So I just returned from the movie theater, and let me tell you. My. Mind. Has. Been. Blown.

Enough to over use the periods in a trendy, ungrammatical way, something I almost never do. To put it in non-nerd terms, imagine your brain after seeing The Matrix for the first time.

Yes.

Whoa.

That type of mind-blow.

Anyway, there is this scene where gravity in the dream world has broken down and Joseph Gordon-Levitt (Arthur) has have a bad-ass anti-grav fight in a hotel hallway (pictured above).  As the title suggests, there is a choke out via the cobra choke. The cool thing is we just practiced this choke up at the U of U MMA class last week! Fortuitous, right?

The cool thing is that there is an awesome transition from an arm triangle attempt.  Imagine you just can’t finish the arm triangle – it happens.  Instead of losing a really nice dominant position, you just reach around the head and grab the wrist, then feed your hand through his arm to grab your own forearm.

Now to finish, pull your opponents wrist towards the back of his head to snug up things, but don’t roll them over. The real umph is dropping your elbow towards the ground across the neck.  As long as the arm holding your own arm is anchored, you’ll be surprised how quickly cutting your forearm down forces the tap.  Like I said, too much pulling the opponent’s wrist behind the head actually sabotages your choking.  I think that this error comes out from guys who do gi jujitsu, because this choke is a lot like a scissor collar choke.

Remember though, the one arm (at least IMO) does the choking and the other stabilizes.

Here’s a vid showing a guy pulling off the cobra choke from the guard.

If you want more instruction on it, pick up a copy of Karo Parisyan’s book about Judo in MMA.

[Bill and Ted meet themselves]
Ted: OK wait. If you guys are really us, what number are we thinking of?
Bill, Ted: 69, dudes.
Bill, Ted: Whoa.
[quadruple air guitar solo]

- Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure

The north south position is a very dominant ground position, and in my opinion, is both very dangerous (for the bottom) and wildly under-utilized. Part of it comes from ignorance and part of it comes from people’s natural discomfort.  The whole face-into-crotch thing makes for a weird experience when you’re grappling. However, you just got to get over it.

Striking From North South

Depending on the rules, you may or may not be able to knee to the head while on the ground. In BJ Penn’s book, he details two knee attacks from side control which work well in the N/S  position. The first is a quick jabbing knee thrust from kneeling crossbody and the second is a “drop the bomb” style knee smash where you raise the knee up as high as you can before you hammer it down.

You have similar striking options while 69′ing as you do while in the mount.  Little rib hook punches, elbows, hammerfists.  Experiment with a heavy bag lying on the floor to get a sense of the uniqueness of striking in N/S.

Also, don’t be afraid to squeeze your knees together or sit on your opponents face.

Strike To Submit

There are several submissions covered later in the article - with all them remember that you can preface them with some ground and pound to make them easier to lock in. It’s one of my all-time favorite strategies is to soften an opponent up with a few elbows or punches and then transition directly into a submission. Many fighters will try to intercept your fist as it approaches their face – it’s a natural reaction – and when they loosen their arms, extending or moving them away from their torso, their arms become vunerable to joint lock attacks.

Pulling To The Back

It’s just like you’d think it works. You hook under the arms and drag your opponent into your rear guard. Admittably, it works much better in the first round or with a jujitsu gi.

Knee On Belly To N/S … And Back Again

When you get the N/S position, opponents will often try to spin out like a ninja turle on his back and pull guard. If you can’t prevent the spinning, just prop yourself into the knee on belly position and fire off some strikes.

See if you can bang down on the abdomen when they spin out – it’ll help take the smile off their face and wear them down. PLUS – their head will often bob up off the mat when you do this, allowing you A) punch it or B) weave your arm under their neck and drop back into a north south like position and pull off a choke shown below.

You should eventually be able to learn to tranisition from N/S to knee on belly to side control and any combination thereof. Instead of having an opponent escape, transition into a new position and keep the pressure on. Contiunially defending his escapes takes away from your momentum and gameplan. Smart grapplers will stack their escapes in combinations, and these transitions will help keep you dominant.

Submissions From North South

One thing I like about the 69 position is that the attacks seem to be higher percentage – maybe due to their relative lack of awareness among grapplers. I see people get into the north south position but give up submission opportunities and fall back into guard or side control instead. Once you get a handle on N/S, you’ll be looking to transition into it and nail a sub.

The Anaconda / D’arce

These head and arm chokes can be used in a variety of positions and are great in the 69. Basically, trap the head and one arm in the crook of your elbow, lock your wrist in the crook of the other arm and squeeze the dickens out of them.

The videos below will show off both chokes. In particular, watch carefully how they shift weight on their opponents and how they compress the head over their arms. Also see how they go in and out of 69′ish positions.  Fun fact - the D’arce choke had a huge popularity boost due to Kendall Grove’s submission victory … in UFC 69. Coinicedence?

Anyway, if you’re not familar with the specifics of the D’arce or Anaconda chokes, check out the details here.

Here’s an example where you see the interplay of N/S and the D’arce choke.

Here’s the ultra-fabulous Marcello Garcia at ADCC 2007, submitting his opponent with the anaconda choke from N/S.

For a step by step breakdown, Marcello shows the 69 choke over here at Gracie Magizine.

See Jeff Monson finish an opponent using the 69 choke -

Americana / Key lock

You are pinning your opponent down with your chest and he’s hugging you. You do a sit out, bringing your left leg to the right side of his body (now you are really in reverse kesa-gatame aka reverse scarf hold) While you do this, you grip his elbow to your chest and crank back as you get a leg hook to prevent him from rolling over. See pictures here.

Armbar And Kimura

The 69 position has it’s own flavor of armbars and kimuras. Karo Parisyan’s excellent book, Judo For MMA has some good ideas regarding these moves.

I know of two solid variations of the kimura from N/S – the first is shown here. The one I’m most familiar with is shown, more or less in the video below. The first few seconds of the video is only gi-jujitsu relevant, but the last part is great in showing how to squeeze the head and posture up from N/S to get this shoulder lock.

Although I’ll leave out the variations on this theme, the armbar goes somewhat like this. Starting from N/S, get one arm of your opponent to cross his body and pin it down with your chest. Let’s say you pinned the left arm down -continue by grabbing the arm and holding in to your chest. Step up on your right foot, placing it on the right side of your opponents face, leaning forward to control the arm. Drag your knee to the left side of his body as sit down to that left side. Your right leg will be over his face and your left foot should be hooked underneath the armpit of the opponent’s left arm. Sqeeze your knees together and armbar.

Conclusion

Knowing how to use the north south position will  help your ground game. If you know of another particular submission or technique you like from this position, share it!