In his classic MMA training manual B.J. Penn's Mixed Martial Arts: The Book of Knowledge, "The Prodigy" writes: "The rear-naked choke is the best move ever invented. Once you've got it locked in, you're pretty much guaranteed the victory. However with most fighters spending lots of time polishing their submission defense, it can sometimes be a difficult submission to lock in."

B.J. has applied his formidable jiu jitsu mind to several ways to foil the submission defense of even the most skilled and experienced fighters.

Diego Sanchez has to be planning on beating up Penn on the feet and then getting and keeping top position on the ground. Because if B.J. Penn gets on Diego's back, we're likely in for a very short night and if B.J. wins by submission, it's very likely to be by way of "the best move ever invented" -- the Rear-Naked Choke. Five out of B.J.'s six professional submission wins have come by way of the rear-naked choke.

Let's look at a couple of examples of the bag of tricks that B.J. uses to set up his dreaded rear-naked choke in the full entry, with animated gifs.

In the gif on the right we see Penn working from back control on Jens Pulver at The Ultimate Fighter 5 Finale. He's threatening to wrap his left arm around Pulver's neck and get the choke finish. Penn is using his right arm to push Pulver's right arm down by his waist. This forces Pulver to using his own left arm to defend himself.

Once Pulver lifts his left arm, Penn pulls it further back and then grabs Pulvers fingers and pulls the arm down. At the same time Pulver is fighting to raise his right arm and he thinks he's succeeding. That's when B.J. springs the trap and wraps his left leg around Pulver's left arm, pinning it helplessly to his side.

On the left we see the completion of the play. Once he's got Pulver's arm trapped, it's like a 2 on 1 play in basketball. Pulver gamely tries to defend his throat, but with Penn having two arms with which to attack, it's a deeply uneven contest.

In fact, B.J. Penn on your back is a lot like having a sort of combination giant spider-octopus on your back seeking to strangle you. Note how he hooks his right arm under Pulver's right armpit which totally renders Pulver's throat defenseless as Penn threads his left arm under the chin and he's got the choke. Then he unhooks his right arm from under Pulver's right and locks in the figure four and finishes the choke.



Here on the right we see the culmination of B.J.'s most recent title defense against Kenny Florian at UFC 101. Florian has some advantages over Pulver. He's got longer arms and a great deal more jiu jitsu expertise. Initially he's doing quite a bit better than Pulver as well. Penn's not able to force either of Florian's arms down to his side so there's no opening to use his leg to trap an arm.

In fact, Florian has his own version of the 2-on-1 going against Penn's left arm. But look at B.J.'s right heel. He starts driving it into Florian's short rib and liver in a nasty little series of three heel kicks. Annoyed by the blows, Florian seemingly can't resist dropping his right forearm down to block the kicks and protect his liver. Then he raises his arm again to throw an ineffectual elbow back toward's Penn's face. Penn throws one more heel kick and then a second. That's when Florian makes the fatal mistake of dropping his right wrist down to protect himself. Like lightening, Penn immediately cinches his left arm around Florian's throat and sinks in the choke.

If Diego "The Nightmare" Sanchez has been watching too much of Penn's old fight footage, I wouldn't be surprised if he's the one having the nightmares.

Animated gifs by Chris Nelson.