Twister from Truck

Last updated: June 27, 2026

What is the twister from the truck?

The twister is a rotational spinal lock made famous by Eddie Bravo and his 10th Planet jiu-jitsu system. The truck is the position most attackers reach it from. Both trace back to folkstyle wrestling, where the technique was known as the wrestler’s guillotine and was used to pin an opponent rather than submit them, according to BJJ Heroes.

Calling it the twister from the truck points to a specific relationship between a position and a finish. The truck traps one leg in a figure-four and leaves the back exposed. Because the lower body is pinned and cannot rotate out, the attacker is free to wrench the head and upper spine the other way. That opposing twist is the finish.

Bravo built much of 10th Planet around this position. He learned the leg ride and the guillotine as a high-school wrestler, then sharpened it into a submission while training under Jean Jacques Machado. For most grapplers today, the twister is the headline attack that comes off the truck.

How the truck sets up the twister

A spinal lock needs the body anchored before it can finish. The truck does precisely that: by hooking one of the opponent’s legs and lifting the hips, the attacker stops the lower half from rotating, so the opponent cannot simply spin out the way they might against ordinary back control.

The finish itself is about the head. The attacker clears the opponent’s near arm so it cannot block, locks a grip around the head, and turns it toward one shoulder while the trapped leg holds the hips still. The spine then bends sideways against itself. BJJ World describes the actual submission as lateral hyperflexion of the cervical spine, which is why it reaches the neck even though it looks like a whole-body movement.

This is also why fighters fear it. A joint lock bends one joint, and a clean tap undoes it with no lasting harm. A spinal crank loads the entire column at once. The safe window to tap is narrow, and that danger, more than any trouble reaching the position, is why the twister carries the reputation it has.

Truck vs. standard back control

Newer fans often assume the truck is back control by another name. It is not, and the gap between them is the reason the twister exists.

In standard back control, the attacker sits behind the opponent with both hooks in, chest against their back, usually hunting a rear naked choke. The truck attacks from a different angle. The attacker controls one leg with a figure-four and faces into the hips instead of stacking on the spine. One leg gets trapped rather than both feet hooking inside.

That single-leg trap matters more than it looks. Two hooks pin the torso but leave the legs free to scramble, while one trapped leg combined with a body lock freezes the hips, which is what a spinal crank needs. Standard back control flows toward chokes. The truck flows toward leg attacks and the twister.

	Standard back control	The truck
Attacker position	Chest to the opponent’s back	Facing into the hips, off to one side
Leg control	Both hooks inside the thighs	One leg trapped in a figure-four
Main threats	Rear naked choke, bow-and-arrow	Twister, calf slicer, banana split, back take
Most associated with	Traditional BJJ and MMA	10th Planet, Eddie Bravo, no-gi

Where the twister from the truck is legal

Legality depends entirely on the ruleset. Because the twister is a spinal lock, the IBJJF bans it at every belt level, in the gi and no-gi alike, per Evolve MMA’s ruleset breakdown. Most traditional gi competitions hold the same line, which is why the move stays rare on those mats.

No-gi and submission-only events tend to be friendlier to it. The Eddie Bravo Invitational, run by the grappler who popularized the move, allows it, and several submission-only promotions permit spinal locks that point-based gi tournaments forbid. Rulesets shift often, so competitors should check a specific event’s rules before counting on it.

In MMA, the twister is fully legal, if still uncommon. The first one in UFC history landed in March 2011, when Chan Sung Jung, the Korean Zombie, caught Leonard Garcia with it and took home a Submission of the Night bonus, as covered by MMA Weekly. Bryce Mitchell scored the promotion’s second in December 2019. For a lot of fans, those two finishes are where the term entered their vocabulary.

Common misconceptions

A handful of things get muddled often enough to be worth clearing up.

The truck and the twister are not the same thing. The truck is a position. The twister is one submission available from it, and a grappler can sit in the truck without ever going for it, taking the back or a leg lock instead.

The twister is also more than a neck crank. It looks like the attacker is simply wrenching the head, yet the trapped lower body does half the work. Pressure travels down the spine, and depending on how flexible the defender is, it can reach the shoulders and lower back too, as BJJ World notes.

There is also no instant finish waiting in the truck. Arriving at the position does not mean the twister is locked. The attacker still has to win the grip fight for the opponent’s arm, and a defender who keeps that arm tight can shut the submission down before it ever develops.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is the twister the same as the wrestler’s guillotine?

More or less. It began in folkstyle wrestling as the wrestler’s guillotine, a way to turn an opponent for a pin. Eddie Bravo adapted it into a submission and renamed it, according to BJJ Heroes.

Why is it called the truck?

Bravo has said the name comes from the UFC production truck, where many quick decisions get made at once, because the position opens up so many attacking options from one spot.

Is the twister dangerous?

Yes. As a spinal crank, it loads the cervical spine, and the window to tap safely is short. That risk is why most gyms apply it slowly in training and why bodies like the IBJJF ban it.

Can you use the twister in the gi?

Rarely in competition. The IBJJF and most gi rulesets ban spinal locks at all levels, so the twister mostly lives in no-gi, submission-only grappling, and MMA.

Has anyone won a UFC fight with it?

Yes, though it stays rare. The Korean Zombie scored the first in 2011 and Bryce Mitchell the second in 2019, per MMA Weekly.

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Sources

1. BJJ Heroes. “The Truck.”
   https://www.bjjheroes.com/techniques/the-truck
2. 10th Planet Jiu-Jitsu Forum. Eddie Bravo on the origin of the truck name.
   https://www.10thplanetjj.com/forum/threads/23551-Why-do-you-call-the-position-The-Truck
3. MMA Weekly. “Watch ‘The Korean Zombie’ pull off the first Twister in UFC history.”
   https://www.mmaweekly.com/news/watch-the-korean-zombie-pull-off-the-first-twister-in-ufc-history
4. Sportskeeda. “How many times has a twister submission ended a UFC fight?”
   https://www.sportskeeda.com/mma/news-how-many-times-twister-submission-ended-ufc-fight
5. Evolve MMA. “IBJJF, ADCC, EBI: Confused By BJJ Rulesets?”
   https://evolve-mma.com/blog/ibjjf-adcc-ebi-confused-by-bjj-rulesets/
6. BJJ World. “A Detailed Breakdown Of The BJJ Twister Submission.”
   https://bjj-world.com/breakdown-of-the-bjj-twister/

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