The Tarikoplata: A Modern BJJ Kimura Finish

Words: Jiu Jitsu Style

The tarikoplata is one of the slickest modern upgrades to an old submission. It takes a stubborn Kimura, the kind a strong defender can clamp shut and ride out, and finishes it with your legs instead of your arms. The breakdown comes from Stephan Kesting, who is worth knowing if you do not already: a fourth-degree BJJ black belt under Marcus Soares, a career firefighter, and the man behind GrappleArts, where he has taught grappling in a careful, systematic way for decades.

Watch it: Stephan Kesting's tarikoplata breakdown.

The setup: a Kimura from North-South

Start in north-south with one arm over your opponent's arm and one arm under. You attack with the under arm. Find the gap between their elbow and their ribs, feed your arm through, and wrap it high around their upper arm, pulling it tight to your chest. Then drive forward, slightly toward their far side.

The detail that makes or breaks it is staying tight on that arm as you drive. Go loose and they simply bicep-curl the arm back to safety. Kesting's cue is to build a sandwich: their ribs, their forearm, their humerus, then your shoulder, and squeeze until you cut the circulation at the bicep. Keep driving until the arm pulls free, then lock the Kimura.

The finish: bring in the leg

Here is where it becomes the tarikoplata. Once you have the Kimura but their grip will not break to your arms alone, you add a leg. Do not just swing it over, because that hands them your leg and you end up in half guard with nothing. Instead, keep the Kimura locked with your left hand on your own bicep, let go of the wrist with your right hand, and use that hand to block their hip so they cannot swing up and trap your leg.

Now bring your right leg over, so the back of your knee pins their trapped wrist, and put your left hand on your thigh to lock the arm down. Then "dismount": scoot off them in the direction you are facing, which already starts walking their arm up behind their back. Finally, turn your hips toward their head. That carries the arm up behind them, and with your whole lower body working against their one arm, the grip has no chance. That is the tap.

Where the name comes from

You are right to squint at the name, because it is a cousin of the omoplata. The tarikoplata is named after Tarik Hopstock, a Norwegian grappler who built it at Frontline Academy around 2014 while wrestling with this exact problem of arms that would not come free. The "-plata" ending is borrowed straight from the omoplata, since the finish blends a Kimura with an omoplata-style shoulder lock. Same family, newer wrinkle.

The lesson underneath it is the one worth keeping. When your arms stall against a good defense, the answer is usually a new limb or a better angle rather than more muscle. Go use your legs against their arms.

See you on the mats.

Original report via *GrappleArts*.