Grappling isn’t a list of moves — it’s a map. Grapplepedia documents 35 positions connected by 109 techniques, searchable under 578+ names and aliases. Search the name you heard on the mat — the honey hole, the mata leão, the keylock — and land on the move it actually is, with every other name listed.
The Position Map
Standing & Clinch
Where every match starts: grip fighting, takedowns, and the battle for the first position.
Standing — aka Neutral, On the Feet, Free Movement (9 techniques)
Grapplepedia is a free interactive encyclopedia of Brazilian jiu-jitsu and grappling techniques, built by Jiu-Jitsu Authority. Instead of a flat list of articles, it models grappling as a connected map: positions are places, techniques are the moves between them, and every technique page shows where it starts, where it ends, what counters it, and every name it goes by.
Why do BJJ techniques have so many different names?
Because the sport grew across languages and lineages faster than its vocabulary. The same leg entanglement is called the saddle, honey hole, 411, and inside sankaku depending on the gym. Grapplepedia treats the mechanics as canonical and every name as an alias — search any of them and you land on the same page, with the other names listed.
How many techniques are in Grapplepedia?
The library currently documents 35 core positions and over 100 techniques — including all major submissions, sweeps, passes, takedowns, and escapes — indexed under more than 500 names and aliases. It grows continuously, with emerging techniques clearly marked until their mechanics are fully verified.
What is the difference between a position and a technique?
A position is a configuration two grapplers can hold — closed guard, mount, the saddle. A technique is a movement that changes the position or ends the match — an armbar, a knee cut, a berimbolo. That distinction matters most for leg locks: the saddle is a position you control; the heel hook is just the short finishing move that leaves it.
Are leg locks like heel hooks legal in BJJ?
It depends on the ruleset. Under IBJJF rules, heel hooks are legal only in no-gi at brown and black belt (since 2021) and always illegal in the gi, while straight ankle locks are legal at every belt. ADCC and most submission-only events allow heel hooks. Every Grapplepedia technique page lists its legality where it differs from “legal everywhere.”
What should a beginner learn first?
The fundamentals with a white-belt tag: the upa and elbow-knee escapes from mount, the frames-and-shrimp escape from side control, the armbar, triangle, and hip bump sweep from closed guard, the double leg and sprawl standing, and the rear naked choke from the back. Those cover every phase of a match and everything else in the library builds on them.