Tyne Valley Martial Arts

This is a new website feature we’re going to do every week for TVMA students.
Sometime over the weekend I will be posting some aspects or the subject of the next weeks BJJ class.

We found many of the new students are struggling once they get to an attacking position with what to do once they get there, so this week we are going to look at the Ezekiel Choke.

The name of this choke hold comes from a famous Brazilian judo olympian by the name of Ezequiel Paraguassú, who in 1988 decided to tighten up his ground work (newaza) ahead of the Seoul Olympics at the Carlson Gracie Academy. It’s Japanese name is Sode guruma jime.

The beauty of the Ezekiel choke is it is a stealthy attack combined with maintaining a secure base, essentially allowing an effective attack without risking much in terms of losing your superior position. The mount is probably the best place to start learning this attack from.

There is both a Gi and a no Gi version of the choke but I’d heavily recommend learning both versions at the same time as the no gi version can still be used whilst wearing the Gi and effectively means learning two moves as opposed to one.

I’ve posted two video links below, one gi, one no gi. I chose the videos based on how easy they were to observe and how well explained they are but as with all BJJ tech, the nuances are many so don’t expect it to work everytime!

Gi Version of the Ezekiel Choke with Rafael Lovato Jnr.

No Gi Version of the Ezekiel Choke with Craig Jones