Overview
The Darce strangle is a figure-four arm triangle applied from the front headlock, characterized by the attacker threading the strangle arm deep under the opponent’s near arm and across the neck before locking a tight figure-four grip. Named after Joe D’Arce—a student of John Danaher who helped popularize the technique in the 1990s—the darce has become one of the most widely used submissions in modern no-gi grappling.
Structurally, the darce differs from the anaconda strangle by the placement of the strangle-arm hand. In the darce, the strangle-arm hand finishes near the opponent’s neck, while in the anaconda it finishes closer to the shoulder.
Entries typically arise from sprawls, front headlock scrambles, failed takedowns, or when the opponent turns to their side while defending the front headlock. Once the figure-four is secured, the attacker walks their hips forward, drives their weight through the opponent’s trapped arm, and rotates to create a powerful strangling effect. Its combination of control, rotational pressure, and rapid finishing potential makes the darce one of the highest-percentage submissions across both sport grappling and MMA.
Related Techniques
Anaconda, Guillotine, Arm-in guillotine