For those wondering, this list is comprised of the most painful submission moves in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. We’re not saying that these are the most effective or high percentage. Nor are we saying that these moves will make you many friends. Not only this, but some of these moves may be illegal under certain rulesets. Lastly, if you do take pleasure in dishing out these moves, then you can only expect them to be put back on you by someone bigger and better.
With this noted, please note that we’re not exactly condoning these moves but they are quite interesting to look at from a nasty, grappling perspective. For the record, whilst stuff like heel hooks and americana’s maybe the most painful for obvious reasons, the submissions in this list are more based around nerve pain rather than breaking bones.
Table of Contents
Face Cranks
Face cranks are legal but they will lose you friends in the gym. Sometimes it can be tough to win the grip fight, so you may opt for a face crank to save time. This isn’t a clean technique like a choke may be. However, if your opponent is stalling and not trying to escape whatsoever, then it may be more justified. To apply the face crank, you do the same set up as the rear naked choke.
However, you can place your arm anywhere from the opponent’s chin up towards their nose. If the opponent doesn’t tap then eventually their jaw will break, their teeth will shatter or their nose will break depending on where your arm is placed. With this in mind, if you do happen to apply this then you should apply it slowly. For extra nastiness, you can also choose to twist your body away from the crank. This acts almost like a twister and applies nasty pressure on the spine of the opponent.
Body Triangle From The Back
The body triangle is again a nasty submission. Whilst this may be less effective in a competition where people are less likely to tap, it can get taps in the gym to the annoyance of your training partners. With this submission, the idea is to crush the opponent’s ribcage with your legs. Entered from the back position, it shares the same mechanics as a normal triangle. So, to finish this with greater pressure you may choose to point your knees together.
Some people will tap to this and it can even break or damage the ribs. Especially against those with weaker ribs, this is especially effective. If nothing else, it can create a reaction in the opponent who may panic due to the pain. Because of this, the body triangle may not be the most effective submission but can certainly cause a strong amount of pain.
The Armless Darce
The armless darce is basically a cross between a choke and crank. This happens when your opponent turns into you from bottom side control. Instead of threading your arm under the opponent’s armpit like a typical darce, the idea is to trap their arm under your body and then connect both arms around their neck. Because the arm is trapped tightly under your body, the opponent can’t escape. This is often referred to as the ‘Howdy choke‘.
Whilst darce chokes can sometimes have an element of neck cranks involved, the armless darce is more of a crank mixed with a choke too. With this said, it is a legit move but relies heavily on the opponent over-committing into turning inwards. From here, if the choke doesn’t tap the opponent then the crank will. To add extra neck pressure you can even move to mount which will hurt the neck even more. As far as cranks go, the armless darce from mount is about as bad as they get.
Bicep & Calf Slicers
Whilst slicers may not be the most common submission or high percentage, they can and will annoy your partners. An interesting fact about slicers is that they can break bones if applied hard and long enough. Regardless, these submissions are often seen as targeting muscles over bones. This relies on trapping the opponent’s bicep or calf in between both of your legs.
This results in great pain and even if it doesn’t break the bone, it can cause damage muscle tissues and bruising. With this said, even if someone refuses to tap – they can still have weeks off training if the muscles are bruised badly. Whilst most slicers won’t lead to damaged muscles or bones – they are still painful enough to get submissions before this point and earn enemies. One benefit of these submissions is that they can often be hit from various positions.
Banana Split
Also known as the crotch ripper, this submission can be entered by a wrestling spladle or an electric chair sweep. The idea here is to remove the opponent’s legs from each other and create a horrible stretching motion on their groin muscles. Whilst some, very flexible people won’t tap to this – most will.
The banana splits are similar to slicers in terms of primarily being a muscular submission. With this said, even if it doesn’t break the bones of the opponent – it can cause muscular bruising and can cause weeks off training if held long enough. Obviously, this submission harms those with less flexibility more than those who are very flexible. This move is probably the most embarrassing to get hit with as it looks quite funny to catch on someone.
The Stack Choke
This move is done by a stack pass and is fairly low percentage as the opponent may be able to roll backwards to alleviate the choking pressure. Here, you then hold their legs up in the air with one arm and choke them with your fist which pushes down their throat into the ground. As the opponent’s neck is rested in the ground, this puts immense pressure into the throat and will eventually choke the opponent unconscious if held long enough.
From a defensive perspective, this choke is horrible to be hit with. The feeling of being choked from gravity with little escape is quite horrible and causes a panicked mindset. Not only this, but the entry can be quite sneaky and unseen if done well enough.
Suffocation Chokes
These moves are actually quite technical to hit compared to most conventional moves. One famous example of this was done by Josh Barnett on Dean Lister in Metamoris 4. This choke was done from the scarfhold position and placed the elbow into Lister’s sternum.
This meant that eventually, Lister’s breathing slowed to a point where he couldn’t take in as much oxygen and Barnett described this as ‘akin to drowning’. Similarly, Bas Rutten did a similar compression choke during his MMA days where he compressed his opponent from the reverse scarfhold position.
Although rarely taught in BJJ and mostly competition illegal – these moves can finish matches and in Judo these submissions are much more common. Perhaps more common in BJJ is suffocation chokes from the mount position. Again, this requires strong technique but if you apply enough pressure and block out air to the opponent’s nose and mouth, then they will eventually tap. Compared to blood and air chokes, these are horrible to be on the end of as the choke is more slow and obvious but if you can’t defend then you have to tap.
Can Opener Neck Crank
The can opener is mostly banned and for good reason – it can seriously damage the neck if done badly enough. This move is mostly done inside the closed guard. From here, you get both hands around the back of the opponent’s neck and pull their head upwards towards you. This creates immense pressure on the neck and often causes your opponent to panic.
Popularly used in MMA, it is mostly used as a way to open the closed guard. Sometimes the bottom player will react by opening their legs to alleviate the neck pressure and forfeit their closed guard. However, if held correctly then it can get a tap by harming the neck.
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