Submission profile

Guillotine choke: how often it lands in real training

The guillotine is the #7 submission in BJJBuddy logs, finished by 1,063 people. How the front headlock choke works, gi vs no-gi, and by belt.

People who finished it1,063Logged it as their submission
People caught by it904Logged tapping to it
Rank#07Among 36 submissions
Gi share34.6%Of finishes on a logged gi day
Both sides of the exchange

Finished it. Got caught by it.

Finished it1,063
Caught by it904

The same person can be in both groups. Across all logs, 2,765 finishes and 1,625 taps were recorded on separate training days.

Training format

Gi vs no-gi

34.6%gi
Gi 34.6%No-gi 65.4%

2,223 finishes on days with a logged gi or no-gi session. Across all sessions the split is 51.5% gi.

The guillotine is a front choke: your arm wraps around the neck from the front, with the forearm under the chin. It catches people who shoot in with their head low or drop their head while passing.

How the guillotine works

  1. Wrap your arm around the neck so your wrist sits under the chin, blade of the forearm against the throat.
  2. Grab that hand with your other hand, or use an arm-in grip with one of their arms inside.
  3. Close your guard or bring their body tight to you to stop them circling.
  4. Lift the forearm up into the neck and arch back, keeping their head trapped against your chest.

Common mistakes

  • Pulling the head down instead of lifting the forearm into the neck.
  • Leaving room for them to step around to the side and pass.
  • Squeezing for a long time with a poor grip: it tires your arms before it finishes.

Learn and drill techniques with a qualified coach and a cooperative partner, and let go the moment your partner taps. This overview is not a substitute for live instruction.

How often each belt finishes it

White belt18.3%
Blue belt23.4%
Purple belt24.7%
Brown belt27.2%
Black belt28.9%

Share of each belt’s users (among those who logged any submission) who have finished with it. Belt is the rank set in the app today.

How to read these figures

“Finished it” means a user logged this move as a submission they got. “Caught by it” means they logged tapping to it. The rank orders all 36 submissions by how many different people logged them either way. From BJJBuddy training logs, November 2015 to November 2026. Duplicate uploads are removed, so a session is one person on one training day. Each person counts once per technique. Groups smaller than 10 people are not shown.