I recently received the following question about the Brabo and Anaconda chokes from a reader of the Grapplearts Newsletter:
Hi Stephan, I’ve been training in BJJ for about a year. In no gi training I really like chokes, but I still get confused sometimes: what is the difference between the Anaconda Choke and the Brabo Choke? I get my hand positioning all messed up every time I try either of these techniques…”
Well, that’s a great question.
The Anaconda Choke and the Brabo Choke (aka the D’Arce Choke)are two powerful submissions. Both chokes rely on trapping the head and one arm of your opponent, and then putting your own arms into the ‘Rear Naked Choke’ or ‘Mata Leão‘ position to lock everything up.
But there are some pretty significant differences between the two chokes, including how to position your arms, and the what positions you’re going to apply them from.
I was originally going to make this a short video, but while filming it I got carried away and started going into some of the details that make these two techniques effective. Plus some variations for when you’re doing the Brabo with the gi. Plus when you SHOULDN’T try these attacks.
All the Brabo and Anaconda choking you want, plus more, in the video below: