CRUCIFIX

The crucifix is the dominant position in which the attacker has trapped one of the opponent's arms with their legs while the opponent is in turtle or face-down, with the attacker's body perpendicular to the opponent and the trapped arm extended across the body. The position resembles the geometric cross of a crucifix, which is where the name comes from. It is one of the highest-scoring transitional positions in modern BJJ — not a scoring position in IBJJF directly, but a hub from which numerous high-percentage submissions and direct transitions to back control become available.

The entry is established most often when the attacker has the opponent in turtle and one of the opponent's arms is exposed for an underhook or wrist control. The attacker hooks their inside leg over the opponent's exposed arm, threads their other leg over the opponent's back, and locks the figure-four around the captured arm. From this configuration the attacker can attack the bow-and-arrow choke (gi), the cross-collar choke from the back, the kimura on the trapped arm, the back-take by rolling the opponent through, or the armbar by pivoting the hips perpendicular.

The crucifix is a relatively advanced position because the entry requires specific configuration of the opponent's posture (one arm exposed, turtle or face-down), but once established the submission options are diverse and the defensive escape window is narrow. Eddie Bravo's 10th Planet system popularized the crucifix as a no-gi attack hub, and the Mendes brothers' Atos team integrated it into the IBJJF gi competition repertoire. Defensively the position is escaped by tucking the trapped arm tight to the body before the figure-four locks, by rolling toward the captured-arm side to disrupt the angle, or by attacking the attacker's free leg with a leg lock if no-gi rules permit.