Although back control is widely acknowledged as one of the most powerful forms of control and attack in BJJ, less is known about the back triangle. This isn’t to be confused with the body triangle either, which is a leg wrap around the opponent’s waist.
Instead, the back triangle is when you’ve locked a triangle around the opponent’s neck and shoulders from a back position. Here we shall be explaining how to enter this move and how to submit people from there. In short, this is one of the highest percentage moves in all of BJJ, but sadly a lot of people don’t use it that much.
How to enter the back triangle
Imagine you’ve taken someone’s back in sparring. Let’s imagine they’re defending chokes very well, either in gi or nogi, and for whatever reason, you just can’t finish them. This is where the back triangle comes into play which can easily finish off the most stubborn of opponents. So, here is the entry.
Firstly, you’ll want to switch your grips. Most people control and attack the back by using a regular seatbelt grip which is where you’ll most likely start from. Here, you’ll want to keep the underhook grip of the seatbelt and take your top arm and also use that as an underhook. In other words, you’ll want double underhooks from the back, as if you’re a human backpack whose arms act as straps. This is a good control position but alone it doesn’t offer any threats.
After this, you’ll want to control the arm on the side you will kick your leg over. Put another way, if your right leg is to swing over their shoulder, you’ll want to control their right wrist with the same side underhook grip. This should be easy enough, even against a tough opponent.
When you have this grip, you’ll then want to use your other underhook to grab onto the same wrist, so you briefly have two hands gripping one for the time being. Then, you’ll want to let go of the original grip (in this case your right-sided underhook), and use this to post on the opponent’s shoulder.
This allows you to scoot back a little to create an angle (try to scoot back whilst also looking in the opponent’s near angle, so you’re not fully behind them but at an angle to slot your leg in).
With the same-sided leg, you should then place it over the opponents same sided shoulder. At this point, you may feel like you can trap their near arm with this leg which is a possibility. However, this article is based on the back triangle and isn’t about trapping arms.
When this is done, you’ll briefly want to let go of the controlled arm with your other underhooked arm (which would be your left in this instance). Then, you’ll want to grip onto your shin with this hand and use it to guide your leg towards your other leg. At this point, you can then lock up the triangle, which should start at the opponent’s neck and shoulder, and end underneath their armpit.
It’s important to grip onto the shin as it keeps the triangle locked. Otherwise, you give the opponent time to escape. Also, make sure you lock over the shin and not your ankle as this could result in injuring your ankle. You have now entered the back triangle.
Submissions from the back triangle
Although the back triangle is great for submissions, it’s also great for control. Sadly, it doesn’t score points in competition but is very difficult to escape from. The first submission we shall look at is the Americana.
The Americana
Due to the opponent’s body placement, the Americana is probably the easiest submission to achieve. Even if they start by gripping their hands tightly, you should still be able to pry open their grip by leaning into their arm and placing both of your arms under their grip.
This should be enough to break the grip – and then you can apply an Americana on their arm, as if you were in a mounted triangle. This is done by getting the regular Americana grip and bending until the opponent taps.
The Wrist lock
The second submission from this position is the wrist lock. Although this isn’t as high percentage, it’s also low energy and may open up more submissions later on. To do this, you should isolate their arm which is locked inside the triangle. Then, grab their wrist and bend back.
Try to get their elbow touching your body so they can’t defend it, and this should result in another submission. Similarly, you may be able to bend their arm back if they resist and hit a straight arm lock.
The Triangle choke
Obviously, one of the other main submissions from here is the triangle. To do this, make sure your lock is tight. One tip to do this is to curl your toes around their body which will tighten your legs. If locked in perfectly, this alone should create a triangle choke.
If not, you should lean forward which will put more pressure on their carotid arteries. If you can, grab their belt and lean which should result in the tap. You could even swing around to finish from a regular triangle position, but this is not advised as it gives the opponent an easier chance to escape.
Calf stretcher
If the opponent defends by trying to kick their legs over you, you can also catch one and put their heel under your armpit and lean back. This will create a stretch above their calf muscle and may get them to tap if they’re inflexible. The correct name for this term is ‘suloev stretch’ which has even been done in the UFC.
The Armbar
Lastly, another submission is the armbar, but this isn’t advised. This requires unlocking the triangle and adjusting your legs and opening the triangle to move into a conventional armbar. This isn’t advised as it means breaking the triangle which already offers great control and submission options. By going for the armbar, you’re potentially undoing your hard work and may not hit the submission anyway.
Other thoughts on the back triangle
One of the biggest strengths of the back triangle is using it from a top turtle position. Often in MMA, you will see the defending fighter tripod up, shake themselves, and throw the attacker off their back. However, if the attacker gets a double underhook grip instead of a conventional seatbelt grip, then they become much harder to shake off.
Further, if they do lose their hooks, there’s a strong chance they can simply roll with the defensive opponent into back control anyway. Therefore, you could argue that this is a greater form of control against an opponent in turtle as it means you’re more likely to sustain the back position.
On a similar note, if you’re falling off the back, then you may be able to fall into a back triangle if you can adjust your legs in time. This may not be as safe as securing double unders, but if you’re falling off anyway at that point and you’re too high then it’s not a bad option to go for.
A few other key reminders are to remember to scoot out to make enough distance to get your opponent’s head in your lap. Also, you’ll want to curl your feet behind the opponent’s back to tighten the lock if you’re trying to choke them. Another important aspect of this technique is also creating the angle to originally enter the triangle. This isn’t about flexibility and you will need the right angle to lift your hips above the opponent’s shoulder.
Conclusion
Overall, the back triangle is a great attacking option when doing Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and MMA. The main issue is that it is unconventional to get to. Secondly, a lot of people will end up finishing their opponent from the back anyway from more typical methods.
As a result, the back triangle isn’t too common in BJJ. However, this doesn’t make it gimmicky or unrealistic either. It is actually a solid move but with that said is quite situational. Ideally, you would learn this for times you’re on the back and can’t quite finish a stubborn opponent. Try it out next time you roll and see if it works!
