Recently, we saw ATOS prodigy Kade Ruotolo pull off the buggy choke against PJ Barch during a Combat Jiu Jitsu competition match. For those wondering, the buggy choke is a modified triangle from the bottom side control position. Yes, you heard it correctly, a triangle from the bottom. To date, this was the first time the choke had been pulled off by an elite grappler against another elite level grappler. Kade Ruotolo is undoubtedly legit, as was his opponent PJ Barch who is a very talented black belt.
Up until this moment, bottom side control chokes hadn’t been done much at this level, with 10th Planet veteran Jerimiah Vance pulling off the odd submission from there. However, no one as good as PJ Barch had been submitted by the move. With a few failed attempts tried in MMA, the buggy choke had little credibility in terms of legitimacy, until Ruotolo hit it. With this in mind, we shall delve into the finer details
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How to set up the Buggy choke
The buggy choke is done from the bottom of side control. Of course, it’s best to try and escape first and learn the fundamentals of BJJ. However, as a hail Mary if you can’t escape, or whether you’re just messing around then the buggy choke can be considered an option. To attack the buggy choke, you need the opponent’s near arm on the near side of your face, as if trying to attack a cross face. At the same time, you need the opponent’s other arm on your far hip.
In other words, their top arm should be on the near side of your body, with their bottom arm on the far side of your body. When this is done, the buggy choke is available. The next step is to raise your far side arm upwards. At the same time, you should raise your far side leg and underhook it with your arm. By doing this, you will have trapped the opponent in a triangle choke position. Their head and shoulder should be in between your hips, leg and arm.
How do you submit with the Buggy choke?
When this position is achieved, you can now attack the submission. From here, it’s important to keep their body locked in. In the gi, you can grip onto their belt with your near side arm to pin their hips, or even get a gable grip with both hands and clamp down into your leg. This should enhance the tightness of the choke and make the submission come on quicker.
When setting up and finishing the buggy choke, you should realize that the move often requires great flexibility and know-how. For instance, most triangle chokes can be done by un-flexible people who use angles to create a triangle. However, the buggy isn’t this easy in terms of angles. Perhaps the hardest part of the choke is raising your far leg upwards and linking it with your arm. Be careful, if you’re not flexible then you may blow out your knee by doing this.
Generally, it is easier for people who are comfortable with rubber guard, omoplatas and typical leg and knee flexibility by moving your feet sideways towards your head. Remember, when finishing the submission, you may need to be patient and hold the choke a little longer than a regular triangle and be careful not to squeeze and blow out your energy. If the choke fails and you use energy, you may get punished by being in bottom side control.
How do you defend the Buggy choke?
Of course, the main idea of defending the buggy is to not get caught there in the first place. This can be done by correct framing and head placement. However, BJJ is never perfect and you may end up there on occasion. If caught, fear not – there are ways out the choke and eventually, your opponent will give up if they can’t finish the submission.
To escape, you want to bring your near arm and start digging it into the throat of the opponent. Some people try to crossface from here which is usually not enough to release the triangle choke. Instead, you need to dig your free arm into the throat and put severe pressure on their carotid artery or trachea. Although this isn’t nice, it’s not meant to be and will typically break the choke. A similar defense can be applied during the early stages of a cross collar choke from the guard.
Of course, every defense has a counter. If you are on the bottom – you may want to stop this escape by trapping the near side arm. To do this you can try to catch the arm in an overhook which severely limited the movement of the arm. This will help protect your neck, and therefore minimize any attacks to your throat and threaten escapes. If the opponent is still safe in your triangle and can get a forearm to your throat, it could possibly even choke you from the bottom, so be wary about protection.
How do you use a Buggy choke?
Although the move is mostly considered gimmicky, it has been used by top BJJ players. Because of this, it must be respected and also feared. At the same time, it is a very rare move and for beginners especially you should always try to escape a side control pin first. Whilst you may catch out the odd opponent, generally, it isn’t wise to try and submit from awful positions and these moves are called the fundamentals for a reason.
However, if you have no concern for rules or traditions in BJJ then this move may excite you. With this said if flexibility is not an issue, then next time you’re in side control you may opt to throw up a buggy choke and see where it takes you.
