Peruvian Necktie No-Gi: 7 Setups That Force the Tap
The Peruvian necktie is the rarest front-headlock finish in modern MMA — just two clean executions in UFC history before Misha Cirkunov stunned Jimmy Crute with one at UFC Fight Night 158 in 2019, and a third when Vince Morales hit a modified version against Hunter Azure at UFL 5 in August 2024. Rarity is what makes it dangerous. Wrestlers see a guillotine threat and frame, see a darce and ride it out, but they rarely read the leg coming over the back of the neck until it’s already there. Below are seven peruvian necktie setups that finish in no-gi grappling, broken down by the entry your opponent gives you.
Why the Peruvian Necktie Still Wins in No-Gi 2026
The submission was developed by Peruvian-American grappler Tony DeSouza in the early 2000s and entered mainstream MMA when C.B. Dollaway tapped Jesse Taylor with it at UFC Fight Night 14 in July 2008. What makes it work in no-gi specifically is the gable grip. No collar means no cross-face frame to fight off — once the hands lock under the chin and the top leg drops over the spine, the choke is hand-fighting only.
The truth is, most front-headlock chains in no-gi pick a lane early: guillotine for opponents who shoot in low, darce for opponents who turn into you, anaconda for opponents who try to roll through. The peruvian necktie is the answer to the fourth thing they do — stalling on all fours with their head trapped. That fourth scenario is exactly what wrestlers default to under fatigue, which is why this finish lives in the late rounds.
1. Sprawl Catch — The Classic Wrestling Counter Entry
Your opponent shoots a single, you sprawl your hips back and snake your near arm under their chin. As they post on their head and try to recover, you thread your over-under grip, sit through to your butt, and throw the same-side leg over the back of their neck. This is the Dollaway-Taylor finish almost frame for frame from 2008. The reason it works against wrestlers is that the sprawl puts their head below their hips — exactly the angle the choke needs.
Gable grip locked under the chin before the leg comes over — the key control point.
Don’t reach for the leg too early. The mistake most blue belts make here is throwing the foot over before the grip is locked. If your hands aren’t already buried under the throat, you’re handing your opponent your back the moment your hips lift.
2. Gable Grip From Front Headlock — The Cleanest No-Gi Lock
From a standing or kneeling front headlock, the gable grip is non-negotiable in no-gi. S-grip slips when sweat hits it. The gable — palm to palm with the thumbs tucked — gives you a vise that survives the panicked shoulder dive your opponent will throw the second they feel the leg start to swing.
Step in tight so your chest is glued to the top of their head. Sit down to your near hip, then thread the far leg between your bodies and over the back of their neck. The second your shin lands on their nape, drive your hips up toward your chin and squeeze the gable inward. The finishing direction is up and into yourself — not down toward their toes.
3. Standing Drop Entry — The Tony DeSouza Original
This is the riskiest setup and the one DeSouza built his name on. From a standing front headlock — usually after stuffing a takedown or catching a head-low entry — you drop suddenly to your hip without letting your opponent’s posture rise. The drop lets you throw the leg over before they can scramble flat or stand to base.
Vince Morales locking in his “Vincuvian” variation against Hunter Azure at UFL 5.
The drop entry doesn’t forgive timing. If your opponent senses the level change and posts their hand out, you’ll land on your shoulder with your back exposed. Drill this against a partner who knows when it’s coming first. Once the rhythm is in your hips, blend it into live front-headlock exchanges.
4. Turtle Top Hunt — When Your Opponent Refuses to Move
Turtle is the no-gi stall position of choice now that leg locks have replaced back exposure as the bigger fear. Your opponent ducks into all-fours, glues their elbows to their knees, and waits for the referee to stand it back up. That stall window is where the peruvian necktie lives.
From turtle top, slide your near arm under their chin and lock the gable — your other hand comes through the gap between their armpit and their thigh, not over the shoulder. Sit perpendicular to their spine, hook the leg over the neck, and drop your far hip toward the mat. The finishing torque comes from rolling your shoulder under, not from pulling up on the chin.
5. Failed Guillotine Recovery — Turning a Loss Into a Win
You shot a high-elbow guillotine and they passed your guard, or you caught a standing guillotine and they ducked through. Most grapplers release the grip and re-guard. Don’t. The peruvian necktie is the exit ramp.
Hunting the front headlock during a stuck guillotine — peruvian threads off the same grip.
As they pass, switch your guillotine wrist out from under their chin and re-anchor with a gable on the same head. Your bottom leg snakes around behind their neck. The transition is faster than reset-to-guard and catches opponents mid-celebration. Brad Pickett built his UFC career on this exact recovery sequence.
6. Anaconda-to-Peruvian Switch — Reading the Defensive Roll
You’re hunting the anaconda from front headlock. Your opponent recognizes the threat and tries to roll through to escape. The smart defensive read is to keep rolling them all the way over and finish — but if they catch their hip and stall halfway, the angle isn’t there. The peruvian is the bailout.
A ONE Championship finish off the front-headlock chain — same grip family, different finishing angle.
Unhook the anaconda’s underhook, swing your leg over the trapped head, and sit back through. The grip switch happens at the same time as the leg lift, so your opponent never gets a clean moment to base out. The peruvian-anaconda chain is the cleanest combination in the front-headlock arsenal because both chokes feed the same grip family.
7. The Vincuvian Variation — Shin Bone Modification
At UFL 5 in August 2024, Vince Morales finished Hunter Azure with what his coaches call the “Vincuvian necktie” — a peruvian variant that uses the shin bone rather than the calf to choke. The traditional version drops the meat of the calf across the back of the neck. Morales rotates the leg so the hard edge of the tibia digs into the spine.
The peruvian and japanese necktie share an entry — knowing both gives you two finishing angles off one grip.
The shin version cuts faster but requires more flexibility through the hip — the leg comes over higher than a standard peruvian. If your hips don’t allow it, drill the standard calf-pressure version first and add the shin rotation as a finishing detail once the entry is automatic.
The Video You Should Be Studying
Hayabusa’s no-gi peruvian necktie breakdown is the cleanest single-camera angle on the standard gable-grip entry. Watch the timing on the leg throw — that’s the rep most grapplers butcher.
Common Defenses and Why They Fail
The standard defenses are: post the head out, walk around to the choking side, and pull down on the choking arm. All three fail late because grapplers try them once and freeze when they don’t work. The fix isn’t a better single move — it’s chaining the three. Post the head, immediately walk the hips toward the choke, then strip the wrist as you stand. If you treat them as independent escapes, you’ll run out of grip strength before you run out of options.
Misha Cirkunov’s Cirkunov-Crute finish at UFC Fight Night 158 — only the second peruvian necktie in UFC history.
The other defensive read worth knowing: the peruvian threat opens up the back take. If your opponent commits hard to defending the choke, their elbow flares and the underhook is right there. Don’t be stubborn about finishing the choke they’re defending — take what they give you. According to BJJ Heroes, the highest-percentage chains off failed peruvians at black belt level run straight into back control and a rear-naked sequence.
Where to Drill It This Week
Three reps per side, three rounds: pure entry from front headlock, then sprawl-to-entry from a partner shooting at half speed, then turtle-top entry from a partner ducking in defensively. That’s 18 reps a session. Two sessions in and the leg throw will start to feel natural. By session six, you’ll catch one live.
Vince Morales between sessions — the kind of repetition that makes a “rare” submission look automatic.
Pair the peruvian work with north-south choke drilling in the same session. Both finishes share the gable grip and live in the same positional family, so the muscle memory carries. If you only train submissions in isolation, you’ll never feel the moment in a roll where one becomes the other.
The Honest Take on Adding This to Your Game
The peruvian necktie isn’t a beginner submission. The hip flexibility, the timing on the leg throw, and the willingness to give up position if the entry misses all push it into purple-belt territory at minimum. But once it’s in, the front-headlock game opens up in a way that flat guillotine-darce-anaconda chains can’t match. Add it to your A-game by the end of summer 2026 and you’ll catch your gym off guard before the leaves turn.
Sources
- Tony DeSouza biography — Peruvian MMA fighter and the originator of the peruvian necktie.
- UFC Submission of the Week: Dollaway vs. Taylor — first peruvian necktie finish in UFC history (UFC Fight Night 14, July 2008).
- Sherdog highlight: Cirkunov hits peruvian necktie on Crute — UFC Fight Night 158, September 2019.
- Fight.tv: Vince Morales modified peruvian necktie — UFL 5 bantamweight title finish, August 2024.
- BJJEE: Peruvian Necktie submission toolkit breakdown.
