Anaconda choke help???

Drew Foster

Silver Belt
Joined
Feb 27, 2008
Messages
11,759
Reaction score
1
Hey everyone. I can't train for a couple months after LASIK so I figured I'd ask a question here, since I can't get on the mat. I have had this nagging problem with my Anaconda choke for a while now. I have brought it up in several threads here that were discussing Rafael Mendes, head-and-arm chokes, etc. I asked this question several times and never really got a response except from Mikey Triangles and xMikeyx.

My issue is that I can only finish the Anaconda choke from one position. There are several setups that I use, and not all of them are the gator roll. But when I finish, I MUST be on my side and they MUST be on their back. Watch this video to see my finishing position. It is the same position used by Nogueira, Rafa Mendes, Babalu, and almost everyone that is good at the choke.



This is where the problem comes in. If I over roll my opponent so that we both are on our sides, I can't finish the choke. No matter what I try. Essentially, if our heads and bodies aren't perpendicular to each other, I can't get it.

I've tried expanding my chest, widening my back, walking in, squeezing reps, everything. My partner just stays there while I stupidly ask over and over, "How about now?" By walking in to them if they aren't on their back, my body still pushes the head down, but it doesn't push their artery into my forearm, so why would it even work?

Maybe this ISN'T a problem because I never have a problem dumping them on their back, and I don't do a ton of gator roll setups so over rolling them is not a huge concern. I just feel like I should be able to finish anyways if I do.

Any tips?

BTW, If anyone would like to see more footage of Mendes, Nog, Babalu, etc, finishing from their side with their opponent flat on their back, I am happy to supply links.

EDIT: Some finishes that represent the way I finish (the only way I can.)

3:49

3:30

2:38

5:48
 
Last edited:
When you walk your legs towards the other guy, take your top leg and hook it around him. This controls the opponent, and more importantly helps you reduce the space, making your choke tighter.
 
Well, you could try rolling him on top of your head and then raising your hips like you're trying to fuck the ceiling. Ari says it works for him. :D


Really though, I think it kind of turns into a neck crank when you're both on your sides and you walk toward him. You can entangle his leg with yours like you're putting him in half guard, or maybe even get a leg over his body, and it will pressure his head down further--may not make the choke tighter but it will crank his neck more and probably get you the tap.

Not all the no-gi chokes are really chokes, a lot of them are very much neck cranks by nature. Putting the guy to sleep is ideal but sometimes you just have to embrace the crank.
 
Well, you could try rolling him on top of your head and then raising your hips like you're trying to fuck the ceiling. Ari says it works for him. :D


Really though, I think it kind of turns into a neck crank when you're both on your sides and you walk toward him. You can entangle his leg with yours like you're putting him in half guard, or maybe even get a leg over his body, and it will pressure his head down further--may not make the choke tighter but it will crank his neck more and probably get you the tap.

Not all the no-gi chokes are really chokes, a lot of them are very much neck cranks by nature. Putting the guy to sleep is ideal but sometimes you just have to embrace the crank.

You've not been put into a proper anaconda in this fashion. I assure you, when done properly, it's a blood choke, and very effective.
 
I think your a bit too specific about whether the opponent is technically on his back or on his side, unless I am missing the specifics of the position you are talking about. I always thought of the move as both of us being on our sides. Looking at the Mendes clip, both are on their side. The opponent tries to escape by going flat only at the last second before tapping.

One thing that might help that I picked up from a Mendes seminar is that he adjusts the choke deep before locking the RNC grip for the final squeeze finish (you can see it in the video). In the seminar he showed it as pulling his arm deeper with the help of his free hand. Other than that I think it's just squeezing very hard.

One thing that I do when I can't finish laying on the side is I try to hook the opponents leg and come up into mount. You have to be careful not to get rolled into guard, but coming up into mount usually crunches an opponent's head in very well.
 
You've not been put into a proper anaconda in this fashion. I assure you, when done properly, it's a blood choke, and very effective.

Imentioned in a thread the other day that many people in darces, condas, arm triangles, etc, tend to think they're being put in a neck crank also when really it's just pressure on the neck. Most head-and-arm chokes have a tendency to put some pressure on the neck, but the neck pressure from a darce or conda is very different from the neck pressure in a can opener, twister, bas crank, etc. Glad you pointed that out.

Thanks for all the tips so far everyone.
 
I think your a bit too specific about whether the opponent is technically on his back or on his side, unless I am missing the specifics of the position you are talking about. I always thought of the move as both of us being on our sides. Looking at the Mendes clip, both are on their side. The opponent tries to escape by going flat only at the last second before tapping.

One thing that might help that I picked up from a Mendes seminar is that he adjusts the choke deep before locking the RNC grip for the final squeeze finish (you can see it in the video). In the seminar he showed it as pulling his arm deeper with the help of his free hand. Other than that I think it's just squeezing very hard.

One thing that I do when I can't finish laying on the side is I try to hook the opponents leg and come up into mount. You have to be careful not to get rolled into guard, but coming up into mount usually crunches an opponent's head in very well.

THANK YOU! I was going to ask about coming into the mount, because I recently did a thread on mounted Darce/Brabo chokes and wondered if it would work for this too.

Drew's hearty post #2: Full mount Darce thread. - Sherdog Mixed Martial Arts Forums

Glad to have some info from a Mendes seminar goer. I would love to be able to do a couple hours with Rafael on the Darce/Brabo and Anaconda chokes. Did he do any Brabo stuff or was it all Anaconda?

Also, I had always downplayed the way people talk about squeezing reps and mastering the "squeeze" with every choke position, because I just thought if you understood "how" to do a specific choke, you could get it to work. All of my no-gi chokes are very good besides the Anaconda, and that's bothered me. Chokes are the strongest part of my game. Maybe I really do need to just squeeze harder and go for the Anaconda more than other chokes for now to really get that squeeze down? I'm probably going to try that. It's the only choke that does not feel natural to me, and it's the mirror of the Darce, which is my best position by far. Weird.
 
Last edited:
Back
Top