Clock Choke with Maia Matalon

Most chokes fail in the last ten percent, not the first ninety. Grips slip, angles open, and the opponent turtles, rolls, or waits you out. In this instructional, Maia Matalon shows how she closes that gap.

Maia is a black belt competitor with High Noon BJJ Team and the 2025 ADCC East Coast Trials champion in the women’s +65kg division, where she submitted her way through the bracket. Her game is aggressive, athletic, and built to finish, and the clock choke is one of its main weapons.

She teaches her own version of the choke in the gi, where the collar gives you the most control. Then she shows how to adapt the same mechanics when there’s no collar to hold. You’ll learn the reasoning behind each detail as well as the steps, so you can adjust the choke to your body and your opponents.

What’s inside

• The Matalon variation in the gi, step by step. Collar grips, hand position, head and hip placement, and the small adjustments that make her version different from the standard clock choke.
• Taking it to no-gi. How she adapts the choke when there’s no gi to grab, and where it fits into her no-gi competition game.
• The concepts behind a finish. The principles that decide whether any choke lands: removing space, controlling the head, beating the defensive hand fight, and using weight and position instead of arm strength.
• Live coaching session. Maia teaches the technique to MASTERS fellows Kaiya Johnston and Madeline Solis. You’ll see the mistakes new learners make, the cues that fix them, and how the choke comes together over repetitions.

Who it’s for

• Gi players who reach the turtle or back but struggle to finish
• Competitors who train both gi and no-gi and want one choke that works in both
• Coaches looking for a clear, proven way to teach chokes, shown with real students

Every purchase supports athletes.
This instructional is produced by MASTERS (Martial Arts for Social Transformation, Equity, and Rights), a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. Proceeds fund our athlete fellowships, training scholarships for low-income families, and the development of new martial arts teaching methods. When you learn from Maia, you also help the next Kaiya or Madeline reach the next level.