Also known as: Back Mount · Rear Mount · Hooks In · Costas
Chest glued to the opponent’s back with both hooks (or a body triangle) and a seatbelt grip. The most dominant position in grappling — the opponent cannot see you, cannot strike you, and must defend the rear naked choke with hands alone. Every scoring system in the sport agrees: the back is the summit.
Gi & No-gi · Category: The Back
What can you do from Back Control?
Back taker (positional score +10/10)
Submissions
Rear Naked Choke — The highest-percentage submission in all of grappling: from back control, one arm encircles the neck with the elbow under the chin, the other locks behind their head, and both carotids close. Every path in the sport eventually leads here.
Bow and Arrow Choke — The strongest gi choke in the sport: a deep collar grip plus a grip on their pants, your body extending like an archer drawing a bow — the collar does to their neck what a bowstring does to an arrow.
Armbar from Back Control — When they defend the choke with committed hand fighting, take the arm they gave you: rotate off the back, leg over the head, and extend the defending arm — the classic RNC-armbar dilemma.
Defending player (positional score -10/10)
Escapes
Back Escape (Chair Sit) — Getting off the back is a protocol, not a move: win the hand fight, get your shoulders to the mat on the choking-arm side, scrape off their top hook, and turn in — usually surfacing in their half guard or guard, on top.