Reverse Triangle from Tripod
Submission · Side Control
A blood choke with the legs: your thigh closes one side of his neck and his own trapped shoulder the other, locked from behind his head while you face his legs. It comes from the tripod after the kimura from side control, when he turns his chest toward you to relieve the shoulder and brings his head and trapped arm between your legs. Keep the figure-four, slide your shin across the back of his neck with the arm still inside, and lock your ankle behind your other knee. Sit to your hip and use the figure-four to pull the arm across his centre line, then squeeze your knees. Without the arm inside it is only a head squeeze. The kimura stays on as a second finish. Squeeze gradually.
How to do it
- From the tripod, keep the figure-four on his trapped arm and your weight over his shoulder. When he turns his chest toward you to relieve the shoulder, his head and the trapped arm move between your legs: that turn is your entry, so do not force it while he is flat.
- As he turns, slide the leg on the side of his back across the back of his neck, the shin deep behind the neck. The trapped arm stays inside, held by your figure-four, so his neck and one shoulder are inside your legs together.
- Lock the triangle: put the ankle of that leg behind the knee of your other leg and fold the other leg down over it. You face his legs, so the lock closes from behind his head; that is why it is called reverse.
- Sit to your hip toward his back and turn slightly until your shin crosses the back of his neck, not the back of his head. Use the figure-four to pull the trapped arm across his centre line, so his own shoulder presses the other side of his neck.
- Squeeze your knees together and pull your locked foot toward you. Your thigh closes one side of the neck, his shoulder the other. If the choke stalls, the arm is still in the figure-four: finish the kimura from the triangle.
Key details
- Wait for his turn. Flat on his back, his head is not between your legs and the triangle has nothing to close around.
- Arm inside and pulled across the centre line. Without his shoulder in the lock one side of the neck stays open.
- Shin on the back of the neck, not the back of the head. On the head the squeeze only presses the skull.
- Keep the figure-four throughout. It holds the arm inside and gives you the kimura as a second finish.
Common mistakes
- Letting go of the figure-four to lock the legs. — He pulls the arm out and the triangle becomes a head squeeze he can wait out. — Keep the grip; lock the legs around it, then use it to pull the arm across.
- Squeezing before the angle is right. — The shin presses the back of the head and the neck has space. — Turn your hips until you feel the shin on the neck, then squeeze.
How to drill it
Your partner lies in your tripod and turns in to you on a cue. Thread the leg and lock the reverse triangle five times on each side; then the partner chooses at random to turn in or stay flat, and you lock only when he turns.
Safety
A blood choke with the shoulder already loaded: squeeze gradually, release at the tap and do not crank the kimura while the legs are locked.