What is the Diesel Squeezel choke? BJJ’s sneakiest guillotine

BJJ

If you are a fan of the Matburn podcast you may of heard Keenan Cornelius and Josh Hinger discussing the Diesel Squeezel choke. They have both discussed the choke a number of times. Since they have talked about the choke the duo have been inundated with requests for a demonstration and Keenan has now uploaded a breakdown on his Keenan Online channel.

So what is the Diesel Squeezel? It is basically a modified guillotine. The choke works so well because the more they use the traditional guillotine defense, the tighter the choke gets. It can be performed in the gi as well as in nogi. Keenan has since credited a wrestler turned grappler by the name of James Kelly with creating the choke.

Here is timestamped video of Keenan showing the Diesel squeezel during a narrated round of sparring.

Like many other BJJ techniques it is likely that this technique has been around for a while but with a different name. Most new techniques that emerge tend to be modifications of older techniques that are re-branded with a sexier name.

The choke seems to be very similar to a technique that Neil Melanson has shown previously. Melanson calls this choke a killer guillotine and shows a nogi version of it below.

 

So what are the key details of the diesel squeezel?

  • It can be set up from the same position as a guillotine choke
  • When locking up the choke you grab the opposite wrist than you usually do with a guillotine
  • The fist that is usually used to lock a guillotine is now free to drive into the carotid artery of your opponent.
  • You secure the position and increase pressure by keeping the weight of your shoulders and chest on the top of your opponents head.
  • The choke works so well because it gets even tighter when the person defending uses the traditional guillotine defense. By jumping to the opposite side of the top arm they increase the pressure on the carotid artery.
  • The choke can be finished from bottom side control or even on top if your opponent rolls onto their back.

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