Keenan Cornelius's Flavio Canto Choke: A BJJ Breakdown

Words: Jiu Jitsu Style

Here is a BJJ strangle that works from a spot most people treat as pure defense: the bottom of half guard. Keenan Cornelius walks through the Flavio Canto choke in this breakdown, and it is one of those techniques that changes how you sit under a passer. Instead of just framing and surviving, you have a finish waiting.

What the Flavio Canto choke is

The Flavio Canto choke is a lapel strangle you hit from underneath. It carries the name of Flavio Canto, the Brazilian judoka who made it famous, landing it on opponent after opponent in judo newaza. Judo has always lived on collar chokes, and this is one of the sharpest. It crossed into Jiu Jitsu because the mechanics travel: you are using your opponent's own collar against them while you are on the bottom, which is exactly where a gi player wants more options.

Set your grip from half guard knee shield

Everything starts in half guard knee shield. You have your knee framing across, your shield up, keeping the passer off you.

From that frame, reach up and grip the same-side collar with the hand on the same side as your knee shield. Then rest your knee on top of your gripping wrist. That small detail does a lot of work. When you are playing plain knee shield, a good passer can drop your knee to your chest or pin your knees together and make it very hard to recover guard. With your knee sitting on top of your wrist, he cannot drive that knee down or pin it. The grip protects your frame, and your frame protects the grip.

Keep the grip about three inches from his neck, and keep it a little loose. This is the part people get wrong. You do not want to bury the hand deep in the collar like you are setting a cross collar choke. Give it a little slack. That slack is what lets you feed his own neck onto the grip later.

Underhook the arm and swing your leg through

Now underhook his arm on that side, the same way you would if you were hunting a straight armlock. That underhook is your anchor.

With the arm controlled, swing your leg all the way around and come up onto your shoulder. As you turn up, lock your leg over his back, bringing one leg over the top of his head. Keep the other knee out to the side rather than flat over him. That out-turned knee is your fence: it stops him from simply squaring up and passing straight to side control while you build the choke.

Drive his head down over your collar grip

Once your leg is locked over the back of his neck, straighten it out. You are pushing his head down on top of the collar grip you already set. Think of it as a downward chopping pressure, like bringing an axe down. His head gets driven over the top of your grip, and now the collar starts doing the strangling for you.

That weight on his back forces a reaction. Almost always he bases out with his near arm to keep from getting flattened, because you are chopping him down. Good. That posting arm is your next handle.

Finish with the lawnmower pull

When he bases on that arm, get it in an underhook with your top leg by weaving the leg that is over his neck through his based arm like an underhook. From there, keep turning toward your gripping side and bring your other leg over the top. Squeeze everything together, then pull back toward yourself. If this is confusing, watch the video starting at 1:50. Sometimes you just need to see to understand.

That pulling motion is the finish. It feels like starting a lawnmower: you draw the whole structure in toward your own body, and the collar closes off his neck. The choke comes from position and the pull, so you are not just cranking with tired arms.

Keep your knee out to protect your hips

One detail decides whether this holds together. Keep that side knee out. If you let it drop too far down or push it all the way through, he gets room to pass straight to side control, and you lose the pressure you built. You can still finish from there by switching to a reverse triangle, so the position is not lost. Ideally though, you want to hold onto the lock and keep your knee on that side. That keeps your hips free to move and escape if the finish stalls, which is the whole reason knee shield is such a strong place to attack from in Jiu Jitsu.

Take it to the mats

This is a great addition to any BJJ bottom game, because it turns a defensive frame into a real threat and pairs naturally with the armlock attacks off the same underhook. Drill the grip first: three inches off the neck, a little loose, knee resting on the wrist. Get that right and the rest of the sequence flows.

There is more detail in the full breakdown than any writeup can carry, so watch Keenan show it live: Keenan Cornelius' Flavio Canto choke.

See you on the mats.