Josh Barnett has not been submitted by anybody in 19 years….Until he fought Ben Rothwell at UFC on FOX 18 last weekend.

Rothwell tapped out the catch wrestling specialist with what many people thought was a guillotine, but it wasn’t. The choke that Rothwell used is what we call a “GOGO” choke. It was developed by Rothwell’s coach, Luiz Claudio, who currently resides and teaches martial arts in Schaumburg, Illinois. The secret of this GOGO choke has long been hidden.

Rothwell also submitted Matt Mitrione in the UFC with the same GOGO choke.

Here’s the choke:

Ariel Helwani on the GOGO choke:

From Ben Rothwell:

MMA journalist Chris Martin described the choke and the story behind it:

The first time I felt the GOGO choke was a few years a go. I was training at Ben Rothwell’s academy in Kenosha, WI with Thiago Veiga, younger brother of Luiz Claudio. At that time, Thiago was working as the head Black Belt instructor at the Rothwell MMA Academy. I was playing a sitting guard position while Thiago was in front of me with a front-foot forward grapplers’ stance. As I pulled my arms around Thiago’s leg and scooted forward towards his front thigh, my neck was exposed. Within milliseconds, Thiago scooped his front hand underneath my chin and did something that sent waves shooting down my spine. Everyone has a different way to describe their first GOGO choke experience. The best way I can explain my experience is I felt like a dog who had just experienced a shock collar for the first time. I had never felt any choke like this before. As I looked up at Thiago with utter bewilderment, he started laughing and asked me, “So, do you like that, gringo?” I responded, “What the f%Ck was that”? Up until then, I struggled finishing the guillotine choke all throughout my white and blue belt years to no avail. On that day, I knew I needed to figure out how to make this choke work for me.

Luiz Claudio developed this choke and he lives in Chicago and is Ben’s coach. The funny thing is he is a tiny 135 lb Brazilian. You can book a seminar with him anytime here.

Luiz Claudio with Ben Rothwell

There is no video online teaching the GOGO choke as it’s still a ‘hidden technique, but according to Chris Martin, these 2 are the closest to how Luiz Claudio teaches it, with the important detail being the razor blade on the thumb:

Here is Luiz Claudio’s student placing a GOGO choke in a grappling tournament: