Front Headlock

What it is

The front headlock is a position where you are in front of a bent-over or turtled opponent, with their head trapped under your armpit, your arm wrapped around their neck and your chest heavy on the back of their head. It comes from a snap down, a stuffed takedown or a turtle you are facing. From here you choke, or you go behind them and take the back.

What you want from here

• On top: after a snap down or a sprawl, when their head ends up below your chest.
• On top: attack the guillotine, the D'Arce or the anaconda, or spin behind to the back when they drop their head.
• On bottom: get your hands on the choking arm, lift your head and square back up before they lock a choke.

Key details

• Chest on the back of their head and hips back, so they carry your weight and cannot drive into your legs.
• Control the head and one arm. With only the head they can posture or shoot; with head and arm they are stuck.
• Move to the side of the arm you control. It cannot block you, and it opens the go-behind and the arm-in chokes.
• Only the chokes and armlocks are legal finishes at white belt. Pulling or twisting the head without choking is a neck crank, which is illegal at every belt and is not taught here.
• On bottom, hands on their wrist, chin tucked, and never reach for their legs with your head down.

Common mistakes

• Mistake: on top, standing tall with your hips over their head. They come up under you and take a single leg.
• Mistake: on top, squeezing the head without a choke. It is a crank, not a finish, and it is illegal at every belt.
• Mistake: on the bottom, staying still on your knees. The choke or the back take comes while you wait.

How it is escaped or passed

• They clear the head with two hands on the choking arm and posture up.
• They drive forward into a single leg or a double leg when your hips are over them.
• They sit out or roll to guard as you move behind them.

Gi and no-gi

Without the gi there are no collar grips to hold the head, so the front headlock relies on a chin strap or wrist control, and the arm-in chokes are the main finishes.