The Von Flue choke is a very misunderstood and underutilized submission which is rarely seen in BJJ and MMA. The choke itself was made famous by MMA fighter Jason Von-Flue, although the choke had been around long before he used it. BJJ was still only 10 years old to the general public in 2003, with people still not knowing what a lot of the moves were outside of your standard RNC, armbar, guillotine and other common submissions.
So when the general public saw the Von-Flue choke for the first time in 2003, it was attributed to the fighter’s name. Since then, the name has stuck but it has not been seen frequently at all.
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The Mechanics Of The Von Flue Choke
Most people seem to think that the Von Flue choke is a pure counter to the guillotine. Whilst it can – and often is, used as a counter for the guillotine, it can also be set up from side control. The problem with using this choke as a counter to the guillotine is that you need an upper body set up, whilst making 100% sure that there is absolutely no leg control from the opponent.
If your leg is entangled from a guillotine you will not be able to finish a Von Flue choke. Your opponent will be able to tap you with their guillotine.
So the fundamental idea behind a Von-Flue choke is that you MUST HAVE PASSED THE OPPONENTS GUARD.
Finishing The Von Flue Choke
Finishing the Von-Flue is relatively easy once set up. It may take a long time for the opponent to pass out or tap, depending on if you have one, rather than both carotid arteries compressed.
Your head will force the opponent’s tricep upwards which will trap their shoulder against their own neck. Think of this as being a wrong sided head and arm choke. You are essentially trapping the opponent’s far arm so it can’t move.
On your own side, you are simply driving your own bicep against the neck and/or shoulder against the Jaw. The bicep against the artery is the best pressure to have since it is a pure blood choke and will finish faster.
Pointers
Never have your hips too much higher than your opponent’s knees. Although your weight is going directly into the opponent’s neck, you have a very little base whilst performing this choke and have now taken some weight off your legs. This can allow your opponent to sweep you over your own head.
Always block the nearside hip. This can be done using your knee or your spare arm. You must not let the opponent get a leg entanglement. Most likely if they do get an entanglement, you won’t be guillotined as the angle is too sharp at this point, but you will be in half guard and are no longer able to finish the choke.
Entries To The Von Flue Choke
There are 2 main entries to the Von-Flue choke.
#1 Failed Guillotine
This is the most common entry, discussed more below as this is the setup Ovince Saint-Preux often uses in the UFC. It can either be entered from a takedown and dodging the opponent’s legs on the way down to the mat (whilst in guillotine grip).
The other less common and riskier way is to be in a guillotine and pass your opponent’s guard. This is extremely uncommon in high level grappling since almost everyone knows they must keep the guard at all costs in order to finish the guillotine.
#2 Side Control
This is a less common set up but can be done by planting your own head underneath your opponent’s armpit and walking it up towards their neck. From here you can use the Von-Flue mechanics written above to finish the choke.
Ovince Saint-Preux Using Von-Flue In MMA
The choke in modern years has sometimes been heard as “The OSP choke”. This is because the Haitian-American fighter has used it 4 times to beat his opponent in the octagon. The Von-Flue has only been used a total of 6 times to finish a fight in UFC history, so we can see why people have started to call it this.
OSP will often bait his opponent into grabbing his head when shooting for a single leg. He will then make sure he is on the opposite side of the body to finish the takedown. Fighters generally don’t want to be on their backs, but they will accept this position if they think they have a tight guillotine grip.
Once on the ground, the guillotine cannot be finished without a top position or a leg entanglement. OSP knows this and traps the opponent’s arm with his own head. From here the opponent’s shoulder is forced into their own neck. Even if they simply let go of the guillotine at this point, it is far too late.
The only escapes from here are to roll OSP over his head to bottom side control (which cannot be done as his posture is almost always correct when finishing). Or entangle his nearest leg, this is also almost always impossible as he will put his knee on their hip – always maintaining control.
