Back Attacks: Why 30% of Jiu-Jitsu Finishes Start Behind You
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The Jiu-Jitsu Mindset · Data Study
Back Attacks: Why 30% of Jiu-Jitsu Finishes Start Behind You
Back attacks are the largest submission family in jiu-jitsu, producing roughly 30% of all 3,209 recorded finishes in our study of 97 elite grapplers. The choke from the back (484), the rear naked choke (417) and the bow and arrow (55) account for 956 taps between them — more than any other family in the sport.
Every instructor says position before submission. This is what that instruction looks like when you add up a decade of recorded results: the single most dominant position in grappling produces the single largest share of finishes, and it is not close.
Submission families, by share of all finishes
All 3,209 recorded submission wins grouped by family.
The three finishes that do the work
Back-attack submissions ranked by recorded wins, out of 3,209 total finishes.
| Submission | Finishes | Share of all taps | Overall rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Choke from the back | 484 | 15.1% | 1 |
| Rear naked choke | 417 | 13.0% | 3 |
| Bow and arrow | 55 | 1.7% | 14 |
| Total (top three) | 956 | 29.8% | — |
Why back control finishes more than any other position
Back control is the only position in grappling that is entirely one-directional. You can attack the neck with both arms; your opponent cannot see your hands, cannot attack you back, and cannot use their own arms for anything except defence. Mount, side control and guard all involve some trade — an exchange of grips, a scramble risk, a sweep threat. The back involves none.
So the back is where high-level grapplers spend their effort, and the finishes that flow from it get more live repetitions than anything else in the sport. The submission numbers are downstream of that. If you want more taps, the lever is not a better choke — it is getting to the back more often.
Seven of the top ten finishers live there
Of the ten most prolific submission artists in our dataset, seven list a back attack as their signature finish: Joao Miyao, Felipe Pena, Adam Wardzinski, Gianni Grippo and Andre Galvao all favour the choke from the back, while Gordon Ryan and Dante Leon favour the rear naked choke. Only Keenan Cornelius (armbar), Rafael Lovato Jr. (armbar) and Fellipe Andrew (arm triangle) build their games elsewhere. See the full leaderboard.
What this means for your training
Two practical reads. First, back escapes are the highest-value defensive skill you can own, because the position that finishes 30% of matches is the one you most need to not be in — our encyclopedia covers escaping back control. Second, if you are choosing where to invest offensively, back attacks give you the best return per hour of any family in the data.
Frequently asked questions
What percentage of jiu-jitsu submissions come from the back?
About 30%. In our study of 3,209 recorded finishes by 97 elite grapplers, back attacks — chokes from the back, the rear naked choke and the bow and arrow — account for roughly 956 taps, the largest share of any submission family.
Is back control the most dominant position in jiu-jitsu?
By the numbers, yes. It sits at the top of the positional hierarchy in every ruleset and produces more submissions than mount, side control or guard. It is also the only position where the attacker can work the neck with both hands while the defender cannot counter-attack.
What is the difference between a rear naked choke and a choke from the back?
The rear naked choke is a specific technique — a bare-arm strangle applied from back control. “Choke from the back” is the broader category FloGrappling uses for back-position strangles that are not recorded as an RNC, which in the gi usually means a collar choke. We report them separately because the source data does.
How do I get to the back more often?
The most reliable routes are turtle attacks, the back take from mount as the opponent turns, and the arm-drag entry from guard. Our encyclopedia entry on taking the back covers the main entries.
Sources & method
Data captured from athlete Submission W/L Methods tables on FloGrappling in July 2026 — 97 athletes with recorded methods, 3,209 submission wins, 53 distinct techniques, gi and no-gi combined across each career. Family groupings are our own and are approximate. Full write-up: Tap Stats.
More from this series: The most common submission in jiu-jitsu · Rear naked choke statistics · Armbar statistics · Catch The Jiu Jitsu Mindset on YouTube and Spotify.