Coach Firas Zahabi talks about how a blue belt could submit a black belt using a simple but effective BJJ submission.
The Guillotine is one of the most important submissions in BJJ. Why the guillotine? Statistically, it is the second most used submission in MMA, just after the rear-naked choke. Why is the guillotine so important? John Danaher speaks also of the importance of the guillotine choke. Of all the submissions guillotine is the one that a blue belt can use on a black belt. So if you’re a blue belt and you want to submit a black belt, the likelihood of you using a rear-naked choke is far less likely, it’s much lower than a Guillotine.
Think about it, if you want to submit a black belt with a rear-naked choke you have to take him down, pass his guard (good luck), take his back, or mouth him and then take his back. Once you are on the back, you have to apply the choke.
First, how are you gonna pass a black belt guard when you are a blue belt? Even if that happens, you have to be able to expose his back. Even if you do get to the back, do you think that he’s not gonna escape the back? What are the odds he’s just gonna let you have the choke, the other thing you’re gonna get past his back escapes? There’s so much skill involved to get to the back.
Simple principle
Now let’s look at the guillotine. Here is one simple example, a black belt shoots a double leg on you, there it is, there’s the guillotine. You don’t have to do any takedowns, passing, sweeping, or any amounts of control, it’s just there.
Another thing, let’s say you’re a blue belt, your technique might not be great. But just having a really strong squeeze, it can happen, we have seen that a Blue belt submit a Black belt.
In MMA we can see it all the time, why? Because one of the most common takedowns is the double leg. If you shoot for a double leg, the guillotine is always a possibility. Like it or not it’s readily available to counter the double leg. It is very simple, when you shoot a double leg you may take the opponent down, or if he’s going for a guillotine, he may submit you. So think about the risk, you might get a takedown, that’s what’s on the table for you, but he might finish the fight.
