Deep Knee Cut Pass

We start from the normal knee cut position at headquarters, but they have a high knee shield over your chest and shoulder. Try resetting their position by leaning with their knee shield to the other side, applying force to their knee shield leg. From there, attempt to get the underhook—either by posting on the mat, gaining their inside position, or scooping up their far-side arm. Get a C-grip on their shoulder, then move back to the previous knee to continue the knee cut pass.

What If They Resist the Knee Cut Pass?

But what if they don’t let you move back to the previous knee to continue the knee cut pass? You can perform the hip switch pass: post your hand on the mat, put your weight on their shins and legs, place your far-side leg as close to your butt as possible, do a mule kick upward to the sky, and hip switch. Throw your hip to the side to pass their legs, securing the pass.

Transition to the D’arce Choke

After you successfully pass, they should be framing on your cross shoulder. Do the 2-on-1 arm drag pushing their arm outside (look into Rau Drag). Switch your C-grip on their shoulder to their inside, scooping up behind their neck and collecting their head and arm. Lift their upper body up, use your head to control their shoulder, and pin your chin behind their shoulder—their shoulder and arm should be attached to their ear. Then bring your other arm to secure the figure-4, similar to the rear naked choke. To finish the submission, bring your choking arm back toward you and point your elbow toward the ceiling.

I finally learned the D’arce choke officially—Islam Makhachev’s special! I will continue practicing this choke in future sessions. The rolls today were fun, but I’m having trouble starting from the sit-up guard, as well as standing against stronger people or wrestlers. I may need to develop a more solid game plan for each scenario.