“You can’t choke someone from inside their closed guard” is a nugget of wisdom we usually learn on our first or second day of jiu-jitsu. But just like many “fundamental facts,” this truth is often disproven by athletes who have a bit more experience under their belts and know how to break the “rules” of what’s impossible and what’s not.
Purple belt Mike Turpin was a perfect example of this when he competed against black belt and multiple-time Fight 2 Win competitor Josh Weinstock in the expert division of Grappling Industries Maryland. Weinstock appeared to be controlling Turpin with his closed guard, but suddenly, Turpin slaps on a head-arm triangle. After a light tap that Turpin says he missed (“I felt a light tap but wasn’t sure,” he said in a social media post), Weinstock’s arm goes limp, and the referee calls the match and starts trying to wake him up.
Watch the match below, and be extra careful before assuming that a choke from closed guard wouldn’t work on you:
