Kuniyoshi Hironaka taps out fellow UFC vet Naoyuki Kotani at ZST 20 this weekend with a crucifix.
This is a pain submission from catch wrestling, not to be confused with the two different BJJ holds known as the crucifix. From wikipedia:
The crucifix neck crank is similar to the cattle catch, but involves the combatant performing the neck crank being mounted on the opponent. Both of the opponent’s arms are controlled, and the opponent’s head is held in the armpit. By cranking the body upwards while keeping a tight hold on the opponents arms, the opponents head is forced towards his or her chest.
Both the cattle catch and the crucifix neck crank are colloquially referred to simply as the crucifix, which often leads to confusion with the traditional crucifix position.
Amusingly there was another classic amateur wrestling submission applied at ZST too. Big fun, I’m looking forward to the day when an MMA bout is won with a Boston Crab. More on that in the extended entry.
Pic via The UG
Shuichiro Katsumura taps out Hiroyuki Yamashiro at ZST 20. Officially it was called a twister, but Luke Thomas tells me its actually an excorcist. From a chat we had:
Think RNC but you take the back and whatever leg you trap from behind you crank the jaw with a gable grip to the opposite side but with a twister — it’s similar but you have to be under the armpit and then crank the crown of the head so it cranks the spine not the neck and spine. You’ll see in the exorcist its more like a RNC as the guy on bottom isn’t under the top guy’s right arm armpit.
Q: under the opposite armpit?
Yeah, it has to be behind you like if you’re doing a twister and you’re cranking the head the back of your head is resting on the other guy’s bicep.
Here’s a demo of the twister, a hold that Eddie Bravo has built a whole system around. Eddie brought it with him to BJJ from his high school wrestling days. In wrestling its known as a guillotine.
Here’s Hironaka getting the tap via crucifix:
Here’s Katsumura getting the win via Twister:
About the author
