Ezekiel Choke Escape
Ezekiel choke escape (no-gi) — chin tuck before the insertion, peel the inserting arm's wrist, turn into the elbow side, bridge and recover.
Adapted from InGrappling, Ezekiel Choke Escape. System Games did not invent this curriculum.
Manage injuries →Position map Connects to 4 positions across 2 relationshipsOpen in the map →1234←Escape route from
This page covers escape from the no-gi Ezekiel choke. One arm goes behind the head and its hand grips the other arm; that other arm brings its fist and the blade of the wrist down across the front of the throat, and the loop closes. The Ezekiel appears most often from mount or side control.
⚠ It is a mixed choke, and the mix is what decides how you defend it. The blade of the wrist sits on the throat line, so the airway is loaded by design rather than by error — the pressure is immediate and unpleasant well before anything vascular has happened. A deep seat adds carotid compression on both sides, and either mechanism finishes. In no-gi there is no sleeve to anchor the grip, so the whole thing depends on precise placement and tight elbows, which is also where its weaknesses are.
For the attack, see: /technique/front-headlock/ezekiel. The no-gi version lacks the sleeve anchor of the gi one, so grip security depends entirely on the attacker’s elbow staying low and tight — which makes the choke slower to assemble and more fragile once assembled. Escape priority follows from that: deny the blade a seat on the throat line, and disrupt the elbow position that holds it there.
Also known asSode guruma jime escape(Japanese — sleeve-wheel choke)
The Ezekiel assembles in a sequence of precise stages. Because no-gi grip security is weaker than gi, each stage has a distinct disruption option if the defender acts early enough.
The attacker is reaching for the insertion but has not yet driven the forearm under the chin. The defender can still chin-tuck hard, pin the incoming wrist with both hands, or bridge to disrupt the attacker’s posture. Insertion never happens if the chin wins the race.
The arm is under the chin but the second hand has not yet gripped the wrist, or the grip is soft and the elbow is not tight. The defender can peel the inserting hand, drag the forearm down off the throat, or turn into the elbow to break the insertion angle.