The Ezekiel choke: how it works and how to do it
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By Scott Flear, founder of JitsAI.
The Ezekiel is a sleeve choke: one arm goes behind your opponent’s head with that hand gripping inside your other sleeve, and your other forearm goes across their throat, so the two work like scissors. Throat specialists class it as an air choke, because the forearm presses the voice box back towards the spine (Singerman et al. 2026); angled onto the side of the neck, it can squeeze the carotids too. Either way, tap early.
What is an Ezekiel choke?
The Ezekiel only needs your two arms around the neck, so you can set it up from mount, from the back and even from inside someone’s guard. In the gi you grip inside your own sleeve; in no-gi you grip your own wrist or forearm instead. In judo it’s sode guruma jime, and in Brazil the ezequiel.
Like the guillotine, it puts the pressure on the front of the throat, so throat specialists group it with the air chokes rather than with blood chokes like the rear naked choke (Singerman et al. 2026).
How does an Ezekiel choke work?
One arm behind the head, the other across the throat, and the two pull against each other.
- The back arm pulls the head up. The arm behind their neck lifts the head into the choke.
- The forearm drives down. Your other forearm, across the front of the throat, pushes down and back. Square on, it presses the voice box and windpipe towards the spine (Singerman et al. 2026). That’s an air choke: it hurts and breathing gets hard.
- Angle it and it becomes a blood choke. Bring the forearm across at an angle onto the side of the neck and it can squeeze a carotid artery too. Squeezing the carotids is what cuts blood flow to the brain (Mitchell et al. 2012).
So the angle of the forearm decides what kind of choke you’re doing.
Two episodes from our Anatomy Series. Episode 17 explains why air chokes work more slowly than blood chokes. The finale asks how big a neck you could choke.
How do you do an Ezekiel choke?
The Ezekiel from mount is the cleanest version to learn. The grip in step 2 is the only thing that changes in no-gi.
- Step 1: Arm behind the head. From mount, slide one arm behind their neck.
- Step 2: Grip inside your sleeve. With the hand of that arm, reach deep inside the opposite sleeve of your own gi, near the forearm. In no-gi, grip your own wrist or forearm.
- Step 3: Forearm across the throat. Bring your free hand over their face and lay that forearm across the front of their neck.
- Step 4: Find the angle. Angle the forearm onto the side of the neck rather than straight down on the windpipe.
- Step 5: Scissor slowly. Pull their head up with the back arm while the forearm drives down. Squeeze slowly, and let go the moment they tap or go limp.
Common Ezekiel choke mistakes
- A shallow sleeve grip. If your fingers only catch the edge of the sleeve, the grip slips. Reach deep inside, near the forearm.
- Driving straight down on the windpipe. Straight down on the throat is a painful air choke and slow to finish. Angle the forearm onto the side of the neck.
- No pull from the back arm. The scissor needs both arms. Without the back arm lifting the head, the forearm just pushes them into the mat.
- Losing your base. While both arms are round the neck, you can’t post. Stay heavy on your hips in mount so they can’t bridge you off.
The same forearm-on-the-throat pressure is what makes the guillotine hard on the throat too.
What happens if you don’t tap to an Ezekiel?
Square on, it hurts and breathing gets hard. Angled onto the side of the neck, it can put you to sleep. Holding out isn’t a safe bet either way. In a survey of 160 BJJ and MMA athletes, 22% said a coach, a training partner or both had told them they could hold out on air chokes before tapping, and 88% reported throat symptoms after chokes (Singerman et al. 2026).
Serious injury is rare, but real. A 2023 case report describes a 46-year-old who had a stroke about 6 hours after an Ezekiel choke in a jiu-jitsu match, caused by a tear in his left common carotid artery. He was treated in hospital and was back at work and training by 90 days, with some lasting difficulty with writing and speech (Borg & Crockett 2023).
Across grappling chokes in general, one case series described 10 serious injuries, including 5 carotid and 3 vertebral artery dissections (Stellpflug et al. 2022).
How to train the Ezekiel safely
- Tap early. Tap when you feel the choke lock, not when you feel yourself going.
- Let go on the tap. Release straight away when your partner taps, or if they go limp or stop responding.
- Train under a qualified coach. Learn and drill chokes in a class, never as a game or a dare.
- Get checked if something’s wrong. Seek medical care if you have neck pain, a headache, changes in your vision or speech, or a voice change or pain when swallowing that doesn’t settle after a choke.
Does your Ezekiel land on everyone, or only on beginners?
Finishing a white belt and finishing a resisting blue belt are different results. JitsAI scores each technique against a nine-level ladder by partner size and experience, so you know who your Ezekiel really works on.
- One Focus a week, with pinned lessons from Henrique Rezende’s 74-lesson fundamentals course.
- A nine-level ladder for every technique, from partners less experienced than you to more experienced ones, each split lighter, same weight and heavier.
- Land it once and it’s a hit; 3 wins across 2 sessions and it’s proven.
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Know what works See what holds up, against whom, then pick your next Focus.
Video transcripts
Transcript: What happens if you don’t tap to an Ezekiel
What happens if you don't tap to an Ezekiel? Your voice box gets pinned to your own spine. It hurts, and it can put you to sleep. They grab inside their own sleeve. You get strangled with their outfit. One arm hugs behind your head. The other forearm slides across your throat. Then it scissors. The back hand pulls your head up. The forearm drives down. Square on. That forearm squashes your voice box and windpipe back towards your spine. That's an air choke. It hurts, and breathing gets hard. Angle it onto the sides of your neck, and it can pinch the brain's fuel lines too. Your carotids. Shut those, and you go to sleep. Think you can hold out because it's only air? Over one in five in one survey were told that. In one case, an Ezekiel tore a man's neck artery. Six hours later, a stroke. Rare, but real. Squeeze slow. Let go at the tap. Tap early. Train tomorrow.
Transcript: Blood vs air chokes
Why do blood chokes work fast and air chokes slow? A blood choke squeezes the sides of the neck where the arteries feed the brain. An air choke presses on the windpipe at the front. In one study, experts reviewed 81 chokes on fully resisting, highly trained fighters. Once the choke was locked in, they went unconscious in about 9 seconds on average. Older judo lab studies found similar times. Air is different. Block the windpipe and the oxygen already in your lungs and blood keeps your brain going longer. We couldn't find a good study timing air chokes, so we won't give you a number. Your brain needs a steady blood supply. Cut the supply and it seconds. Cut the air and the tank empties more slowly. Train under supervision. Tap early and let go the moment they tap. Next up, can small beat big?
Transcript: What’s the biggest animal you could choke?
What's the biggest animal you could choke? This is a pure thought experiment. Please don't try it on anything. A blood choke squeezes the arteries in the neck, like we saw in episode 17. So does a bigger animal have much higher blood pressure to push back? One 2014 study said yes, a little. About 93 in a mouse, up to about 156 in an elephant. Other scientists say the data can't tell. So pressure probably isn't what stops you. Reach is. Your arms have to close around the neck, and at some point, a neck is just too big. We couldn't find good measured neck sizes across animals, so we won't pretend to give you a ranking. Honest answer? Nobody knows the exact limit. That's the series. Twenty episodes of Leavers, Frames, Grips and Chokes. Follow for season two.
Ezekiel choke questions
Is the Ezekiel a blood choke or an air choke?
Mainly air, the way throat specialists class it: the forearm pushes the voice box and windpipe back towards the spine (Singerman et al. 2026). Angled onto the side of the neck, it can also squeeze a carotid artery, which is the blood-choke part.
Can you do an Ezekiel in no-gi?
Yes. Grip your own wrist or forearm instead of the inside of your sleeve. The scissor is the same.
Can you do an Ezekiel from inside someone’s guard?
Yes. It only needs your arms around their neck, so you can set it up from inside the guard as well as from mount or the back.
Can I hold out against an Ezekiel because it’s only an air choke?
Don’t try. Air chokes still injure throats, an angled Ezekiel can become a blood choke, and one case report describes a torn carotid artery and a stroke after an Ezekiel (Borg & Crockett 2023). Tap early.
Is the Ezekiel legal in IBJJF competition?
The IBJJF’s illegal-moves table lists the “forearm choke using the sleeve (Ezequiel choke)” as illegal for the 4 to 12 and 13 to 15 age groups. It isn’t banned for 16 and 17 year olds or adults (IBJJF Rule Book v6, 2024).
Sources
- Singerman et al. (2026), Laryngopharyngeal trauma in grappling martial arts, OTO Open 10(2): e70256. Classes the guillotine and Ezekiel as air chokes (larynx pressed against the spine). Survey of 160 BJJ/MMA athletes: 88% had throat symptoms after chokes; 22% had been told by a coach, a peer or both that they could hold out on air chokes before tapping.
- Borg & Crockett (2023), Common carotid artery dissection from sportive choking, BJR Case Reports 9: 20230048. A 46-year-old had a stroke from a left common carotid artery dissection about 6 hours after an Ezekiel choke in a BJJ match; back at work and training at 90 days, with residual dysgraphia and occasional dysarthria.
- Mitchell et al. (2012), Journal of Applied Physiology 112(3): 396–402; Nimura et al. (2022), review. Compressing the carotid arteries cuts blood flow to the brain; the carotid-sinus reflex is not the main cause of unconsciousness.
- Stellpflug et al. (2022), Journal of Emergency Medicine 63(1). A case series of 10 injuries from grappling chokes, including 5 carotid and 3 vertebral artery dissections.
- IBJJF Rule Book v6 (June 2024), Technical fouls: illegal moves table, p. 29. “Forearm choke using the sleeve (Ezequiel choke)” is illegal for ages 4–12 and 13–15 only.
This page explains a sport technique. It isn’t medical advice.