30 year history of the Triangle Choke

 The Sangaku Jime Triangle choke is an old JJ technique that goes back to the old ryuha

it is in Judo as part of the black belt newaza - any Judoka 3rd dan or above will be well versed in this move

Gracie Jiu Jitsu, as part of it's self defence combative, and used in cage and VT matches, consider it the ultimate technique - the Gracie Academy symbol is the triangle for that reason

to quote Grandmaster Helio "there are no tough guys in the choke"

Back in 1987 I went to see Lethal Weapon at the cinema with some buddies. As you know the triangle choke is used at the end of the final fight. After the film my friends asked me what it is he actually did, if it was a real move, and why the arm is inside that way, wouldn't it work better without the arm, just use your legs, stuff like that.

I was able to explain the standard sleeper choke, both standing and if it goes to the ground when taking the back.
I showed it as a punch defence, how you block and use his own arm as a choke, standing, then on the ground, which is Judo is the kata gatame hold.
I then showed how, if you are on your back not on top, you use your leg and his arm to do the "Mel Gibson" choke.
A lot of people had a lot of fun trying this out over the next few weeks.

The first Summer Camp I ever taught was August 1993, so in August 1988, my 6th Camp, I had the attendees doing the "Lethal Weapon" choke on each other on the grass.

About 10 years later, 1996, and we are getting the tapes from the 4th UFC when Royce wins by choking out Dan The Beast Severn with the triangle.
At this time there was no real internet, You Tube, not much in the way of cable TV over here, no DVDs, so we got the UFCs on VHS tapes from America.
People who watched were raving about the triangle choke, and at the time it was the first time anyone had ever seen it, certainly in a TV match.

My response was "remember 10 years ago after Lethal Weapon when I first explained it to you..."

10 years later, 2006/07, and "Brazilian Jujutsu" is the new big MA craze and MMA classes had started popping up everywhere (the term MMA had just been coined). A lot of people had gained a blue belt in what was now being called BJJ, which allowed them to set up a class and teach. These classes were NOT the official GRACIE Jiu Jitsu and what they were teaching was a sport version of JJ designed for the new MMA games with modified rules such as no punching on the ground. BJJ and MMA are a world away from the violent no rules contests of the early UFC and Vale Tudo where GRACIE, not generic "Brazilian" JJ dominated.

So people were going to BJJ classes, taught by a blue belt, and learning this "brilliant new triangle choke" that nobody had seen before

"remember 20 years ago after Lethal Weapon when I explained to you..."

Soon it will be 2017, another decade later, and BJJ and MMA clubs have popped up all over the UK, with many instructors now actually having a BJJ black belt to teach with. People who, as we speak (read, write this, etc) will be signing up for classes and will be shown this brilliant new triangle choke for the first time.

"Remember 30 years ago after Lethal Weapon..."

No doubt in 2027 I will be teaching the triangle choke and reminding people how I first explained this move 40 years ago after we watched Lethal Weapon.

It is 8 years since I posted this about the 30 year history of the Triangle Choke

Many of you were there, 3 years later, on the 30 year anniversary in 2017 when we retold the story and went over the Choke

In 5 years it will be time to update this to the "40 year history" - how many of you will be there for that?

However, with the first Summer Camp being 1983, and the first camp I taught the Choke at being 1988, this year 2022 being the "40th Summer Camp", we will commemorate by including the Triangle Choke on the Grass