There is always fun on the mats at B-team, as jay Rodriguez (Nicky Rod’s brother) grapplers mate Vince and is unable to buggy choke him as a result of his size.
The buggy choke is quite the popular counter move from side control, taking away the need to escape through a direct submission option vs. the opponent on top. While it seems to work mostly for purple belts, there have been instances of the choke working at the highest levels, most notably at the hands (and legs) of the Ruotolo brothers.
The buggy choke works when you are on the bottom in side control. Turning towards your opponent, you lock up your arm behind the same side knee/calf and then lock up a triangle with your legs. It is basically a triangle choke, just done with an arm and a leg combination.
Well, as it appears from this video, it is not that easy to use the buggy on everyone, and there is such a thing as someone being too big to buggy choke.
Jay Rodriguez found this out the hard way when his repeated buggy choke attempts failed to work on a much larger opponent which was his rolling partner Vince.
Throughout the roll, as Jay ends in bottom side control, he tells Vince: “I can’t buggy you” to which he gets the reply: “I know.”
As Vince keeps Rodriguez under pressure, Jay comments again, voicing his frustrations saying: “You f***ing bast*rd“, and moments later, when he seems to have the initial grip: “I may have something here“. However, it is not even close, and he lets go accepting his fate by proclaiming “What the f**k?” and ending up in bottom mount for the rest of the round.
The roll looks like a scene from “Game of Thrones” for a while, with the huge Vince easily pinning down Jay Rodriguez despite all the buggy choke shenanigans.
This arises the question of whether buggy choke experts, the Ruotol brothers could finish Vince or any other large human for that matter.
