Striking arts are obvious – one fighter hits another, and the hit fighter reacts. Someone who has never thrown a punch in the their life can tell what is going on. A three year old can tell who is winning in a boxing, Muay Thai, or Kyokushin contest.

However, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is a more subtle art. See if you can tell who is about to make a brave choice between tapping and napping.

The Loop Choke is as noted more subtle than a straight right to the face.

The man in black reaches in with the left hand, makes an adjustment to get his grip deep into the neck. The opponent tries a single leg takedown, which serves only allow the man in black to wrap the gi around white’s throat as they go down.

Then the man in black turns to his back to gain leverage on the choke. He simultaneously holds the man in the white gi’s arm, so he can’t spin out of it.

At that point there are two option – nap or tap.

If you don’t have access to a qualified BJJ instructor, but are interested in understanding the Loop Choke a little better, Kurt Osiander has a nice tutorial.

Kurt Osiander has been studying directly under Ralph Gracie for over 17 years. He received his black belt in 2002, and is renowned for his tremendous teaching of the basics, which in the end is what wins championships. He follows Ralph’s theory of the importance in basics because if you don’t have basics you cannot move on to understanding more advanced techniques and positions.

His compelling personality shines through on his Move of the Week video blog, and example of which is seen above. The BJJ community has grown to appreciate his witty personality, and signature phrases like shut up and train and you f@$%ed up a long time ago.” The younger members, the YouTube generation, have actually grown up listening to him!