ed pulls the foot instead of the heel, he only turns the foot instead of pulling the entire leg deeper into the triangle.
Here we see the correct hand position. When Ed grabs the heel it allows him pull his entire leg deeper into the triangle. When done correctly, John's blood flow is severly restricted at this point even though Ed hasn't moved to lock in the choke. To finish the choke, Ed will now grab the back of John's head with his left hand and extend his hips. In still photos we chose not to show the head control due to how tight the choke already is at this point. When done correctly, the opponent is already begining to black out at the point shown here.
- To finish the choke, Ed will now grab the back of John’s head with his left hand and extend his hips. In still photos we chose not to show the head control due to how tight the choke already is at this point. When done correctly, the opponent is already begining to black out at the point shown here.
Recap:
- Gain control of your opponents arm as soon as they escape your head control and drop your foot to control you opponents hip on the same side as the arm you are controlling.
- Post off your opponents hip and your elbow on the same side while maintaining control of the arm. Extend your opposite leg.
- Pivot on your hip away from the controlled arm and lay your calf across the back of your opponents neck, making sure to use the proper leg positioning and avoid the “lazy leg.”
- Extend the leg on the side of the arm you are controlling and bring it around your foot.
- Grab your own heel and pull your foot deep behind your knee on the same side as the controlled arm, making sure to grab the heel and not the foot or toes.
- Bend your extended knee to secure your foot position and release your grip on your heel.
- Grab the back of your opponents head and extend your hips to elicit the tap.
Next week, we will finish this three technique chain with a counter to the defense of this triangle with a scissor sweep to the mount position. This will demonstrate the effectiveness of using submissions in chains as the scissor in and of itself is an easily defended sweep which becomes far more difficult to prevent when used against the counter to this triangle choke.
*Ed Perdomo is a 4th degree black belt in the Korean grappling art of Hapkido and is head instructor of the Hapkido Institute in Morris, Il.
