YR Sports Lab
The crucifix is a position that takes both of the opponent's arms out of play at once: your legs trap one arm and your hands control the other, so from the side the two bodies form a T or a cross. With no hand free to protect the neck and no hand to post and escape, armbars, chokes and kimuras all follow. This entry draws on the Grapplearts instructional series, Wikipedia, BJJ Fanatics and BJJEE, and only writes what I could source.
1. Origin and Story: Baret Yoshida's Crucifix
To be clear up front: I found no reliable record of who invented the crucifix. Jiu-jitsu, judo and wrestling all have similar double-arm controls, and this article does not assign it an inventor. But if you want one person who made the crucifix a signature, most sources point to Baret Yoshida from Hawaii.
English Wikipedia records that Yoshida was born in Hawaii, and a BJJ Fanatics profile says he grew up there; the American competitor started jiu-jitsu at Relson Gracie's academy in 1994 (a BJJEE report says the same), later moving to the Inoue brothers' academy. Wikipedia records that he received his black belt from Egan Inoue in 2002, and BJJEE also says he earned his black belt under Egan Inoue.
On results, Wikipedia records that he reached the final at ADCC 2001 and lost, and BJJ Fanatics says he won a silver medal at ADCC 2001, so the two agree. Sources differ on his later ADCC medal count (BJJ Fanatics lists silvers in 2001 and 2003, while BJJEE quotes ADCC as saying two silvers and a bronze), so this article only states the 2001 silver that both support. Wikipedia records his induction into the ADCC Hall of Fame in 2022 as part of the inaugural class, and BJJEE reported the induction in February 2022.
Yoshida's crucifix in competition
BJJ Fanatics describes Yoshida as known for his open guard and "the crucifix position off the back", with most of his wins coming from those two positions. Its examples come from Gracie Regionals 2014: he caught Rob Bradley in the crucifix and finished with a rear naked choke, and at the same event trapped Cristyan Martins in the crucifix and finished with a one-handed rear naked choke.
Wikipedia also records that he submitted Jeff Nolasco with a crucifix choke at Fight 2 Win 180 in 2021. Grapplearts' crucifix article notes (after a Reddit reader asked about it) that Yoshida used a "bottom leg Americana" control in sparring, which led the author to add it to the list of crucifix variations.
In MMA, the crucifix became famous for another reason: a fighter with both arms trapped cannot protect the head. English Wikipedia's Matt Hughes article says that when he defended the welterweight title against B.J. Penn at UFC 63, he rained punches from a side crucifix position until the referee stopped the fight at 3:53 of round 3; the UFC 63 event page records the date as September 23, 2006 and the result as TKO (punches). The same article says Hughes also beat Carlos Newton at UFC 38 by TKO after trapping him in a "modified crucifix".
2. Mechanics: From the Turtle Arm Hook to Double-Arm Control
The most common way into the crucifix is the opponent's turtle. The Grapplearts version is demonstrated by Thomas Lisboa (the article notes he trained the position extensively with Marcelo Garcia), and the core idea fits in one sentence: use four limbs (both arms and both legs) to immobilize both of the opponent's arms. Your legs handle one arm, your hands handle the other.
- ① Set up: front headlockFrom the knees, snap the opponent down into turtle and take a front headlock, ready to circle to his side
- ② Hook the arm with a legWhen he reaches forward or his elbow leaves his body, thread your leg between his arm and torso and hook the near arm
- ③ Top leg over the armYour top leg pins his arm and your foot rests loosely behind your bottom leg; after the roll lands, tighten the triangle so the arm cannot slip out
- ④ Control the far armTake a motorcycle grip on his far wrist, or link your hands in a seatbelt, so he cannot sit up and turn toward your legs; once the roll lands with his back on your chest, lock the leg triangle tight
- ⑤ Finish: armlock or chokeWhile he protects his neck, straighten the trapped arm with your legs for an armbar; if he lifts his chin or tries to connect his hands, switch to a one-handed claw choke
Step three is the heart of the position. Grapplearts lists the top leg triangle as the first leg control to learn: the top leg traps the arm and the foot locks behind the knee of the bottom leg. The reverse, the bottom leg triangle, is generally treated as a mistake because it is loose and has no backstop, so the arm is easy to extract.
There are several upper-body grips too. Grapplearts covers the seatbelt (one arm under the armpit, one over the shoulder, hands linked, sternum glued to the opponent's spine), the kimura grip, and the motorcycle grip on the little-finger side of the hand. The motorcycle grip's job is to stop the opponent from sitting up and turning toward your legs.
3. Entry Timing and Setups
First, when a turtled opponent reaches forward. The Grapplearts demonstration starts from the knees: a snap down puts the opponent in a front headlock, he reaches an arm forward to stop the back take, and that arm gets hooked by a leg. In other words, the arm he reaches out is the entry; an elbow glued to the body is hard to hook.
Second, as an upgrade from back control. Grapplearts presents the crucifix as a step beyond rear mount. When you have a seatbelt from the back and the opponent is using both hands on your arm, pinning one of his arms with a leg turns back control into a crucifix and takes away one of his defending hands. For back control itself, see the back control data breakdown.
Third, when an omoplata gets driven back. Grapplearts notes that when you hold an omoplata and the opponent drives back into you, controlling his other shoulder with an underhook creates the "omoplata crucifix", which is even harder to escape.
4. Strengths and Limits
| Strengths | Limits |
|---|---|
| Grapplearts: four limbs control both arms, no hand left for the neck | Grapplearts: the bottom leg triangle is loose, so the arm comes out easily |
| Grapplearts: armbar, short choke, kimura and omoplata all come from here | Grapplearts: turning the arm up (hitchhiker) relieves the first armbar |
| Grapplearts: while he guards his neck, the armbar is a high-percentage first attack | Grapplearts: he can turn toward your legs or roll to try to get out |
| Wikipedia (Matt Hughes): in MMA he cannot protect his head from punches | IBJJF: finishes such as the bicep slicer are restricted by belt, so check first |
Grapplearts also lists the bicep slicer and the "bottom leg kimura" (which the author compares to a reverse omoplata applied from the crucifix) as extensions of the leg controls. These finishes work, but because the pressure concentrates on the elbow and shoulder, check both the rules and safety first; see sections 6 and 7.
5. Common Counters and Defenses
Counter one: do not let it start. The Grapplearts demonstration shows the turtled player reaching an arm forward to stop the back take, which hands that arm to the attacker's legs. Working backward from that (my own summary), keeping the elbows tight to the body instead of reaching forward in turtle removes the crucifix entry. For turtle defense in general, see the turtle defense guide.
Counter two: protect the neck, then fix the angle. Grapplearts' crucifix escape article (Stephan Kesting) advises first putting your thumb under the opponent's wrists to protect the neck, then swinging like a windshield wiper until your spine is parallel to his, hooking his leg with your closest leg.
Counter three: shrink the hips and extract the arm. The same article continues: post on your free leg and shrink your hips away from him, repeating until the trapped arm comes out from between his legs, keeping his leg hooked throughout. Once the arm is free, hug tight, release his leg and drive into side control. Against a kimura grip, the article pushes the gripped hand down, connects it with the other hand, then punches down hard with both hands to break the grip.
Follow-ups when the defense works (top player's view, based on the Grapplearts attack series)
He turns the arm up (hitchhiker) to escape the armbar: reverse the leg triangle so the top leg goes behind, move your hips under the elbow and armbar again from the new angle.
He tries to connect his hands: Thomas Lisboa's favorite finish is a claw grip on the far shoulder with the wrist pulled into the throat; he avoids lapel chokes because the lapel moves too much.
The arm is already out: go back to the seatbelt and attack the rear naked choke or the bow and arrow choke, and rehook the arm the next time he reaches.
6. Frequency in Competition and Rules
In the sources I checked, I found no reliable statistic on how often the crucifix appears or how many matches it finishes (checked November 2026). IBJJF results pages only publish placings and brackets, and because the crucifix is a position rather than a single submission, matches that end from it are usually recorded as an armbar or a rear naked choke. This article therefore gives no number.
What is certain is that it shows up at a high level: Baret Yoshida (Gracie Regionals 2014, Fight 2 Win 180 in 2021) and Matt Hughes in MMA (UFC 38, UFC 63) are all sourced above. These examples only show that people have finished fights from this position under different rule sets; they say nothing about frequency.
7. Safety Notes
The crucifix is dangerous in two places. The first is the elbow: the arm trapped by the legs has nowhere to go, and once the armbar straightens it the joint is under hyperextension. Scoggin et al. (2014) reviewed on-site medical records from 8 statewide BJJ tournaments in Hawaii (2005–2011) and found an injury rate of 9.2 per 1,000 exposures, with the elbow as the most commonly injured joint and the armbar as the most common mechanism. The study is not specific to the crucifix, but it shows that elbow hyperextension is the risk to watch most closely in BJJ competition. For the mechanism and management of elbow hyperextension, see the elbow hyperextension guide and the armbar entry.
The second is the neck: with both arms trapped, the opponent cannot use his hands to relieve pressure, and if the short choke turns from "pressing the throat" into "cranking the head" it stops being a choke and becomes a neck twist. The principles below are gym practice, not research findings.
・With both hands controlled, your partner may not be able to tap with a hand; agree beforehand that a verbal tap or tapping with a foot counts
・When armbarring with the legs, straighten the elbow slowly; do not drive the hips hard
・Keep the short choke on the throat; do not crank the head sideways or forward
・Protect the trapped arm during the roll so you do not both land on his shoulder
・For partners with old elbow or neck injuries, drill the position control only and skip the finishes
FAQ
How is the crucifix different from back control?
The crucifix adds a trapped arm. In back control you hold the opponent with hooks or a body triangle and both of his hands can still defend; in the crucifix your legs trap one arm and your hands control the other, so he has almost no hand to protect the neck, which is why Grapplearts describes it as a step beyond back control.
Who invented the crucifix?
There is no reliable record of an inventor. The name most often mentioned is Baret Yoshida from Hawaii; BJJ Fanatics describes him as known for the crucifix off the back, and Wikipedia records that he won with a crucifix choke at Fight 2 Win 180 in 2021.
How do I escape the crucifix?
First put your thumb under the opponent's wrists to protect your neck, then adjust the angle so your spine is parallel to his and hook his leg, then post on your free leg and shrink your hips repeatedly to pull the trapped arm out from between his legs, and finally drive into side control. These are the Grapplearts escape steps.
Can white belts drill the crucifix?
Yes for the position control; the finishes depend on the rules. The crucifix itself is a control position; armbars and chokes from it are common under most rules, but the IBJJF illegal moves chart lists the bicep slicer, the wrist lock and the choke with spinal lock as restricted by belt, so check the current rule book before competing.
Why is the turtle the easiest way into the crucifix?
Because people in turtle often reach an arm forward. In the Grapplearts demonstration the opponent reaches out to stop the back take and that arm gets hooked by a leg. Working backward from that, keeping the elbows tight in turtle removes the entry.
References
1. Wikipedia contributors. Baret Yoshida. en.wikipedia.org (checked November 2026; supports the 2002 black belt from Egan Inoue, the lost ADCC 2001 final, the 2022 inaugural ADCC Hall of Fame class, and the crucifix choke win over Jeff Nolasco at Fight 2 Win 180 in 2021)
2. BJJ Fanatics. The Great Baret Yoshida. bjjfanatics.com (checked November 2026; supports growing up in Hawaii, starting at Relson Gracie's school in 1994, the ADCC 2001 silver, being known for open guard and the crucifix, and the two crucifix finishes at Gracie Regionals 2014)
3. BJJEE. Baret Yoshida Inducted Into The ADCC Hall Of Fame (2022/02/15). bjjee.com (checked November 2026; supports the ADCC Hall of Fame induction, starting at Relson Gracie's academy in 1994, the black belt under Egan Inoue, and the quoted ADCC figure of two silvers and a bronze)
4. Wikipedia contributors. Matt Hughes (fighter); UFC 63. Matt Hughes article, UFC 63 article (checked November 2026; supports the punches from a side crucifix against B.J. Penn at UFC 63, the TKO at 3:53 of round 3, the September 23, 2006 welterweight title fight, and the modified crucifix against Carlos Newton at UFC 38)
5. Kesting S. Grapplearts crucifix series: Controlling and Submitting from the Crucifix Position in Jiu Jitsu; Submissions from Crucifix Position; Crucifix Defences. control and submissions, turtle entry and finishes, escapes (checked November 2026; supports the four-limb definition, leg and upper-body grips, the snap-down turtle entry, the armbar-first attack, the short choke, the hitchhiker reaction and the escape steps; instructional articles, not statistics)
6. Scoggin JF 3rd et al. (2014). Assessment of Injuries During Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Competition. Orthop J Sports Med;2(2):2325967114522184. PubMed 26535299 (supports 9.2 injuries per 1,000 exposures across 8 Hawaii state tournaments, the elbow as the most commonly injured joint, and the armbar as the most common mechanism)