Bas Rutten is the former UFC Heavyweight champion as well as King of Pancrase. He is one of the first legitimate strikers to have success in the sport of MMA as well as one of the first guys to mix both striking and grappling techniques into one destructive package.

He also possesses many unorthodox techniques that can be applied in both MMA as well as in self defense situations. In the following YouTube video he demonstrates one of his more brutal techniques – his ‘wind pipe crusher’ choke.

Before we go over the technique however it is important to note the warning at the beginning of the video as this technique could do serious damage in the wrong hands.

“Warning: The following instructions must be used with common sense and reasonable safety measures to avoid personal injuries. Reasonable safety should always come first.”

In other words, don’t try this at home!

The technique in this video is very similar to the ‘rear naked choke’ seen in BJJ and MMA. Instead of being a blood choke though, this one looks to be more of an air choke as well as a pain compliance technique sort of akin to a neck crank.

Bas then breaks it down into a series of steps:

1- Slide in

2- Forearm down to lock in the choke

3- Pull back your right shoulder to crush his windpipe

While this technique is not applied in MMA as frequently as the rear naked choke, it is very similar to the rear naked choke when using a gable grip, which is used sometimes. Usually it is switched to a gable grip when the attacker is having trouble locking out the traditional RNC.

Rutten’s technique in this video is sort of similar looking to UFC Heavweight Ben Rothwell’s go go choke which seems to crush down on the adam’s apple and windpipe area as well, which is very painful and usually results in a quick tap out.