John Danaher invented the inverted kata gatame strangle (a.k.a. D'arce Choke)

[SBJ]

[TRIVIA]

" I invented the inverted kata gatame strangle (later named after one of my students Joe D'Arce as the D'arce choke)" - John Danaher

​

John Danaher with Renzo Gracie.

Reflections on my sensei: A massive part of our experience in life is shaped by our teachers. We have all forgotten most of our childhood school experiences - but we remember almost all our teachers.

So too in our martial arts journey. Our senseis are probably the single biggest influence on the directions we go in the sport.

Whenever a group of grapplers get together and start talking, it does not take long before the discussion turns to our senseis and the stories run like rivers.

Like most people, fortune has thrown me a mixed bag of blessings and curses over the course of my life, but one area I have been consistently lucky is in the people who became my teachers, whether in academics or martial arts. Though my writings mostly concern new directions in grappling, they would be seriously remiss if they did not include tales of my sensei, Renzo Gracie, who took me in as a white belt with a crippled leg in New York City in the mid 1990's and took me on my journey through the sport.

I believe it is impossible for any one man to provide a complete education in any area. Therefore I believe everyone ought to have auxiliary senseis who provide alternative points of view and new directions; but I also believe it is important to find a main sensei who provides the vast majority of your outlook and and gives you unity of direction. I was lucky enough to find mine on the first try, but I suspect this is not the case for most people.

The lessons of twenty years of training and teaching in Renzo Gracie's gym is not going to be summarized in a Facebook post - so I will come back to this topic on many occasions. Each time I shall endeavor to relate a lesson or idea he gave to me that I shall pass to you in the hope that it shall improve your experience in the sport as it did mine.

I shall start with question that a student once asked me - what was the single biggest influence that Mr Gracie had upon your direction in jiu jitsu? My answer was this: Mr Gracie created a school that was run in line with three critically important themes. First, RESULTS OVER TRADITION. Second, LIBERALITY IN DIRECTION. Third, HAPPINESS MUST BE LINKED TO JIU JITSU AND JIU JITSU TO HAPPINESS. Let's look at each.

Renzo's primary concern was always combat effectiveness. He focused on this like a laser and let nothing stand in its way. If something worked, it was adopted. It did not matter where or who it came from. As soon a new idea emerged and showed promise, it was subjected to rigorous testing in sparring. If it passed, it was adopted.

I remember the night I invented the inverted kata gatame strangle (later named after one of my students Joe D'Arce as the D'arce choke). I had only just got my blue belt two weeks previously and I nervously approached Renzo with my training partner and friend, Shawn Williams and asked Renzo if he thought it was worth investigating. Renzo had just returned triumphant from another fight in Japan and was on top of the martial arts world. It would have been so easy to ignore the ideas of some gringo blue belt - but he didn't. He asked to see, then to feel it, then did it. In sparring that night we both put training partners to sleep with it (no one knew what it was and there was no defense in those days). The next night he taught it in class in the same manner as the established and traditional techniques of the sport.

Renzo was extremely liberal as our teacher. You can see the evidence in his senior students. If you look at Renzo's top students you will see that they have very dissimilar games and approaches to the sport. Renzo only demanded effectiveness, that left a huge amount of freedom for us all to find a game that worked for us.
So many times I have people say that certain approaches to the game are not allowed or encourages at their school. When I told Renzo I was interested in developing a leg lock system (in the 1990's when leg locks were seen as the tools of cowards and idiots), he simply said, "good, let me know what you come up with!"
The third aspect is one that is rarely mentioned, but as I grow older,

I have come to think it is perhaps the most important. Renzo made training a source of happiness. So often we get caught up in results and desires and goals and perfectionism that we lose track of the biggest demand of all - that our journey be a happy and fulfilling one.

If training is not a joy, you simply will not last through the hardships, the grind and the years. As anyone who who has met him can attest, Renzo can light up a room in an instant and make everyone feel comfortable and wanted, even in uptight and edgy New York City.

Every week I see numerous students come down to the academy when they cannot train, just to hang out and be part of something that brings them joy. As much as I talk about improving sports performance in my writings, this must be put in the context of a happy and fulfilling life or else even the most disciplined student will eventually find something else to do.

No man and no school is perfect, but basing his approach on these three themes made Renzo Gracie one of the most influential and successful martial arts teachers of his generation and I shall always be thankful that I was a product of them.

[/TRIVIA]

 

[Uchi Mata]

Insert Kathy Bates Waterboy meme about Joe D'Arce being the devil.

 

[lechien]

Not the first time he mentioned it.

Another anecdote is reading the Carlson Gracie book and watch picture of him teaching the jello guard. Which look very similar to the guard made popular by his student de LA riva.​

 

[TheGZA]

 

[dmwalking]

I appreciate Danaher, but I'm over reading his wall'o'texts. We get it. You're smart. Thanks. Back to jiu jitsu.

 

[BJJ_Rage]

Andyconda claims the choke comes from Luta Livre...

 

[BJJ_Rage]

anyways, to say that an armtraingle has been disvored only in the past 30 years and not a single grappler in the history has pulled it off, mmm I would have to say someone probably figured this choke out a long time ago...

 

[HtomSirveaux]

I appreciate Danaher, but I'm over reading his wall'o'texts. We get it. You're smart. Thanks. Back to jiu jitsu.

Someone won't be getting a handshake anytime soon...

 

[winterbike]

I appreciate Danaher, but I'm over reading his wall'o'texts. We get it. You're smart. Thanks. Back to jiu jitsu.

Some are smart, some aren't. The whole thing about jiu-jitsu being about dynamically solving a problem that's trying to solve you (or something like that) sounds smarty and fancy, but it also applies to... most sports. You do the same in badminton

 

[sha]

Andyconda claims the choke comes from Luta Livre...

I may be wrong, but the claim I've heard is that the Anaconda choke popularized by Nogueira in Pride was taught to him by Milton Vieira who himself has a Luta Livre background. From there the Darce/Brabo is basically just a reverse Anaconda. In any case, LL does focus a lot on nogi chokes, especially compared to BJJ ~20 years ago.

Of course multiple people can come up with the same move independently, too.

 

[BJJ_Rage]

I may be wrong, but the claim I've heard is that the Anaconda choke popularized by Nogueira in Pride was taught to him by Milton Vieira who himself has a Luta Livre background. From there the Darce/Brabo is basically just a reverse Anaconda. In any case, LL does focus a lot on nogi chokes, especially compared to BJJ ~20 years ago.

Of course multiple people can come up with the same move independently, too.

 

[randomg1t]

Some are smart, some aren't. The whole thing about jiu-jitsu being about dynamically solving a problem that's trying to solve you (or something like that) sounds smarty and fancy, but it also applies to... most sports. You do the same in badminton

the pretentiousness of that really pisses me off. also, trying so hard to appear intelligent seems like compensating for some serious insecurities.

and before everyone and their mother jumps on me for not gobbling his nuts, there's nothing wrong with being articulate, or taking an academic approach to things. but not being able to string together two sentences without sounding like you're quoting a phd source is obnoxious. i can't stand people who do that. danaher would much rather use two overly-articulated paragraphs than six words that mean the same thing... which is really ironic, since he's talking about bjj, where things are as straight forward as they can be.

 

[RJ Green]

anyways, to say that an armtraingle has been disvored only in the past 30 years and not a single grappler in the history has pulled it off, mmm I would have to say someone probably figured this choke out a long time ago...

^ yup. Grappling's been around so long I don't think anybody 'invents' anything, just rediscovers techniques lost to time.

Except maybe worm guard?

 

[mataleaos]

I like how Ryan Hall says (to paraphrase) "it grinds my gears when people say invented for things that involve physical movements."

A lot of people came up with the brabo/darce choke around the late 90's and early 00's independently of each other. Danaher, Robert Drysdale, Shaolin Ribeiro, Milton Vieira, Björn Dag Lagerströmand, and Shinya Aoki are a few that come to mind.

 

[Jhf884]

Danaher came up with a choke as a blue belt? *Yawn* Helio invented leverage after only *watching* training.

 

[nefti]

One can come up with an independent idea thus "inventing" it.I does not mean that the individual was the first one to invent an idea/ect.

 

[Concrete Whale]

Guys I was going to make a thread about this I am getting consistently darced in bottom half guard (no gi) I have my underhook and am coming up to my knees/feet but end up getting d'arced is there anything in particular I should watch out for? Be less predictable?

 

[GKY]

the pretentiousness of that really pisses me off. also, trying so hard to appear intelligent seems like compensating for some serious insecurities.

and before everyone and their mother jumps on me for not gobbling his nuts, there's nothing wrong with being articulate, or taking an academic approach to things. but not being able to string together two sentences without sounding like you're quoting a phd source is obnoxious. i can't stand people who do that. danaher would much rather use two overly-articulated paragraphs than six words that mean the same thing... which is really ironic, since he's talking about bjj, where things are as straight forward as they can be.

I think he just talks like that. I don't think he purposely tries to sound intelligent, it's just that when he speaks the words form in his mind that particular way. It's not a common trait, but he's certainly not the first person I've met or heard that speaks like that.

Also I think when people say they invented a move they actually mean they independently discovered it without being taught. Happens all the time. Hell there's techniques I was never taught or seen that I started doing and later discovered it's already being used by someone else. In fact I knew a brown belt who thought he invented the x pass for that same reason.

 

[Was at Pride GP 2000]

Danaher came up with a choke as a blue belt? *Yawn* Helio invented leverage after only *watching* training.

Hey man alevanca did not exist in Brazil before Helio started watching ok.

Keep an eye on your lip. Watch your mouth

 

[DoctorTaco]

Guys I was going to make a thread about this I am getting consistently darced in bottom half guard (no gi) I have my underhook and am coming up to my knees/feet but end up getting d'arced is there anything in particular I should watch out for? Be less predictable?

ask the guy(s) who are tapping you out about it after class. They'd know better than anyone what you're doing wrong