Credit where credit is due ... the triangle choke counter that I picked up from Gracie Barra black belt Marcelo Pereira in the September 2006 issue of Ultimate Grappling has been working like an ancient Chinese secret. Between Wednesday and Thursday nights, I think I was caught in six triangles and used Pereira's escape to get out of five of them. Lance the Blue caught me Thursday night with the sixth one, after I'd managed to escape at least one of his triangle attacks that night.
Most importantly, it gives me something specific to do when I'm in a given situation. There's that haze that enters when you're in an unfamiliar situation, and you are scrambling your brain trying to find the file folder where a particular escape, reversal, sweeep, etc. was stored. By knowing that triangle choke attack = Pereira escape, I can better train myself to move automatically.
It will also help me with my own triangle attack. Given the escape that I've been using, it seems to me critical that the guy attacking with the triangle get perpendicular to the other guy as quickly as possible. The easiest way to do this is to underhook the leg that's on the same side as the choking leg. I've written before that when you are in the proper perpendicular position, you want to be looking at your choking knee the same way you'd look down the barrel of a rifle.
I don't want to make a habit out of escaping from triangle chokes, but this escape has been working very, very well in a pretty short period of time. I'm also still having a hard time transitioning from the escape to the guard pass that Pereira shows. Something to work on during the next "30" ...
