Rear naked choke

The rear naked choke (RNC), is a chokehold in martial arts applied from an opponent's back. The word naked in this context refers to the fact that this hold does not involve the use of a keikogi ("gi") or training uniform. The technique is also known as hadaka jime (裸絞, "naked choke") in Japanese martial arts and mata leão ("lion killer") in Brazilian jiu-jitsu.

The choke has two variations: in one version, the attacker's arm encircles the opponent's neck and then grabs their biceps/shoulder on the other arm (see below for details); in the second version, the attacker clasps their hands together instead after encircling the opponent's neck. Recent studies have shown that the rear-naked choke takes an average of 8.9 seconds to render an opponent unconscious, regardless of the grip that is used.