Americana

Last updated: April 16, 2026

What is the Americana lock?

The Americana is one of the first submissions most grapplers learn. It’s a shoulder lock that traps the opponent’s arm in an “L” shape next to their head, then uses a figure-four grip to twist the shoulder until the joint gives.

It sits in a specific family of submissions called armcoils, which hyper-rotate the shoulder rather than hyperextending the elbow the way an armbar does. According to Wikipedia’s armlock entry, the Americana, kimura, and omoplata all belong to this armcoil category, meaning the shoulder, not the elbow, takes the brunt of the damage when the lock is finished.

The technique has been part of jiu-jitsu since at least the 1950s. BJJ Heroes notes that the term “americana” was used in Rio de Janeiro for figure-four submissions since the early days of the martial art, and the name appears in a Diário de Notícias report from 1951 describing Masahiko Kimura’s victory over Hélio Gracie. Its name has no agreed-upon origin. The popular story credits American wrestler Bob Anderson teaching the move to Rolls Gracie in the 1970s, but that timeline doesn’t hold up against the 1951 newspaper citation.

How the Americana works

Mechanically, the Americana turns the opponent’s arm into a lever. The attacker pins the wrist flat on the mat with the elbow bent at roughly 90 degrees and the palm facing the ceiling, then threads their other arm under the bicep and grips their own wrist. That creates the figure-four grip. From there, lifting the elbow while keeping the wrist pinned generates torque on the shoulder.

The motion looks a bit like painting a wall with a brush, which is where one of its nicknames comes from. The attacker’s weight and leverage do the work, not raw strength.

Because the attacker is using both arms on one of the opponent’s, the Americana is a two-on-one control that’s hard to escape once it’s locked in. It works best from top positions where the bottom person is pinned and can’t generate hip movement to disrupt the grip.

Americana vs. Kimura

Newer grapplers often confuse the Americana and the kimura because both use the exact same figure-four grip. The difference is the direction of rotation.

	Americana	Kimura
Arm direction	Forearm points up toward the opponent’s head	Forearm points down toward the opponent’s hip
Rotation type	Internal shoulder rotation	External shoulder rotation
Best from	Side control, mount	Guard, half guard, side control, north-south
Versatility	Limited mostly to top positions	Works from top and bottom, chains with sweeps and back takes
Also called	Keylock, ude garami, paintbrush, figure-four armlock	Double wristlock, gyaku ude-garami, chicken wing

A kimura forces the arm away from the head, while an Americana forces the hand toward the head and shoulder. If a reader hears a commentator say “he’s going for the kimura” and the attacker’s grip looks the same as one they’ve seen called an Americana, the direction of the forearm is the tell.

Where the Americana is used in MMA

In MMA, the Americana shows up far less often than chokes, armbars, or kimuras. Among experienced grapplers it’s considered a low-percentage finisher, partly because defenders learn to bridge and hip-escape against it early in their training.

The UFC history of the technique is short and recognisable:

• Jon Jones submitted Vitor Belfort with an Americana at UFC 152 in 2012, though Belfort was already badly beaten at that point.
• Nick Catone used it to finish Derek Downey at UFC Fight Night 17 in 2009.
• Mike Van Arsdale submitted Joe Pardo with one at UFC 17 in 1998.
• The first Americana in UFC history came at UFC 2, when Frank Hamaker defeated Thaddeus Luster.
• In May 2025, Luana Santos secured the first Americana submission victory in UFC women’s history against Tainara Lisboa at UFC Vegas 106.

The technique has a reputation in high-level grappling circles for being hard to finish on anyone with real defensive training. BJJ coach John Savarese noted in a widely shared piece that in 30 years of training he could not recall a single successful Americana finish in black belt competition at the world championship level, and called Jon Jones’s finish of Belfort the only clear MMA example he could remember. The mechanics are sound. The problem is getting a trained opponent to hold still long enough to finish it.

That pattern explains why viewers hear the Americana mentioned in commentary more than they see it applied. When it does land, it usually involves a significant size gap or an opponent who’s already exhausted or hurt.

Other names for the Americana

Depending on the style, the same submission appears under different names:

• Keylock: the name most commonly used in catch wrestling and MMA broadcasts.
• Ude garami: the Japanese judo term, meaning “arm entanglement.”
• Figure-four armlock: a descriptive name referring to the grip shape.
• Paintbrush: an informal BJJ nickname referring to the finishing motion.
• V1 armlock: an older catch wrestling term.
• Top wristlock: used in some wrestling contexts.

A commentator calling it a “keylock” and a coach calling it an “Americana” are describing the same move.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is the Americana the same as the keylock?

Yes. Keylock is the name more common in catch wrestling and MMA commentary, while Americana is the Brazilian jiu-jitsu term. Both describe the same figure-four shoulder lock.

Why is the Americana called the paintbrush?

The finishing motion resembles sweeping a paintbrush across a wall. The opponent’s hand acts like the bristles dragging on the mat as the attacker lifts the elbow.

Is the Americana legal in MMA?

Yes. It’s a legal joint lock in every major MMA promotion, including the UFC and ONE Championship.

Why is the Americana rare in professional MMA?

Defenders can relieve much of the shoulder pressure by bridging, hip-escaping, and straightening the arm. Higher-level opponents rarely leave their arm in the position needed to finish the lock, which is why it appears more often in training and lower-level competition than on big cards.

Can the Americana be done from the bottom?

It can, but it’s a much lower-percentage attack from bottom positions and mostly works against inexperienced opponents. Top side control and mount are the standard finishing positions.

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Sources

1. BJJ Heroes. “Americana Lock (Submission).” bjjheroes.com.
2. Wikipedia. “Armlock.” Accessed April 2026.
3. Grappling Insider. “Watch Every Americana Finish In UFC History.”
4. MMA UK. “Luana Santos Makes UFC History with First Women’s Americana Submission at UFC Vegas 106.” May 2025.
5. Diário de Notícias. 24 October 1951 edition, quoted in BJJ Heroes archival research.
6. Savarese BJJ. “The Americana aka Keylock in BJJ.” njbjj.com.
7. Evolve Daily. “BJJ 101: The Americana.”

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