Guillotine choke: How to escape this submission?

A guillotine choke escape is vital in today's MMA landscape. The submission is a staple of mixed martial arts when it comes to reliability. Part of the guillotine choke's success in the sport can be nailed down to its variety as it can be applied from various positions.

Reigning UFC heavyweight champion Jon Jones famously used a standing guillotine choke to defeat Lyoto Machida during their days as UFC light heavyweight standouts. Meanwhile, legendary heavyweight Brazilian jiu-jitsu specialist Fabricio Werdum bested Cain Velasquez with the submission.

However, instead of securing a standing guillotine choke, 'Vai Cavalo' used the submission as a counter to his foe's takedown attempt. Velasquez positioned his own head on the outside of Werdum's hip, rendering him susceptible to a guillotine choke.

Similarly, Nate Diaz used a counter-guillotine against Tony Ferguson in the former's final UFC fight. So how exactly does a guillotine choke escape work?

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Guillotine choke escape

One of the greatest examples of a fighter escaping a guillotine is Alexander Volkanovski's gutsy survival against Brian Ortega's arm-in guillotine at UFC 266. 'T-City' is a Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt with a supremely dangerous submission game that specializes in guillotines and triangle chokes.

In the third round of their bout, Ortega caught one of Volkanovski's kicks before taking him off his feet with a right-hand. He immediately transitioned into full mount, where he slapped on an arm-in guillotine. The choke variant is different from a standard guillotine, which doesn't include an arm.

'The Great' defended against his foe's submission attempt by first tucking his chin to render it more difficult for 'T-City' to keep his arm under his chin. Furthermore, Volkanovski used his left hand, which was in the choke, to push against the forearm of Ortega's right choking arm, loosening the choke.

Meanwhile, the reigning featherweight champion used his right hand to push against Ortega's hip. This bought him enough time to weaken his foe's choke until Ortega's grip broke.

Another method of defending the choke involves grabbing the wrist of the opponent's primary choking arm.

The primary choking arm is the arm the opponent slides under one's chin across the neck. By grabbing the choking arm and putting one's torso weight on the wrist of the opponent's choking arm, a fighter can initiate a guillotine choke escape.