Baret Yoshida's BJJ Guillotine Setup From the Back
When we first posted this clip, Baret Yoshida, one of the slickest submission hunters BJJ has produced, was walking through a chance most people throw away the moment they get it: the guillotine…
Words: Jiu Jitsu Style
When we first posted this clip, Baret Yoshida, one of the slickest submission hunters BJJ has produced, was walking through a chance most people throw away the moment they get it: the guillotine that's sitting right there once you've already taken the back.
The choke hiding inside the back take
Everyone drills the rear naked choke off the back. Almost nobody drills what happens when the opponent refuses to give it to them. A good defender turns in, chin tucked, shoulder rammed into your chest, spinning to face you rather than let the hooks and the collar do their work. That turn is a defense against the strangle behind them. It is not a defense against the strangle in front of them. The second that jaw turns your way, the head is sitting inside range for a guillotine, and Yoshida's whole point was that the position doesn't need to be abandoned to get there, the choke is a continuation of the back take, not a fallback plan for when it fails.
A read that still wins matches in 2026
Yoshida made a career out of finding these gaps. Longtime ADCC veteran, a Metamoris main event against Kron Gracie that went the full distance and then some, and a reputation, well before "highlight reel" was a category on YouTube, for hunting finishes other black belts were content to let slip away. That instinct for the choke hiding inside the scramble is exactly what the sport's best back-attackers still run on. Watch Gordon Ryan work the back and he's rarely fighting for one specific submission; he's stacking threats so that turning away from the rear naked choke means turning into something worse. The Ruotolo brothers scramble the same way, chase the back, and if the neck turns in, the guillotine is already loaded. Mikey Musumeci and Ffion Davies both built their names on refusing to let a defended choke become a stalemate. The lesson from 2016 hasn't aged; it's just become standard curriculum.
The takeaway
Next time you've got the back and your opponent turns to survive, don't reset. Chase the jaw with your far arm, lock the guillotine grip, and let the choke that was never really gone finish the job the rear naked choke started. It's not a new technique bolted onto the back take, it's the back take, refusing to stop.
See you on the mats.
Originally published in Jiu Jitsu Style, 12 November 2016. Refreshed for 2026.