North-South Position

Last updated: April 13, 2026

What is the north-south position?

Picture two fighters on the ground, one on their back and the other lying face-down on top of them. Their bodies point in opposite directions, like the needle of a compass pointing north while the other points south. That alignment is where the name comes from.

The top fighter’s chest presses down onto the bottom fighter’s chest and shoulders, pinning the upper body to the mat. The top fighter’s legs sprawl behind them for balance, while the bottom fighter’s legs and hips remain free but largely unable to generate the leverage needed to escape.

In judo, this hold is called kami shiho gatame (upper four-quarter hold). The name translates roughly to “pinning from above on all four sides.” BJJ and MMA adopted the position from judo and expanded the submission options available from it.

The north-south position sits alongside side control, mount, and back control as one of the primary dominant positions in grappling. Fighters typically reach it by transitioning from side control, walking their body over the opponent’s head until they are aligned in that inverted chest-to-chest configuration.

How the north-south position works

The position’s effectiveness comes from weight distribution. The top fighter sinks their chest into the opponent’s torso, making it difficult to breathe and almost impossible to create the frames (forearm barriers) that grapplers use to escape other pins.

Because the top fighter’s hips are far from the bottom fighter’s hips, standard side control escapes like shrimping and hip escapes lose most of their effectiveness. The bottom fighter can move their legs, but that movement rarely translates into a meaningful escape without first addressing the chest pressure pinning their shoulders flat.

Controlling the opponent’s arms is the other half of the equation. The top fighter uses overhooks or underhooks to neutralize the bottom fighter’s arms, which prevents them from building frames or pushing away.

North-south position vs. side control

Both positions are dominant top pins used after passing an opponent’s guard, but the body alignment differs.

In side control, the top fighter lies perpendicular to their opponent, chest pressing into the opponent’s side or ribcage. In north-south, the top fighter rotates until their body is parallel but inverted, with both fighters’ heads pointing toward opposite ends of the mat.

That difference in orientation changes which escapes work and which submissions are available. Side control opens up Americana and arm triangle attacks, while north-south favors the north-south choke and kimura.

	Side control	North-south position
Body alignment	Perpendicular (90 degrees)	Inverted parallel (180 degrees)
Primary pressure	Shoulder/chest into opponent’s side	Chest-to-chest, pressing downward
Opponent’s hips	Close and active	Distant and less effective
Signature submissions	Americana, arm triangle, kimura	North-south choke, kimura, armbar
IBJJF scoring	No points (awarded for the guard pass)	No points (awarded for the guard pass)
NAGA no-gi scoring	2 points (side control)	2 points (side control variation)

Common submissions from north-south

Three submissions appear most often from this position.

The north-south choke is the signature attack. It can only be applied from north-south. The top fighter wraps one arm around the opponent’s neck, uses their ribcage to turn the opponent’s face away, then sprawls back to compress the neck between their shoulder and bicep. According to Wikipedia’s entry on the north-south choke, Jeff Monson accumulated 17 victories using it over the course of his MMA career. Marcelo Garcia, widely considered one of the best no-gi grapplers in history, also used it frequently in competition.

The kimura targets the shoulder joint. From north-south, the top fighter isolates one of the opponent’s arms and applies a double-wrist lock to force rotation against the joint.

The armbar is less common from north-south than the other two, but it becomes available when the opponent exposes an arm while defending the choke or the kimura.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does the north-south position score points in BJJ?

Under IBJJF rules, no. North-south itself does not award points. The 3 points scored for a guard pass are awarded when the top fighter reaches side control or north-south and holds it for 3 seconds, but the points belong to the pass, not the position. Under NAGA no-gi rules, north-south is classified as a side control variation and scores 2 points for dominant positional control.

What is kami shiho gatame?

Kami shiho gatame is the judo name for the north-south hold. It translates to “upper four-quarter hold” and is one of the seven official pinning techniques (osaekomi-waza) in Kodokan Judo.

Is the north-south position used in MMA?

Yes. MMA fighters use north-south for top control, ground-and-pound striking, and in some rulesets, knee strikes to the head. The position also allows fighters to recover energy while maintaining dominance on the ground.

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Sources

1. Wikipedia. “North-south position.” Accessed April 2026.
2. Wikipedia. “North-south choke.” Accessed April 2026.
3. IBJJF. “Rules Book v6.0.” June 2024.
4. Ribeiro, Saulo. Jiu-Jitsu University. Victory Belt Publishing, 2008.
5. NAGA Fighter. “How Does the BJJ Scoring System Work?” Accessed April 2026.
6. Fight Encyclopedia. “North-South Position Family.” Accessed April 2026.

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