All strangles are good – but rear strangles are generally the best: The back is the king of positions when engaged in no gi submission grappling. When using a gi you can use the collars to create strong strangle threat from the mount and in MMA you can use punches from mount to set up myriad submissions – so you can make a strong argument for the mount as the ultimate position (or at least AS good as rear mount) in those contexts – but no gi submission grappling I rate rear mount above all. The statistics back up this belief. Strangles from the rear greatly outperform other upper body submissions in success rate. It's like a perfect storm of submission success. Your opponent has almost no attacks upon you once you settle into rear mount, so you can totally focus on your attacks without distraction. Your opponent cannot simply explode out of the position (especially if you lock a body triangle) as a strong man can sometimes do from mount – he is only going to get out if he KNOWS how to get out – so again, you can focus on your attacks. Lastly, anyone you are behind someone they cannot use pushing strength against you. You must become adept at all strangles – but out the lions share of your strangle training into rear strangles – for they will provide the lions share of your successes.
