What Is the Most Common Submission in Jiu-Jitsu? (2026 Data)
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The Jiu-Jitsu Mindset · Data Study
What Is the Most Common Submission in Jiu-Jitsu?
The most common submission in jiu-jitsu is the choke from the back. Across 3,209 recorded submission wins by 97 elite grapplers, it accounts for 484 finishes (15.1%) — narrowly ahead of the armbar (467, 14.6%) and the rear naked choke (417, 13.0%). Grouped as a family, back attacks produce roughly 30% of every tap.
Ask ten black belts and you will get ten answers. So we stopped guessing: we tallied the Submission W/L Methods table from the FloGrappling profile of every athlete on their roster and counted every recorded finish. That is 3,209 taps, 97 athletes and 53 distinct techniques. Here is the ranking.
The 15 most common submissions in jiu-jitsu
Recorded submission wins across 97 elite grapplers. Share is of all 3,209 finishes.
| # | Submission | Finishes | Share | Family |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Choke from the back | 484 | 15.1% | Back attack |
| 2 | Armbar | 467 | 14.6% | Arm lock |
| 3 | Rear naked choke | 417 | 13.0% | Back attack |
| 4 | Choke (other) | 182 | 5.7% | Choke |
| 5 | Triangle | 173 | 5.4% | Triangle |
| 6 | Inside heel hook | 142 | 4.4% | Leg lock |
| 7 | Heel hook | 137 | 4.3% | Leg lock |
| 8 | Straight ankle lock | 113 | 3.5% | Leg lock |
| 9 | Knee bar | 112 | 3.5% | Leg lock |
| 10 | Guillotine | 104 | 3.2% | Choke |
| 11 | Toe hold | 102 | 3.2% | Leg lock |
| 12 | Kimura | 76 | 2.4% | Arm lock |
| 13 | Katagatame (arm triangle) | 76 | 2.4% | Choke |
| 14 | Bow and arrow | 55 | 1.7% | Back attack |
| 15 | Ezekiel | 47 | 1.5% | Choke |
The five submission families
Every technique grouped into its family, as a share of all 3,209 finishes.
Why the back produces the most submissions
The answer is positional, not technical. Back control is the only position in grappling where you can attack the neck with both arms while your opponent cannot see your hands and cannot attack you back. Every other position involves a trade. So the finishes that flow from the back — the rear naked choke, the collar chokes, the bow and arrow — get more repetitions in live competition than anything else, and they show up accordingly.
That is why seven of the ten most prolific finishers in our dataset list a back attack as their signature move. Position first is not a slogan; it is what the numbers look like when you add up a decade of matches.
The armbar is the most-used joint lock
At 467 finishes the armbar sits second overall and first among joint locks — more than six times as common as the kimura (76). The oldest submission in the book has never gone out of style, and it is the one attack that appears from mount, guard, side control and the back alike. See the full armbar breakdown.
What this means for your training
Fifteen techniques account for 2,687 of the 3,209 finishes in this dataset — 84% of every tap. The other 38 techniques split the remaining 16% between them. If you are choosing what to drill, the distribution is telling you something blunt: depth in a handful of high-frequency finishes beats breadth across the catalogue.
Frequently asked questions
What is the most common submission in BJJ?
The choke from the back, with 484 of 3,209 recorded finishes (15.1%) among 97 elite grapplers. The armbar (467) and rear naked choke (417) are second and third. As a family, back attacks account for about 30% of all submissions.
What is the highest-percentage submission in jiu-jitsu?
Back attacks. Because back control is the most dominant position in grappling, chokes from the back out-produce every other family in our data. The rear naked choke in particular is regarded as the highest-percentage finish in both gi and no-gi.
What is the most common submission for beginners?
Our dataset covers elite competitors, not white belts, so it cannot answer that directly. At the beginner level the americana, the rear naked choke and the armbar are the usual first finishes taught, and the elite data suggests two of those three stay useful forever.
How many submissions are there in jiu-jitsu?
We recorded 53 distinct techniques across this dataset, though the true catalogue is larger — many rare variations simply never appear in recorded results. See how many submissions there really are.
Sources & method
Data captured from athlete Submission W/L Methods tables on FloGrappling in July 2026. All 102 rostered athletes were checked; 97 had a methods table and 5 did not and were excluded. Counts reflect recorded submission wins and mix gi and no-gi across each athlete's career. Family groupings are our own and are approximate. Full write-up: Tap Stats: what 97 elite grapplers actually submit people with.
More from this series: Back attacks · Rear naked choke · Leg locks by technique · The most prolific finishers · Catch The Jiu Jitsu Mindset on YouTube and Spotify.