Illegal Grappling: Escape From the Rear Naked Choke is one of those succinct video products that makes you wonder, “Why aren’t more people doing videos like these?”
The 25-minute DVD isn’t the most slickly produced video product you’ll see this year (the graphics are a little cheesy, reminiscent of the type of videos commonplace in the self-defense industry several years back), but when it comes to the actual video content, it has what you need. The picture is clear, the sound is audible, and Oscar takes a very direct, no-BS approach to showing you the chokes and escapes he presents.
If the name sounds familiar to you, that’s because Oscar Diaz-Cobo wrote a book called Unarmed Against the Knife many years ago. It’s part of my knife-fighting library, which I first amassed through the Paladin and Delta Press catalogs before the Internet became the end-all, be-all of self-defense communication. It was with surprise that I answered my phone one day to find Oscar at the other end of the line, wondering if I would be willing to present my analysis of his DVD.
In Escape From the Rear Naked Choke, Oscar and his training partner (as well as a BOB dummy) present to you the methods for applying, and escaping from, a rear choke and a rear stranglehold. Oscar makes a distinction between the “full” versions of these moves and the lesser applications. The full choke and full stranglehold involve using the support hand against the back of the opponent’s head. The distinction between a choke and a strangle, as presented by Oscar, involves whether the arm is pressing against the front of the throat or against the artery at the side of the neck.
Text before each section delineates the lessons and makes it easy to follow along. Oscar points out the disadvantages of using typical Judo counters for the chokes and then presents his preferred methods for getting out of them. He also gives the viewer some supporting information about stances and telegraphs.
What follows is easily the most detailed discussion of eye gouging and testicle crushing that I have seen to date. Using a variety of teaching aids, such as a peach, Oscar explains the proper method for lacerating the human eye and effectively crushing, biomechanically, a man’s testes.
He incorporates these techniques in preventing takedowns, employing them to disrupt the opponent’s shoot for the waist and for single- and double-leg takedowns. This is tremendously useful information, especially for students of Reality Based Self-Defense, who tend to be weak in grappling and counter-grappling skills. The popularity of sporting Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) makes it very likely you’ll encounter techniques like these in a self-defense situation.
Other techniques demonstrated include how to rip and pinch skin from your opponent (this is, like eye-laceration, not as simple as you’d be tempted to think) and some basic kicking techniques. Oscar rounds out his discussion with repeated warnings that methods like these will constitute felony assault unless you are fighting for your life in dire circumstances.
I enjoyed this DVD. It fills a gap only too common among exponents of pragmatic defense, who are primarily (and for good reason) strikers rather than grapplers. These are counters to grappling and MMA methodology that can be learned quickly by anyone. They can be applied to good effect should you find yourself at a disadvantage on the street — and I mean that literally, as in, you find yourself lying ON, or about to fall to, the pavement. I give Oscar Diaz-Cobo much credit for this program and look forward to seeing more of this type of instruction from him.