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Bloody Elbow Judo Chop: Toby Imada's Inverted Triangle Choke on Jorge Masvidal

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At Bellator V this weekend, Toby Imada caught the heavily-favored Jorge Masvidal in a rare standing inverted triangle choke.

Here's Imada talking to Ariel Helwani about the move:

Was there a point in the fight that you realized you could pull off that move or did the situation just fall into your lap?
It's something that I've always trained. Whenever I get put in a certain situation, I always want to have a few moves I can execute. It just so happened that I ended up with Masvidal holding the single-leg on me and that's pretty much a gimme. So right there, I just went for it and he didn't try to get out; he kind of just stood up. So I locked it up and I finished it, just like I did in training a bunch of times before.

I know everything happened so quickly, but what was going through your mind when you were working to lock in the submission?

Initially, I was like, 'Okay, I see it; let me try and go for it.' It went from there to, 'Okay, lock it up.' To, 'Okay, I got it locked up.' I just grabbed the hip, arch, pull and just hold. It's not really strangulation where the guy can't breathe; it's one of those things where the guy goes to sleep. Just like I said, I've done it a bunch of times before. I've been able to do it on really high-caliber grapplers and I just knew what to do.

Were you surprised that Masvidal didn't tap?
Yeah, of course. It's always normal for someone to tap, but he said it himself, he didn't know what was going on as I'm sure his air was cut off. On top of that, probably towards the very last second, he didn't know where to tap, because I wasn't in front of him.

In the full entry I'll break down step-by-step how Imada caught Masvidal with animated gifs, along with some speculation as to the nomenclature of "inverted guard."

Star-divide

9jfy90_mediumThe gif to the left shows how Masvidal got himself into this mess. There's a scramble and Jorge goes for a single leg takedown, wrapping both of his arms around Toby's left leg. Then he makes his first mistake. He releases with his left arm, posts that arm to the mat and pushes his head forward, driving himself between Toby's legs.

This leaves him in a very dangerous position with his head and arm between Toby's thighs. Then he stands up. Even worse idea.

2rzz8xw_mediumFrom here its just a matter of Toby sinking in the choke by locking in the figure four. He does this by putting his left foot in the crook of his right knee and bending the leg tight.

The thing to understand is that the triangle choke is an artery choke. Despite the appearance of the photo, its not Imada's shin calf cutting off Masvidal's windpipe that causes Jorge to pass out. Instead its a blood choke that uses Jorge's own left shoulder and Imada's left thigh to each compress a carotid artery which prevents oxygen reaching the brain.

There's a whole discussion I could get into about what exactly is an inverted triangle since Renzo Gracie for example uses the term to describe a completely different move in which you switch the choking leg in a regular triangle.

You can also see Ryan Hall landing an inverted triangle in a no-gi grappling competition in a slightly different position here. It's also not to be confused with the triangle from inverted guard which is beautifully explained here.

As always I don't train or anything and don't pretend to be an expert so please correct any mistakes I made in the comments.

2 recs  |  Comment 23 comments |

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That sub still trips me out. It doesn’t look that tight on the gif to the right.

Mike Goldberg: "You know Joe, When Matt and his brother Mark Hughes were growing up, they would pound each other behind the barn."

by xFenixKnightx on May 7, 2009 4:56 PM EDT reply actions   0 recs

here's a bonus gif showing how tight it got at the end

"the spirit of your average dumbass with more overblown rhetoric" OR "the self-appointed savior of MMA"

by Kid Nate on May 7, 2009 4:59 PM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

That looks sick!

Mike Goldberg: "You know Joe, When Matt and his brother Mark Hughes were growing up, they would pound each other behind the barn."

by xFenixKnightx on May 7, 2009 5:06 PM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

his face was purple

"It's like a flying knuckle sandwich." --Rogan
"And many men have eaten it." -- Goldy

by thetakeover on May 7, 2009 6:00 PM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

Masvidal’s arms flopping about is what really sells the choke from being a novelty to something serious. He was out.

Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try Again. Fail again. Fail better. -Samuel Beckett

by themachiavellian on May 7, 2009 5:17 PM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

This is the M C Escher of subs.

Keep firing Assholes!

It must be nice to have such low standards.

by Ubernoober on May 7, 2009 4:58 PM EDT reply actions   0 recs

How the fuck do you get caught in something like that… it takes more effort to fart after a taco bell meal than to get out of that.

by mmalogic on May 7, 2009 5:19 PM EDT reply actions   0 recs

All my little BJJ buddy could say was ‘that guy is fucking stupid for letting that happen.’

by subo on May 7, 2009 5:21 PM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

It looked like he didn’t have a clue what was going on until it was too late.

by who me on May 8, 2009 2:41 AM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

This might be my favorite submission ever. Thumbs up on the article.

"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 May 7, 2009 5:25 PM EDT reply actions   0 recs

For sure. I also like Maia’s triangle on Ed Herman is also a favorite. Just the sheer brutality of him choking him out and simultaneously punching him in the face repeatedly… brutal.

I love me some Sexyama!

by pud333 on May 7, 2009 7:01 PM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

I wouldn’t say posting on that arm was a mistake. Elevating your oponent like this creates enough space to get your head out from under him and finish with a double leg.
His mistake was reaching back with his arm (he was probably trying to grab the other leg) and then standing up, because once he was standing up he had all of his oponent’s weight tightening the choke.

by koroshiya on May 7, 2009 5:34 PM EDT reply actions   0 recs

San-ka-ku

Is what the Brazilian guy at my job, who used to teach Judo and BJJ, told me this move is called. I think that my be the name for any choke like this.

by ryanwk628 on May 7, 2009 5:35 PM EDT reply actions   0 recs

San-ka-ku jime

You are correct. San-ka-ku means triangle and jime means choke in japanese. Some guys who do BJJ and Judo (like myself) stick with the names of the moves in japanese because thats how most judo schools worldwide call everything.

by mrehohl on May 7, 2009 6:35 PM EDT reply actions   0 recs

Glad to see Masvidal is still as brain dead as I remember.

"A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on." - Sir Winston Churchill

by FlyByKnight on May 7, 2009 9:39 PM EDT reply actions   0 recs

This is such an awesome finish. It makes me wanna up my jiu jitsu even more. What gives him much more credit is how he got to pull something like this in an MMA fight. UNREAL ALA Wayne Campbell.

by Don't say that Rashad on May 7, 2009 10:55 PM EDT reply actions   0 recs

I think the crotch lock may be of note here

This isn’t a move I’ve trained before, but it looks like once Imada has the figure four locked up, he locks his hands between Masvidal’s legs. I would guess he does this both to stabilize himself, and with the help of hip extension, tighten the choke. Anyone have thoughts on this?

by loboplata on May 7, 2009 11:49 PM EDT reply actions   0 recs

From the quote in the post
I just grabbed the hip, arch, pull and just hold.

So yeah, it sounds like it helped.

by FRANKIE on May 8, 2009 12:06 AM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

I guess I'm wondering if a stronger claim can be made

Obviously it helps, but is it crucial to the move? Could he have gotten the finish otherwise, and how likely? Is it possible to get the necessary leverage without it?

It also doesn’t look like masvidal doesn’t do himself any favors by bending over and stretching out. With Imada’s crotch lock (there’s gotta be a better word for that) in place it seems like that would only tighten the choke even more.

by loboplata on May 8, 2009 2:47 AM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

More of the same sub here

0:30 secs … then another at 3:10.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4u41omoNO4U

Never seen that leg grab to help tighten and twist in on the the hold before… Everybody’s going to be trying this in class next week.

by judonerd on May 8, 2009 2:12 AM EDT reply actions   0 recs

This is a little similar to what Masvidal was trying to do (and what got him in trouble):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9cLeyZL5GCo

The beginning of the move at least, the finish is obviously specific to wrestling.

by koroshiya on May 8, 2009 2:30 AM EDT reply actions   0 recs

What a sweet sweet victory that must be! I put this submission right up there with the Shinya Aoki’s sub over Katsuhiko Nagata in Dream 4. Although this is obviously effective, I don’t see many people trying this sub and completing it in the ring/cage.

by GetItOn on May 8, 2009 4:32 AM EDT reply actions   0 recs

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