There are certain submission holds that we rarely seen in professional MMA matches.
One such move is the scissor choke.
This move is taught in Gracie Jiu Jitsu under the Gracie Combatives white belt curriculum. The scissor choke is taught as part of a headlock escape and can be so easily thwarted that it is co-instructed with a ‘scissor failure’ technique. Such a move can be effective against a regular person in a street fight, but World Series of Fighting competitor Phoenix Jones did it to a trained professional at WSOF 23.
When asked about pulling off the scissor choke submission at WSOF 23, Phoenix Jones had this to say:
“I actually have a good percentage with the move. I have 4 submissions that way. It’s one of my go to moves. The reason people don’t understand it is because they don’t set it up correctly. They get in there and try to neck scissor without Kimoraing. What you do is put the Kimora in, or Americana either way, and try to go for that move. How people defend it is they try to pull their arm which leaves their head up in the air. Then you X your feet under their head, and you’re not squeezing your thighs together. You’re closing the X like a pair of scissors. That’s the difference. When people put their legs on both sides and have no no arm, they’re just squeezing their thighs against the carotid. If you tap to that then you’re an idiot.”
Phoenix Jones, also known as Ben Fodor, is set to take on his own brother Caros Fodor at World Series of Fighting 32 on July 30, 2016.
That commentator doesn’t understand the choke. It was fully locked in. That would cause unconsciousness if he hadn’t tapped.