Ezekiel Choke from Mount: The Setup That Makes It Effortless

You are in mount. You have the position. Now what.

The Ezekiel choke is available from here and it is one of the sneakiest submissions you can have from top. Not because it is complicated. Because by the time your opponent feels it, it is already tight. The setup is the reason for that. When the setup is right the finish takes almost no effort.

I have been using this for years. The way I set it up is a little different from what I have seen elsewhere and it has been working. Here is what I have found.

Chest Connects. Hip Disconnects.

Before anything else happens, your body position has to be right. Two things at the same time. Your chest comes forward and connects to his chest. Your hip lifts away and disconnects from his hips. These are opposite directions and both matter.

The chest connection brings your weight forward onto him. The hip disconnection does something specific. When your hips are down and his hips are down, he can bridge and bump you. When your hip is up and your knees are pinned, that bridge has nothing to push against. It makes his most common escape hard before you have even started the choke.

It does not matter where his hands are at this point. Get the chest down and the hip up. That is the structure you are building from.

Your Shoulder Is a Positioning Tool

Here is the detail that changes everything. Your shoulder has to be under his chin, not in line with it.

If your shoulder is at chin level you are too high. Put your head on his far shoulder, connect your shoulder to his chest, and come down. Now you are in the right place. Your shoulder under his chin does two things at once. It exposes the near side of his neck. And it creates head control. You are not just getting low. You are solving two problems with one adjustment.

From here you want your bicep to sit snug against his neck. Reach the hand under and get as far toward his elbow as you can. The further you reach, the snugger the bicep sits. That snugness is what the choke runs on.

Make Him Look Away

Roll your head against his head and make him look away from you.

When his head turns away, his neck rotates. That rotation exposes the neck. And it becomes harder for him to roll you in that direction because his head is already moving away from the space he needs to create. One action. Two results.

Keep that elbow tight the whole time. If he gets his hand into the space between your arm and his neck that is a defense and it will work. Closing the elbow removes that option before it becomes a problem.

The Choke Is Loading Before You Lock It

When the position is right and you slide your arm in, you turn your palm toward your own face. Like you are about to slap yourself. Then you lift. When that hand lifts, his head lifts with it. His neck is being pulled into the choke before you have locked anything. The tension is already loading. The choke is already tightening.

Roll the palm down. That is the lock. Flex the forearm, flex the bicep. What you are doing is closing inward, not yanking. Your shoulders, biceps, and forearms are enclosing together. The compression does the work, not the force.

When it is done right it feels like giving a gentle hug that puts someone to sleep.

The elbow angle matters for the finish. The higher your elbow, the greater the angle, the more leverage you have. If your elbow is low the finish is weak. Bring the elbow up and you magnify the compression without adding any
effort.

When He Defends His Arm

A good opponent is going to try to get his hand into the space. That is the main defense and it works if you let it develop.

When that happens you have two options. You can slice over the arm and pull it into your hip. Or you can bring your knee over it. I prefer the knee. Slicing the arm out just clears the obstacle. Bringing the knee over clears the obstacle and makes your base stronger at the same time. You are countering the defense and improving your position simultaneously. When he tries to bump or escape from there it is hard. The structure is better than it was before he defended.

Get in tight. Flex. The choke works from a lot of angles when the lever is right.

What to Watch in the Video

The chest and hip at the same time. Watch where the weight goes and where the hips go. They are moving in opposite directions. The chest comes down and forward. The hip comes up. That combination is the base that makes everything else possible.

The shoulder position. Watch the moment the shoulder drops under the chin. Notice what changes in the neck position when that happens. The near side of the neck becomes available and the head starts to come under control. One adjustment, two results.

The palm and the lift. This is the detail that loads the choke before the lock. Watch the hand turn toward the face, then lift. Watch the head move upward. The neck is already in the choke before anything is locked. That pre-loading is what makes the finish feel effortless.

The knee over the defense. Watch what happens to the base when the knee comes over. The arm is cleared but the position also gets stronger. That is the detail worth drilling. The counter to the defense makes the whole structure harder to escape.