The Fatboy Triangle (It Will Make Your Finishes More Lethal)

fatboy triangle

Several years ago, I learned this technique from Roberto Torralbas during a seminar he taught at Crazy 88. It was immediately relevant to me since I compete at Ultra Heavy, and I ran into a lot of guys who had no respect for triangles. I wanted to change that.

If you’ve ever had the desire to accomplish the same thing, this will help.

A Common Scenario

You’ve been paired up with someone bigger and stronger than you. They try to muscle you and put pressure on you in every position but eventually you’re able to pull them into closed guard.

Once there, you frustrate their attempts to open until finally they decide to bait you by breaking one of the cardinal rules. They reach back and shoot one hand between your legs, which is the perfect opportunity to triangle, but they don’t care. They don’t respect your triangle, and they believe that the pass will be even easier if you try.

I’ve been there. I remember those situations. It’s frustrating to not be able to finish the triangle when the perfect opportunity is given. The angle adjustment on the Fatboy Triangle finish is what made a difference for me.

Overview

The Fatboy Triangle Finish is a solution to two specific problems in jiu-jitsu.

  • The inability to properly lock the triangle because of leg length, flexibility, or opponent size.
  • The inability to finish the choke quickly because of lack of sufficient pressure.

In essence, it is a method of applying compressing force immediately to eliminate most possibilities of escape. I can’t take credit for the name or the technique, but it fundamentally changed how I finish triangles, and I have had incredible success with it.

The Full Version

The version that I was originally taught focused on performing the choke when it was impossible to lock a proper triangle. It was made for shorter grapplers who have always struggled with the triangle because of their physical attributes.

The only requirements is that you keep your opponent’s posture broken and get your ankle at least to your calf. Then these are the steps that make your opponent’s head feel like it’s about to pop off:

  1. Angle the ankle of your top leg as far out as possible. That will rotate your knee in, which closes off the space and drives their shoulder into their neck.
  2. Grab the shin of your bottom leg and pull as close to you as possible. That closes off more space and helps to keep their posture broken.
  3. Press your other hand against the knee of your bottom leg. That increases the compression even more.
  4. Crunch in using your core. That adds yet another level of compression.

Effectively, those four steps allow you to compress the neck from all four sides.

The Smallest Adjustment

Personally, I very rarely use the full version because my attributes allow me to lock the triangle easily against most people, but the I consider the angling the ankle out to be essential regardless. It has made all my triangles from all angles far harder to deal with, and it has allowed me to finish triangles that others might give up on.

In Motion

Above is a quick video I did after class. I know that there is a fair amount of background noise, but it will give you a concept of how the technique works, and I will make a better video at a later date.