Are you trying to figure out how to escape the triangle choke in BJJ? Why merely escape? Instead, you could opt to use a proven Garry Tonon tactic and apply a triangle escape to leg lock combo that catches your opponents by surprise.
Moreover, after you take a look at the dissected, step-by-step instructions on how to perform this BJJ triangle escape to a leg lock, you’ll gain an understanding of how the best grapplers bind together submissions and escapes. This is why Tonon has such courage to go for crazy things at the highest level – he can escape submission if it fails!
Why Watch Garry Tonon?
Garry Tonon, dubbed “The Lion Killer” is one of the most recognizable names associated with John Danaher and his Death Squad. He’s a multiple World No-Gi & Pan Ams No-Gi Champion, and gunning for his first-ever ADCC title again in 2024. He’s simply one of the best No-Gi BJJ practitioners in the world at specializing in submissions and No-Gi Jiu-Jitsu.
His specialist style of Jiu-Jitsu has benefited Garry enormously in MMA. It’s best defined as relentless submission hunting mixed with scramble initiation. It has helped Garry achieve a 9-1 record in MMA, fighting under the ONE FC banner.
With such a style, though, the art of escape gets sharpened daily. Garry’s style has landed him in some difficult situations such as losing to Tye Ruotolo and Sean McNally. Garry does have an incredibly effective escapes system, built upon his submission-hunting prowess.
Garry is hunting for submissions all the time and he also gets himself into bad positions probably more often than anyone else, but ends up getting out and tapping more people than he taps to. We’ll take a look at how you can integrate his tactics into your game today.
Turning Escapes into Attacks
Whenever you do just one thing in BJJ, you set yourself up for failure. For example, trying to hold mount using everything you know, even against a first–day student is eventually going to fail – they’ll find a way out, even if it is by pure luck.
Threatening submissions while you try to retain mount, such as the Americana will most likely not end up with you tapping the bottom person. However, keeping them busy with arm lock defense means you can easily stay in the mount, which is a smart and efficient tactic to win matches.
Well, you can reverse-engineer this entire approach to use when you’re escaping as well. In fact, the most success I’ve had with escapes is when I wasn’t trying to get out of bad spots but rather hunted for counter-submissions. The D’arce choke off a Ghost escape and the Squirrel Lock Kimura comes to mind.
There are plenty of similar examples of how you can use submission threats to get out of escapes or turn escapes into submission attacks halfway through when the opponent is busy trying to keep a hold of you. You can be as creative as you want as long as you set up everything you do as at least a dilemma.
Technique Breakdown: Garry Tonon Triangle Escape To Leg Lock Finish
Triangle chokes are very tricky to get out of. It is not defending them that gets you in trouble, though, as much as the final stages of escaping do, when a lot of different attacking follow-ups open up to your opponent.
One way of countering these is to go for a counter yourself, well before such opportunities present themselves to your opponent. Here Garry Tonon shows a pretty slick triangle escape to leg lock combo that will catch anyone by surprise.
Moreover, he has created plenty of additional options to finish his opponent after he escapes toward Ashi. Let’s break down the entire sequence, along with the foundational idea behind it:
Keypoint 1: Posture is not Enough
While Garry agrees that posture is important during any BJJ triangle escape, he states that not jsut any posturing is going to help you. Instead of trying to pull up with your neck, focus on wedging your hips underneath the opponent’s hips. This soveling motion will provide you with all the posture you need to fend off the choke, as you set up your way out.
Keypoint 2: Don’t Go Forward, Go Up
Another key aspect of posture during a triangle escape from guard is getting up to your feet. Many people take the easy route of trying to stack the bottom person by leaning forward. This is a trap that only gets you deeper into the triangle, or potentially in a mounted triangle choke.
Instead, focus on standing straight up. Stepping to the side of your trapped arm is going to provide you with both the drive and the essential angle to stand up while not straining your neck and look to set up your triangle escape to leg lock combo.
Keypoint 3: Angle for the Step Over
We used to learn the basic triangle defense as jsut finding a way to sit back and throw both legs over the opponent’s belly. This still works, but Garry dissects the “just find a way to stand up” part in a very methodical way.
Yes, his route is longer. and does not employ both legs, which is a lot more effective, believe it or not. Once up, he steps over on the side of his trapped arm, and carefully sits back rather than throw himself on the mats. This latter is only going to pull the bottom person on top of you.
Keypoint 4: Open the Legs
A plus side of Carfull descending to the mats in a controlled fashion is that the opponent’s legs are still closed in the triangle. No this is not a bad thing, as now you can easily open them up while immediately gaining control over them.
This step is crucial as this is when your opponent will be looking for follow-ups since the triangle cannot work anymore. Even if you don’t open the legs immediately, use your free arm to control the one on your neck, as it will buy you all the time you need to set up Ashi Garami.
Keypoint 5: But-to-Butt
The final aspect of this Garry Tonon triangle escape to leg lock combo is to remember that your butt needs to stay close to the opponent’s butt at all times. This is the first step we went over (wedging) and still makes or breaks this sequence.
Being butt-to-butt means you can work towards any Ashi Garami configuration that you want. In fact, Garry offers two options as a way to tap your opponent:
- Outside Hell Hook: Immediately available off this modified staple BJJ triangle escape is the Game Over leg locking position, a.k.a. the Sambo Knot. Garry demonstrates an outside heel hook but you can go for a bunch of different locks from there.
- Straight Ankle Lock: For the PG version that those IBJJF leg lockers are after, Tonon provides an alternative finishing, utilizing the most powerful version of a straight ankle lock – the belly-down finish.
How to Apply Submissions to All Your BJJ Escapes
Garry’s incredible rendition of a triangle escape to leg lock, as effective as it is to immediately add to your game, is a lot more than jsut a copy-paste tactic. It provides you with an entirely differnet way of thinking about escapes, as the means not just to get out, but to win.
This does not mean that you do not need to practice complete escapes any longer. On the contrary, you need to research and dissect them even more, so that you’re able to pinpoint the best time for transition into a counter as opposed to jsut running back to safety. it wil undoubtedly turn you into a true high-level grappling competitor!
If you’re interested in all kinds of escapes from numerous submissions make sure to check out Tom DeBlass’s DVD instructional. It’s called Submission Escapes! It can really improve your escape skills. And when we talk about Tom DeBlass, he’s the guy who hasn’t submitted to competition for more than 10 years.
Not even mention that Tom DeBlass’s guard is almost impossible to pass. He’s been working on it for the last 15 years and it’s nearly perfect. Check Tom DeBlass’ Half Guard DVD Instructional named Half Domination
There is also another Great Escape Instructional from Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Legend Dean Lister. He’s very well known for his leg locks and intentionally giving legs to people so he could defend them and submit them. He’s the guy who inspired John Danaher with his legendary sentence “Why would you ignore 50% of the human body”. Dean Lister gathered all of his best escapes and put them in this instructional.
It’s called Worry-Free Escapes. And it’s something that will get your escapes to another level. And once you’re not afraid of being submitted you’re more offensive and that can be the game changer in your BJJ. So, check out the technique List and Dean Lister’s Worry-Free Escapes Instructional.
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