Submission profile

Triangle choke: how often it lands in real training

The triangle choke is the #2 submission in BJJBuddy logs, finished by 1,642 people. How it works, the common mistakes, gi vs no-gi, and by belt.

People who finished it1,642Logged it as their submission
People caught by it1,360Logged tapping to it
Rank#02Among 36 submissions
Gi share41.5%Of finishes on a logged gi day
Both sides of the exchange

Finished it. Got caught by it.

Finished it1,642
Caught by it1,360

The same person can be in both groups. Across all logs, 5,190 finishes and 2,988 taps were recorded on separate training days.

Training format

Gi vs no-gi

41.5%gi
Gi 41.5%No-gi 58.5%

4,056 finishes on days with a logged gi or no-gi session. Across all sessions the split is 51.5% gi.

The triangle (sankaku jime) is a blood choke made with your legs: one arm in, one arm out, and your legs locked in a figure-four around the neck and shoulder. It is the classic finish from closed guard.

How the triangle choke works

  1. Get one of your partner’s arms inside your legs and the other outside, usually by pushing one wrist to their hip as you shoot your leg up.
  2. Put your shin across the back of their neck and pull the head down to break posture.
  3. Cut an angle toward the trapped arm’s side, then lock the figure-four: the back of one knee over the other foot.
  4. Squeeze your knees, pull the head down and lift your hips. Pulling the trapped arm across their body tightens the choke.

Common mistakes

  • Staying square to your partner. Without the angle, the choke stays loose and they can posture out.
  • Locking the triangle with the foot too far across, which leaves a gap at the neck.
  • Letting them stand and stack you before the lock is tight.

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 belt29.2%
Blue belt37.8%
Purple belt40.9%
Brown belt43.9%
Black belt41.1%

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.