The triangle from the back, also known as the ushiro sankaku jime, is one of the most powerful moves in grappling. Not only can it choke you, but it also gives you access to a number of high percentage finishes on the trapped arm. This position is so powerful I can't even think of a match when someone escaped without being submitted.
I first saw this in the old Judo book "Best Judo". This is a classic book, but quite old at this point. As a white belt I became interested in this technique, but I could never hit it in sparring. Also my BJJ instructor wasn't familiar with the technique, so I couldn't make it work. I eventually gave up on it until it started popping up again in BJJ competition. I've started working it again and it has now become one of my favorite submissions.
Technique
Like all triangles it involves you trapping your opponents arm between your legs and creating a triangle with your legs. The strangle is generally more difficult to finish in my opinion, but the arm lock options are stronger than the normal front triangle. It is usually set up from the back and it can be a great option if your opponent likes to slide down low inside your back control. Check out these 2 videos on the technique to see some common setups and finishes.
In my personal experience the cross grip works particularly well to secure the triangle without escaping. As you get you right leg over their shoulder, your right hand grabs their left triceps and your left hand grabs your foot. However experiment and find what works best for you.
Examples
Below are some examples of it being used in high level competition(and one of Craig Jones messing around in the gym). Click on the time stamps to find the exact moment I'm referring to in the video.
Here we have Keenan in a great match with Dean Lister. Be sure to watch the whole thing at some point, but for now let's focus on the triangle.
7:10 - Keenan is defending a single leg and decides to go to the kimura trap. He uses this grip to roll Lister to his back. Lister has both his feet trapped in a pseudo- deep half guard, but Keenan uses the kimura grip to extract his legs. After this Lister locks his hands together to defend the kimura.
8:03 - Keenan removes one of his legs and Lister rolls to his right. Lister almost puts himself into a side triangle, but Keenan switches to an armlock(perhaps as a feint) and then into the rear triangle.
8:16 - Keenan is almost in position, but he needs to lift Lister's head. Keenan has 2 attacks from here. If Lister releases his hands to defend the triangle Keenan can go for the armbar, but if he keeps his hands locked he can slowly work his legs into place. This is a great way to setup the reverse triangle.
After a bit of adjustment Keenan's legs slip around Lister's head and he locks the rear triangle. Lister grabs his leg to release pressure, but it isn't enough to actually escape. Because of the postioning of this hold you have a lot of leverage on your opponent's arm, which Keenan uses to break the grip. From here Keenan adjusts the lock and then sits up, which brings Lister's head forward and adds pressure. This causes Dean Lister to tap. This is one of the best options from the kimura trap although it is a bit risky.
Kaynan Duarte went on a run where he hit the rear triangle multiple times at the No-Gi Pan Ams.
Let's check out how he did it.
5:15 - Kaynan get the gift wrap position and does a chair sit from half guard to take his opponent's back. He starts hand fighting and then captures his opponent in the straight jacket system John Danaher made famous. Once he has that, he stomps on his opponents right arm with his right foot. This traps his opponent's right arm and usually you'd go for the RNC from here. As his opponent moves to avoid this his shoulder slips off of Kaynan's thigh and hits the floor. Kaynan is now too high to hit the RNC but he is in perfect position for the rear triangle. Kaynan then pries his opponent's left elbow up to make space for his foot and locks the triangle. From there he continues to adjust and raise his opponent's arm until he gets the tap.
This is another match from Kaynan's Pan Ams run. This time he is fighting Tex Johnson.
4:51 - Kaynan moves to take Tex's back. Once there he gets the body triangle and starts working the straight jackets system again. Once there is does the same thing as before and traps the arm and moves into the triangle. This time I think he did a better job of controlling the arm with the kimura grip though. The kimura grip made it much easier to raise the arm and enter the rear triangle. After it is locked he quickly gets the finish
Now let's look at a few matches from the ladies. This an amazing match between Grace Gundrum and Alex Nguyen. I recommend watching the whole match.
13:26 - As Alex tries to belly down and escape Grace jumps to the other side to take her back.Grace then sits her up, inserts her hooks and threatens the RNC. Grace then goes for the arm trap, but Alex rolls to the side causing her to slide down. Grace then grabs her own foot and Alex's arm using a cross grip. The cross grip allows you a lot of control when setting up the rear triangle. From there Grace locks in the choke and eventually separates her hands for the arm lock.
This is another goody featuring Ffion Davies and Bia Mesquita. This was one of the biggest upsets at ADCC 2018 and is something that definitely deserves a watch.
4:48 - Bia goes for a bad shot and Ffion has sprawled on her with an underhook on her right side. This lets Ffion knock her down and immediately start to pass. As she is kneecutting Bia turns which allows Ffion to mount her. Bia tries to escape, but leaves 1 arm in and 1 arm out. Ffion takes advantage of this and locks the rear triangle in transition. Bia tries to stand and shake her off, but the triangle is locked too tightly. Bia's standing position gives Ffion more leverage and she goes for the armbar. Bia tries to spin out, but you can't spin out of the armbar from inside a rear triangle. Eventually she is submitted with a nasty break.
8:28 - Craig is stuck in deep half guard and quickly goes to isolate the far side arm. He then falls back over his opponent's head and pulls his arms up. Somewhere in their Craig extracted his leg from the half guard and then hid it on his opponent's hip so he couldn't recover. From there Craig turns him to the side and locks the rear triangle. After a few seconds his opponent taps.
3:57 - Roberto has his opponent's back here and is looking for the choke, but his opponent is hand fighting well and guarding his neck. Roberto starts using the straight jacket system and eventually traps his opponent's arm. His opponent is a bit low on his body so instead of going for the choke he instead locks up the rear triangle. Roberto then lifts the arm for the shoulder lock and gets the tap
This triangle earned Matheus Gabriel a world championship. In this case he actually uses a reverse triangle and although he couldn't choke him from that position he could easily secure and arm and finish.
10:21 They Matheus starts from top and his opponent is using RDLR guard. As his opponent starts to spin underneath for the kiss of the dragon, Matheus sits down and moves his left leg under his opponent's head. He then tries to extract his other leg and goes to a pseudo closed guard to secure the position before switching to the reverse rear triangle. His opponent traps his leg in halfguard, but it doesn't matter because Matheus gets goes for his arm and gets the inverted armbar. I don't know for sure, but I'm guessing he used the reverse rear triangle instead of the normal rear triangle because he was on his left hip. From that position his right leg will appear longer and his left shorter making the rear triangle difficult to lock unless you switch to your other hip. When time if of the essence you take what you can get and in this case it was definitely the right choice. Even though I personally prefer the normal rear triangle and reverse rear triangle is also a strong position that can be used to easily finish your opponents.
Strengths
One of the greatest things about the the rear triangle is that it is almost inescapable. It offers an amount of control that is almost unheard of in a submission hold and it has multiple options for finishing. Once its on you are almost guaranteed the tap. Also because of the variety of submissions available you don't have to worry about someone with a thick neck or flexible elbows. There are a number of subs to chose from and even if you can't get the tap you can just move to the next without worrying about a counter attack.
Weaknesses
Its biggest weakness is it is a bit difficult to setup and also you can only hit it from a few places. The primary place to set it up is from the back, but it can also be used from side control and mount. Although it is a great sub you really need to be able to pass or get to your opponent's back to use it. On top of that if you're always going for it your opponent can shut it down by keeping their elbows in tight and denying you access to armpit.
Closing Thoughts
When I started BJJ this move was virtually unknown. I came across it through an old Judo book and nobody in my gym knew how to use it. I forgot about it and thought it wasn't useful in BJJ. Now it seems this move has been rediscovered and information on it is spreading. I predict that over the next few years the rear triangle will become more common and hopefully it will be taught to students the same way the darce choke, armbar and guillotine are. This also proves that sometimes you don't need to invent a new move, but just put a new coat of paint on something long and forgotten.
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