As the attacker, your job in the Closed Guard to Hindulotine entry is to convert the broken-posture moment in closed guard into a guillotine grip and then immediately upgrade that grip from a straight pull into the Hindulotine’s rotational torque. The window opens whenever the opponent posts their hands to stand or drives their head forward to begin a posture-up; their chin becomes available and you snatch it before they can re-stack their spine. The key mental shift from a normal closed-guard guillotine is that you are not trying to finish square on your back. You are using the catch as the doorway into a new position where your hips, not your arms, carry the choke.
The mechanics live in the angle. Once the grip is locked high under the chin, you open the closed guard, shrimp your hips out to your choking-arm side, and rotate perpendicular to the opponent’s spine. Your legs convert from a hip-clamp into butterfly hooks or a knee shield that keeps the opponent from circling out or stacking you. From that off-line angle, every degree of hip rotation adds torque the opponent cannot defend with a simple chin tuck, because the pressure now wraps around the neck rather than pressing straight into it.
Because this is an entry rather than a finish, you should think in branches. If they stall the choke by driving forward, your hooks are already loaded for a butterfly sweep to mount. If they turn away, their back is yours. If they frame, the Darce is one elbow-thread away. Establishing the Hindulotine first, with control over their posture and hips, is what makes all of those branches high percentage.
From Position: Closed Guard (Bottom)
Key Attacking Principles
What are the key principles for executing Closed Guard to Hindulotine?
- Catch the chin the instant posture breaks and the head drops below your chest line, before the opponent can re-stack their spine
- Lock the blade of your forearm high under the chin on the carotids, not low on the trachea or shoulder, before you commit to rotation
- Open the guard and shift your hips off-line to your choking-arm side rather than staying flat and square
- Generate the choke with hip rotation and core, treating your arms only as a fixed frame that transmits the torque
- Keep your legs working as control, butterfly hooks or a knee shield, so the opponent cannot circle out or stack you flat
- Stay tight to the head and shoulders so the opponent cannot insert a near-arm frame or drive a Von Flue shoulder into your throat
- Read the opponent’s reaction early so the entry flows into a sweep, back take, or Darce if the choke alone stalls
Prerequisites
What do you need before attempting Closed Guard to Hindulotine?
- Closed guard established with ankles locked and the ability to control the opponent’s posture
- Opponent’s posture broken forward with their head dropping below your chest line, or the opponent posting to stand
- A high-elbow or arm-in guillotine grip secured with the forearm blade high under the chin
- Hip mobility and space to shrimp out to one side rather than being pinned flat beneath the opponent
- Awareness of the opponent’s near arm so you can deny a defensive frame before rotating
- A free leg ready to convert into a butterfly hook or knee shield as the guard opens
Execution Steps
How do you execute Closed Guard to Hindulotine step by step?
- Break posture and bait the head down: From closed guard, use collar or head grips and the clamp of your knees to break the opponent’s posture forward. Pull their head down toward your chest, or wait for them to post their hands and drive forward as they attempt to stand, which momentarily lowers their head below your chest line and exposes the chin.
- Snatch the high-elbow guillotine grip: As the chin clears your chest line, thread your choking arm around the neck and bring the blade of your forearm high under the chin onto the carotid line. Lift your choking elbow high and lock a gable grip or grab your opposite bicep, keeping the wrist high so the pressure lands on the neck rather than the trachea or shoulder.
- Open the guard and clear your hips: Unlock your ankles and open the closed guard. This is the commitment point that separates the Hindulotine from a flat-back guillotine. Keep the grip glued tight to the neck so opening the legs does not give the opponent room to lift their head or re-posture while your hips become free to move.
- Shrimp off-line to your choking-arm side: Shrimp your hips out toward the side of your choking arm so your spine is no longer stacked square beneath the opponent. Aim to angle your hips roughly 45 to 90 degrees relative to their spine. This off-line position is what lets your core, instead of your biceps, drive the choke and is the structural heart of the Hindulotine.
- Convert the legs into control hooks: As your hips rotate, replace the hip-clamp of closed guard with active control: insert a butterfly hook under the near thigh or set a knee shield across the opponent’s torso. The legs must now stop the opponent from circling out, standing, or stacking you, holding the angle you just created so the rotation is not undone.
- Rotate the hips to load the torque and settle the Hindulotine: With the grip fixed and the angle set, rotate your hips and pull your choking elbow toward your opposite hip, wrapping rotational pressure around the neck. Keep your chest tight to the trapped head and shoulder so no frame can form. You are now in the Hindulotine, controlling posture and hips with the choke loaded and sweep, back-take, and Darce branches available.
Possible Outcomes
| Result | Position | Probability |
|---|---|---|
| Success | Hindulotine | 55% |
| Failure | Closed Guard | 30% |
| Counter | Side Control | 15% |
Opponent Counters
How might your opponent counter Closed Guard to Hindulotine?
- Opponent drives forward and stacks their weight over your hips to flatten you before you can clear your hips off-line (Effectiveness: High) - Your Response: Do not fight the stack head-on. Load their forward weight onto a butterfly hook and execute a butterfly sweep with the grip intact, or use the drive to come up to the angle. Their forward pressure becomes the energy that frees your hips. → Leads to Side Control
- Opponent tucks their chin hard and pulls their head straight back to defend the grip (Effectiveness: Medium) - Your Response: Walk the choking arm incrementally higher on the neck without releasing pressure and increase hip rotation. The rotational angle of the Hindulotine works around a chin tuck that would stall a straight pull. → Leads to Closed Guard
- Opponent drives a Von Flue shoulder pressure into your throat to counter the guillotine (Effectiveness: Medium) - Your Response: Keep your hips off-line so the shoulder cannot line up on your neck, and rotate away from the pressure. If the Von Flue commits, abandon the straight choke and use the hooks to sweep or re-clamp guard rather than getting passed. → Leads to Side Control
- Opponent frames their near arm between your chest and their neck to create space (Effectiveness: Medium) - Your Response: Thread your choking arm deeper across the neck and under the framing armpit to convert to a Darce, trapping the frame against their own neck rather than fighting to strip it. → Leads to Closed Guard
Safety Considerations
What are the safety concerns for Closed Guard to Hindulotine?
Guillotine-family chokes are blood and air chokes that can render a partner unconscious quickly, so apply rotational pressure progressively and release the instant a partner taps verbally or physically. Avoid cranking the neck laterally during the hip rotation, as the spinal torque that makes the Hindulotine effective also raises cervical injury risk if applied explosively. When drilling the stack and Von Flue counters, the bottom player must protect their own neck and not let the top player drive shoulder pressure into the throat at full force. Beginners should build the hip-clearance and rotation slowly with light resistance before adding finishing pressure.