There is another angle of this gif that shows it better.
In the instant, choker must extend the free forearm and elbow or else land on head. Obviously, this unsinks the choke. The impact also breaks the grip. Chokee plans to shrimp out the back, or spin hard and sweep out the side.
Usman's attempt not only broke the choke, it broke the figure 4.
It looks like Usman went for a spin-sweep. I wonder what would have happened if instead of spinning, he tried to pull out the back?
I've been at 2 gyms that trained this. Not often. Sometimes it was during some dude's camp.
There was a lot of guys who yelled stop. If you don't do it right, your head bangs off the mat with opponent's weight on top.
IMO, the trick is try to flip. If you throw hard enough and get your head around-under far enough, you can get out, and the other guy may already be out.
If you don't, it hurts, and you may knock yourself out.
I can't remember the fight, but I've seen someone do this in a UFC fight. His feet were way off the ground when his opponent hit the mat. He was really going for it, and it worked.
I never tried it. Too old by the time I had the opportunity.
