STANDING GUILLOTINE

The standing guillotine is the variation of the guillotine choke applied while both competitors are still standing rather than from a sprawled position. The technique is one of the most effective counter-takedown finishes when an opponent shoots in for a takedown without proper head positioning — the head-inside shoot position naturally exposes the neck to the guillotine setup.

The mechanics begin when the opponent shoots in for a takedown attempt with the head positioned inside (rather than head-outside, which is the correct shoot positioning). The attacker quickly hooks one arm around the opponent's neck, with the choking arm's hand gripping the attacker's own opposite shoulder or wrist depending on the variation. The attacker then steps back to disengage from the takedown attempt while squeezing the choke and lifting upward. The combined backward step, squeeze, and lift produce fast carotid compression that finishes the choke before the opponent can complete the takedown attempt.

The standing guillotine has been used extensively in MMA and no-gi grappling. Notable practitioners include various wrestling-trained MMA fighters who have made the standing guillotine a primary counter-takedown finish. Defensively the standing guillotine is escaped by maintaining head-outside positioning during shots, by hand-fighting the choking arm before the wrap completes, or by walking the body to the same side as the choking arm to relieve carotid pressure (the same defense as conventional guillotines).