Darce choke is also referred to as “screw choke”, or no BJJ-Gi choke. It’s a strong and impactful head and arm choke mostly executed in submission wrestling & Jiu-Jitsu. Darce choke lies in the list of most dangerous submissions in the Brazilian jiu-jitsu arsenal. Portuguese, often referred to as “triângulo de braço inverted”, which is translated as “inverted arm-triangle”. Darce Choke is an extremely powerful grappling submission that strangulates your opponent from the neck. Its mechanic works by trapping the head of your opponent between both of your arms. Then squeezing both of your arms tightly and applying pressure from both sides of your necks, which makes it hard for your opponent to escape it.
A lot of chokes look quite similar to Darce choke but are different in the terms of techniques. The most similar one from them is Anaconda choke. The difference among them is the hands and lock position.
Darce Choke – the origin of the name?
The exact origin of its name is unknown. But the guy who is mainly responsible for making this choke famous was a Brazilian named “Joe D’Arce”. Another Brazilan jiu-jitsu black belt holder Renzo Gracie, successfully forced the opponents multiple times to surrender this wonderful choke which made this move more famous.
History of the Darce Choke
The origin of D’Arce choke ties with Luta Livre Esportiva’s competitor Björn Dag Lagerström. He executed this grappling submission accidentally. This choke became famous throughout Brazilain Jiu-Jitsu black-belt Milton Vieira. He wanted to pursue his combat career as an MMA athlete career in the early 2000s, for that he joined the jiu-jitsu Top Team, & brought entertaining BJJ moves in the mixed martial art world. The very first Darce choke in the UFC was witnessed between the fight of Kendall “Da Spyder” Grove & Alan Belcher at 69 UFC. Belcher was badly battering Grove during the bout. However, the Hawaiian star took it as an opportunity & shocked the whole world, and earned the Performance-of-the-Night award.
The Mechanism of Darce Choke
D’Arce choke is the blood choke that means it will make your opponent sleep if you execute it correctly. You get to cover both carotid arteries of your opponent (these arteries run in the throat area) and pressurize it for decreasing the flow of blood to your opponent’s brain that is responsible for his sleep. It is done by inserting the arm under the opponent’s arm & neck & then closing off the submission choke by catching the upper forearm of your opposite arm. The right execution of this technique will trap your opponent.
Darce choke is worked out by mixing your force & your opponent’s body against it. Like in arm-triangle choke, in which you push your opponent’s arm against the neck for choking them.
How to Execute a Darce Choke
Darce choke is executed by the creation of the competitor’s inverted arms in a triangle position against the opponent, by cutting the flow of blood to the brain. This choke reduces the space for your opponent’s head & one arm.
For the execution of this choke, the figure for the arms & reduce the space for your opponent’s head & arm. You start withholding his head firmly between both of your forearms. And holding the other arm with your hand and putting pressure on your opponent’s shoulders by compressing him against his neck for restricting the blood supply to the brain, ultimately results in submission or the opponent’s unconsciousness.
This choke is more than its name, a fantastic position for controlling and opening up entries for positions & attacks. It utilizes your force and your opponent’s posture for proper execution. Grapplers have longer arms and take clear advantage of this choke position because it makes them wrap the arms around their foe’s neck. Darce choke is an excellent way of outsmarting the defensive grappler.
Variations
1) Top Half Guard
It is probably one of the most common setups of the Darce choke. This choke comes when the opponent has the weak underhook twitch that can be dominated. Once you have the Whizzer at the underhook, drive the arm further & drive the weight down on that underhook, it will further reduce the strength of underhook. After you have managed it, you can now shoot Whizzer’s arm by the underside headspace.
Then clasp at the back of your neck to keep the opponent away from escaping. The free arm, bring it over your head & reinforce it at the back of the skull with the tricep. After that with a Whizzer arm, connect it by grabbing the bicep on your rear-naked-choke styled lock. Then with your free hand reinforce that position at the back of your shoulder. Then for finishing the choke, put your weight down at top of your shoulder by compressing with the arms, if needed for reducing more space.
2) Mounted Darce Choke
In the half-guard-side, you control the knee-on-belly, while your objective is creating the space in your near arm & the body. The main trigger of the technique is the straightened arm of your opponent that prevents arming you from digging the underhook. Then thread the arm deeper under his arm & neck. If your opponent powers out, do not bother getting the Darce choke, rather than often opening for the north-south choke. If you’re able, put your elbow or the other arm on the ground & smash at the back of your opponent’s head till you successfully grab your bicep. The go for locking up the choke. Might want to switch on the hip for allowing full penetration. Come back on the knees once you have successfully locked in.
For the fun part. When in the half-guard, try using distraction for the submissive choke for passing. Or for finishing, drop the weight on your opponent’s shoulder & squeeze. For mounted Darce, your opponent might start rolling on their knees or their back. If they can roll away successfully, shift the hips so you become in the low-baseball position. In a way that your hips point towards the legs of your opponent.
3) Darce Choke From Turtle
Go for this choke when your opponent is in turtle position but facing you. Start executing the choke by putting the left-arm in, after that go for the typical headlock by putting the right arm under your opponent’s chest & wrapping it around his neck. Then drop to a side with the right arm remaining under your opponent’s neck, and pressing the left shoulder with the chest.
Lock this choke on your opponent’s neck & keep rolling it clockwise. Then try grabbing the right leg of your opponent with the left leg of yours, doing this will prevent him from escaping the choke. Then squeeze & put the hips in for finishing the Darce choke.
Defense
It is a dangerous choke, and not easy to apply on your opponent. Especially if you lack a strong basis for this. Its smooth execution requires you to have longer arms and slender arms. Also, if the opponent owns a wide frame, it might be extremely difficult for you in reaching for closing off that choke. I have the opponent isn’t able to reach long enough for completing the choke so you feel safe. Also, take care of your opponent’s legs that will prevent him from spiraling out.
You can execute this submissive choke from any position. It can be used in both types of games gi or no-gi which makes it in the list of applicable Brazilain Jiu-Jitsu techniques.
