Triangle Choke

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Triangle Choke, called sankaku jime (三角絞) in judo, literally triangular choke, wraps the attacker's legs around the opponent's neck and one arm in a figure-four shape. It acts as a lateral blood choke that restricts blood flow to the brain through the carotid arteries; according to the research the source cites, it takes an average of 9.5 seconds to cause unconsciousness. Three main variants are distinguished by angle and position relative to the opponent: front (mae sankaku jime), horizontal (yoko sankaku jime), and reverse triangle (ushiro sankaku jime). A primitive version was shown around 1890 by Senjuro Kanaya of the Takenouchi-ryu school, and the name most strongly linked to the technique's development is Yaichibei Kanemitsu. The first documented tournament use is credited to Masaru Hayakawa in Kobe in November 1921. Earlier names for it included matsuba gatame, sankaku garami, and sankaku gyaku. It was also officially adopted and supported by prominent judoka such as Masami Oyama. Rolls Gracie popularized it in Brazilian jiu-jitsu, though according to some historians judoka such as Yasuichi Ono had already introduced it there earlier. In MMA it was first used by Jason Delucia on March 11, 1994, at UFC 2. Per the IBJJF rules overview it is banned in the children's categories from 4 to 15, permitted from the 16-to-17 category, and allowed for adults of all belts unrestricted.