Bloody Elbow Judo Chop: Marlon Sandro Lands a Standing Arm Triangle Choke
Marlon Sandro beat Matt Jaggers at Sengoku 7th Battle with a standing arm triangle (known in the judo world as kata gatame).
Most of the match was spent on the ground with Sandro dominating position but not scoring much damage and not going for many submissions.
One theme that reoccurred throughout the fight was reversals of position with Jaggers escaping from bottom position several times and Sandro just as frequently reversing again to regain top position.
Jaggers' undoing came immediately after he scored another reversal. Sandro had gained top position and was working for an arm triangle side choke. Announcer Bas Rutten was openly heckling Sandro throughout the fight and had dismissed Sandro's chances of scoring a submission with a side choke on Jaggers.
Just then Jaggers rolled and threw Sandro off, as they stood, Sandro immediately went for the side choke again and this time he nailed it.
More on how Sandro executed the choke and how Jaggers exposed himself to danger in the full entry.
Here's how wikipedia explains the arm triangle:
Arm triangle choke (or simply arm triangle) is a generic term describing blood chokeholds in which the opponent is strangled in between his or her own shoulder and the performers 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 performer is on the side of the opponent and presses a forearm into opposite side of the neck of the opponent is called a side choke, such as from the kata-gatame hold.
Gif by Chris Nelson from the MBC ESPN broadcast of Sengoku 7, March 20, 2009.
Here you can see Sandro finishing the choke. He's got his left arm wrapped around Jaggers' neck and his right arm trapping Jaggers' left. He's got his arms in a figure four with his left hand hooked in the crook of his right arm. This gives him the leverage to squeeze the choke.
As BE reader Rundownloser points out in the comments, Sandro throws his legs around Jaggers' hips for even more control, pulling guard and finishing the choke.
The choke relies on Jaggers' left arm and shoulder cutting off blood flow in one artery while Sandro's left arm cuts off the other. Squeeze for a minute and viola! instant unconsciousness as the oxygen supply is cut off to the brain.
Jaggers got into trouble when he extended his arms to post on the ground and stand up. In jiu jitsu theory they teach to keep the elbows in close to the abdomen. Its all about leverage and power -- the more extended your arms are, the less power you have and the more you're exposed.
But its a double edged sword, in all of Jaggers' escapes from bottom position throughout the fight he had successfully used an extended arm as a lever to help him flip Sandro over. In fact, Sandro had previously isolated Jaggers' left arm and had been working for the side choke on the ground when Jaggers used his left hand to push on Sandro's shoulder, buck his hips and roll Sandro off.
For a split second the hold is broken and Jaggers is free. The he reaches down and posts up with his hands so he can stand. One thing I'm learning about jiu jitsu is that posting your hand on the ground is alot like grounding yourself when you're touching a high-tension electric wire -- not a smart thing to do!
Jaggers' extension of his arms allows Sandro to sink the hold in deep and that's the key to the power of the choke. Once Sandro has his shoulder buried in Jaggers' armpit, that left arm is helpless and utterly trapped. From there its just a matter of cinching his own left arm tighter and tighter around the throat, locking in the figure four and squeezing.
As always, I'm learning about this as I write so please do correct me where I've gone astray.
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one of the earlier reversals

As Sandro tries to pass Jagger’s half-guard, Jagger unlocks his legs, kicks up, and pushes along with Sandro’s momentum to throw him over. Gif by Chris Nelson.
"the spirit of your average dumbass with more overblown rhetoric" OR "the self-appointed savior of MMA"
Sandro strikes back

But Jagger’s not on top long before Sandro gets half-guard, shrimps over on his side Big Nog style, gets an underhook, grabs Jagger’s right leg behind the knee and rolls him over, passing from half-guard to side mount along the way. Note though that using the half guard to control Jagger’s left leg is important for the leverage of the roll.
"the spirit of your average dumbass with more overblown rhetoric" OR "the self-appointed savior of MMA"
last one

Here Sandro has the mount position and Jagger has an underhook with his left arm, rolls onto his right side, posts on his right elbow and rolls Sandro over. Sandro almost gets his left leg over Jagger’s posted arm — which would allow him to get a triangle choke — but Jagger escapes that and they land in Sandro’s guard. Another example where posting for leverage needed to get a reverse almost leads to disaster.
"the spirit of your average dumbass with more overblown rhetoric" OR "the self-appointed savior of MMA"
don't get the wrong idea
it’s not really a super exciting ground clinic or anything. There’s almost no striking on the ground and very few submission attempts.
Bas is openly hating on Marlon the whole time which is kind of unfair IMO.
"the spirit of your average dumbass with more overblown rhetoric" OR "the self-appointed savior of MMA"
Yeah
Bas’ commentary got real old real quick in that fight.
"I see him beating Anderson Silva. I see him picking him apart. Him at a 131 years old...(trails off)." - Tito on Belfort at Affliction:DOR
by Rundownloser on Mar 21, 2009 11:47 AM EDT up reply actions
yeah and then
he Rogan’d himself when he announced that Sandro had nothing with the side choke and two minutes later Marlon wins the fight with it.
"the spirit of your average dumbass with more overblown rhetoric" OR "the self-appointed savior of MMA"
I had Jaggers winning rd 1
Because he lands the only 2 strikes on the ground. 2 knees to Sandro’s head. Sandro was completely unimpressive until the arm-triangle
Gimme 1 round!
by ItBurnzWhenIP on Mar 21, 2009 2:51 PM EDT up reply actions
Cool article, Nate. I really dug the submission, so it’s nice to see it getting some love. And kudos on putting in stuff about the reversals. It was pretty impressive to see somebody repeatedly sweep/reverse a Nova Uniao black belt.
Couple things:
- I think it ‘Jaggers’ as opposed to ‘Jagger’.
- You didn’t mention it in the article, but before Sandro finishes the submission he basically jumps guard (even though he didn’t lock his legs). You can see it in the replay after the fight.
"I see him beating Anderson Silva. I see him picking him apart. Him at a 131 years old...(trails off)." - Tito on Belfort at Affliction:DOR
good catches
will fix accordingly.
thanks!
"the spirit of your average dumbass with more overblown rhetoric" OR "the self-appointed savior of MMA"
the standing side choke was pretty sweet—but i can’t say i was that impressed with marlon. i definitely see where bas was coming from: the fact that marlon is typically a boring fighter who’s content to play it safe.
on the whole sengoku card, another technique that impressed me was king mo continuously using the ball-and-chain to slam and control his opponent.
yeah i enjoyed Mo's work
"the spirit of your average dumbass with more overblown rhetoric" OR "the self-appointed savior of MMA"
the ball-and-chain
was a wrestling move i learned back in high school. basically it entails feeding on of your opponent’s arms through their own legs, and yanking up on it. in wrestling it’s primarily used to stack your opponent and get back points, but i have seen and used it in conjunction with a half nelson or simply for control as well.
mo was going for it quite a bit. a couple times, he pretty much pumphandled his opponent for a slam.
here’s a short video of it being used in a high school match:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4Lyt-aulIU&feature=related
Nice.
Contributor Emeritus - BloodyElbow.com
by Chris Nelson on Mar 21, 2009 3:24 PM EDT up reply actions
good stuff
thanks!
"the spirit of your average dumbass with more overblown rhetoric" OR "the self-appointed savior of MMA"
Now Phan impressed me
The KO punch was a little flukey but considering how he was going to the body he set it up that Kadowaki didn’t keep his hands up and lights out.
Gimme 1 round!
by ItBurnzWhenIP on Mar 21, 2009 2:54 PM EDT up reply actions
thanks smoog
Not even going to give Chris props for liveblogging the show?
"the spirit of your average dumbass with more overblown rhetoric" OR "the self-appointed savior of MMA"
I DEMAND PROPS

Contributor Emeritus - BloodyElbow.com
by Chris Nelson on Mar 21, 2009 10:49 PM EDT up reply actions
See what you pansies missed!
Those of us who stayed up all night watching us got to freak out over it. You folks with your “jobs” and “responsibilities” had to miss it and just catch the replay.
Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try Again. Fail again. Fail better. -Samuel Beckett
by Scott C. Broussard on Mar 21, 2009 3:11 PM EDT reply actions
It was a pretty silly fun time.
"I see him beating Anderson Silva. I see him picking him apart. Him at a 131 years old...(trails off)." - Tito on Belfort at Affliction:DOR
by Rundownloser on Mar 21, 2009 3:56 PM EDT up reply actions
MOE!

Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try Again. Fail again. Fail better. -Samuel Beckett
by Scott C. Broussard on Mar 21, 2009 6:42 PM EDT up reply actions
Dude, save it for the playoffs! You don’t wanna blow your load before the big game!
"I see him beating Anderson Silva. I see him picking him apart. Him at a 131 years old...(trails off)." - Tito on Belfort at Affliction:DOR
by Rundownloser on Mar 21, 2009 6:47 PM EDT up reply actions

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