How To Get Good Guillotines

UFC London was a rare Fight Night with multiple submission finishes. Today we’re going to look at Sean Brady and Chris Duncan’s guillotines to analyze what makes a good guillotine.

This weekend was also the NCAA Wrestling Finals. We got two larger than life storybook finishes. In the Premium Notebook we’re taking a closer look at two finals matches, the circumstances that made them larger than life, and some neat tricks the athletes showed.

Now let’s get into it.

The guillotine is a submission every MMA fan is familiar with. Mostly because fighters go for them all the time and miss them.

Fan favorite Dustin Poirier jumps the gilly in almost every single fight.

But a good guillotine choke is better than a get out of jail free card. It’s a weapon that can be used when you’re going forward taking your opponent’s space and when they are encroaching upon you. It’s quick, versatile, and a must know if you want to be a good grappler in MMA and jiujitsu.

Chris Duncan submitted Jordan Vucenic with a guillotine at UFC London. Before he did, Duncan missed a guillotine early in the first round.

Good chokes in jiujitsu don’t attack the wind pipe. They close both carotid arteries and prevent oxygen from getting to the brain. So, when you see a gap between Vucenic’s neck and Duncan’s chest, you know oxygen is still flowing to Vucenic’s brain and he’s not going to tap.

Later in their fight, Vucenic got offensive. He rushed in and Duncan closed off both sides of Vucenic’s neck.

Fast forward to the the main event. Sean Brady was running Leon Edwards all around the Octagon before he smooshed the former champion with a guillotine from top.

Let’s get a clearer picture of the difference between a good guillotine and a guillotine that’s not going to force someone to submit.

Look at the gap above. Compare that with Brady’s guillotine. Top or bottom, it doesn’t matter. Losing those inches are the difference between a submission win and potentially losing the position, and maybe the whole fight.

Before we get out of here today I want to take a look at the footwork that got us to these finishes

I am obsessed with how good grapplers use their feet to win exchanges when the wrestling stalls out. Take a look at how Duncan finished this takedown.

Not a bad slam at all. And Duncan wouldn’t have gotten Vucenic in the air if he didn’t kick Vucenic’s leg to disrupt his base.

Before Sean Brady submitted Leon Edwards, Brady made Edwards’s life hell. Yes, his passing and pressure were punishing, but the real story for me was how well Brady disrupted Edwards’s base. Edwards couldn’t move an inch without getting harassed.

Whenever Brady had an angle on Edwards’s backside, the former champion was more than a step behind.

Brady’s slickest moves came in the space between the takedowns and pins. Watch how well Brady uses his legs to ruin Edwards’s base and get him flat to the floor. Watch Brady’s right leg in particular.

Brady gave Edwards the perfect amount of space for him to move towards safety. But Brady was always just ahead of Edwards to eliminate the safe haven before Edwards could arrive.

From the first round on we should have known Brady was going to make Edwards look uncomfortable. Look at how Edwards had no answer for the sasae tsurikomi ashi.

Sean Brady is a rare grappling talent. He’s a strong, technical, and creative Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt. And when he’s not fighting in the UFC he’s moonlighting as a professional grappler. He even beat Richie Martinez as well as Craig Jones at Fury FC!

I see this fight as Brady breaking through a major plateau. I wouldn’t be surprised if he makes more elite welterweights look lost on the floor.

Before we get out of here today I want to look at some key scrambles from the NCAA Division 1 Wrestling Championships from this past weekend. We were treated to 2 once in a lifetime events in 1 tournament!