Yes.

I have won a match at brown belt with this, against an absolute death machine.

I have been absolutely choked out into far away lala land with this at purple belt.

Alexey Somethingy has choked out horde of mma fighters with this, sometimes from UNDER the mount.

It works. You have to be a psychopath to follow through with it, but it works.

His next opponent got the armbar attack, so it's all about making sure your arms stay above theirs if you're going for it?

IMO the offense is about immobilizing the hips and shoulders.

The defence from bottom is about getting mobility for hips and shoulders. When trying to defend ezequiel from the bottom people naturally push with arms and pull with legs trying to pivot but actually if you feel the attack being dangerous then you need to pull with arms and push with legs :)

High level people can make stuff work that shouldn't. I still will most definitely not be adding this to my arsenal or recommending it. Though I admit it's a legit technique, as after all the reason it's called the ezequiel is because judoka Ezequiel Paraguassu was choking BJJ people out with it (can't remember if he was mainly getting it from inside their guard or the more common mounted version, but meh).

But then I don't like ezequiel chokes anyway, they mash up my fingers and are frequently mean. Especially the fist in neck variation. I don't do mean. ;)

I love ezekiel chokes anyway, they suit my build / style. I've won competition matches with them (not from guard). In my first competition (~4 months training) I was attempting them from top closed guard (terrible strategy) but then my guard passing really sucked and my opponents didn't exactly have slick armbars either. Second competition was NAGA so i could do a can opener which is an awesome way to open closed guard and should be legal everywhere. Some time between then and now i abandoned all top closed guard attacks and focussed on passing (only).

I feel like it could be useful to have something because as much as i try to always have good posture and not get broken down, it still happens. Especially in Gi where they can grab your lapel.

Ha ha ha - and this is why I will probably never roll with you. I will immediately stop anybody at my gym if I see them attempting a can opener, I would stop rolling with somebody if they tried it on me. I like having a working neck and being able to turn my head the next day. ;)

Or you could just play an open guard which is way cooler anyway

I'll wait until it's time to talk about Ezekiel from standing

https://www.instagram.com[...]fuum0lOtC/

I've done it in competition as a purple against purples and browns, but it's certainly not a go-to for me. My very first purple belt gi match I nearly choked the guy unconscious even though he managed to sweep to mount. That's the only time I've finished from bottom mount. I have not been armbarred while doing an ezekiel.
In most face to face ezekiel cases, the defense I prefer is to elevate the elbow of the choking arm to above your head to break the choking angle, and ideally shift your opponents hips in the same direction if possible. I taught a Globetrotters USA Camp class on this.

This should have gone on the "most annoying losses" thread

So what made you go for it, in the matches that you did go for it?

I think these instances speak for my "carotid reflex stimulation" theory :)

Desperation and blind murderous rage, in my case.

Hence the psychopath comment.

An "I WILL STRANGLE YOU WITH MY BARE HANDS" - kinda deal

Made me think of this.... Lol

Sometimes you just need that kind of crazy ......

Here is the choke from Polaris from those who don’t have Fight Pass:

https://www.instagram.com[...]aczhdlloag

I have caught this on opponents in their guard, but my priority is passing the guard..... That said it works best in a surprise set up (the old faking being tired and grabbing the head to "avoid being swept" trick LOL). I've taught it to members of my competition team, and a few of the kids have caught it in tournaments.

Like anything else, the move works when it works and when you have a person who can execute it correctly, I never say that any move shouldn't be attempted or doesn't work well generally across the board, because there is always one person who can pull it off with no issues ever. Hell, the amount of times I've seen GOD AWFUL Imanari Roll attempts that were just so bad in no gi events, that I actually felt MY Jiu Jitsu skill set get worse for seeing it, but you don't see anyone questioning whether or not people should stop attempting them. There are risks and rewards in all moves.

It was never the goal when inside guard. In the one where I ended up bottom mount, I had just had my back taken but I was able to turn back in, but while doing that I swung my arm back and hooked the head to help me turn. So I already had the underhook, and the choke was right there even though I had only intended to escape back control.
Another time the guy was really good at breaking down my posture, and one of the times he did it, I let myself go a little further forward to underhook the head, kept tight to conceal what I was doing, then sunk the choke. That setup is one I had started using as a blue belt against black belts in friendly open mat sparring, right before they'd kick my ass for doing a submission inside their guard. They were right to do so, of course.

In other words, it started out as a situation against my will where I recognized an opportunity.

i caught one of my toughest sparring partners with a ezekiel from inside closed guard ! its good
i know Dinu a bit also, hes quite a damn savage

there are even more daring setups, for example kind of as inverted ezekiel from your opponents northsouth !

embrace it but say farewell to your fingers over time...
and be ready to get counter armbarred here and there if you get too greedy

i mean its not like it should be THE move to master but its a nice bonus and fun for sure
aint no thrill like spammin ezekiels from all kinds of shitty positions while risking your arms
hell bjj is actually more like poker than chess. lol

i would suggest learning it early but really diving into it (literally) probably from purple up not earlier
it requires quite deep understandig of situations and good timing especially from unusual positions
also your escapes need to be on point so you can spam it more safely of course

its actually simple, your opponents legs outta the way = safe (example from closed guard)
your opponents legs totally in the way = very risky ( for example if you try it while you are in closed guard or even worse when you are mounted, probably worst success rate but possible)

anything in between all kinds of guards and open top positions follow that principle pretty much and risk/success rate is determined by how much your opponents legs are in the way.
the opponents arms mostly only serve for defense here so can be kinda neglected but his legs create the counter !

the thing is from your safe zones your opponent will know and fear and defend the move, from risky situations your opponent will more likely attack himself and defend the move less since his defense will be offense
thats when timing comes into place.

if your timing sucks i reccomend only going for it from safe zones. if your timing is sharp and you knwo the move by heart then you can get people even just a sec before they are about to armbar you...

ah its all the same shit, same with baseball chokes and other things
thats what you see in all comps all the time on all levels (slightly less on adult black since everyone has to keep his superstar status and doesnt risk anything anymore and makes bjj boring)
guy A goes for gi choke guy B closes legs around As arms,
next thing either B is sleeping or A has a broken arm since half asleep dizzy A guy couldnt control his armlock counter properly while being almost choked out


man i always just wanna keep my posts short since i hate writing but it just doesnt stop when i start...

at least one thing is for sure bjj is like poker !

Word.

I think one of my instructors has saying something like when I say never do this, there’s always a situation where you can/should. That’s not word for word but pretty close.