Let’s face it, if you go and spectate at a BJJ competition you will see plenty of leg locks. This is regardless of the ruleset or skill level. Even in the gi without heelhooks allowed, leg locks are currently a very common part of BJJ. When knee reaps, slicers and heelhooks are involved – leg locks become even more commonplace. Having said this, if you compare BJJ events to watching an MMA event, leg locks just aren’t as common. Sometimes leg locks are used or attempted in MMA but it’s quite rare compared to that in sport BJJ. There are several reasons for this which will be looked at in detail below.
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Leg locks were more common in the early days of MMA
If you look back to the earlier days of MMA, leg locks were actually more common. Leg locks were commonly associated with Japanese shootfighting and catch wrestling whereas BJJ focused more on upper body techniques. For example, MMA legend Ken Shamrock was literally doing heel hooks in the early 90’s, as well as other leg locks such as kneebars. But it wasn’t just Shamrock who was at it. Elsewhere in Pride, the likes of Genki Sudo were even winning with Achilles locks which are completely unheard of these days.
So, why did leg locks become less commonplace in MMA? Whilst it’s obvious as to why gi submissions died out, less is spoken about as to why leg locks faded too.
Perhaps the main reason was that most MMA fighters adapted to the times and grew defensively stronger against leg attacks.
For instance, in some of the Pancrase and Pride fights, some were won by foot locks without any control. If you look back, these would be easily defended these days and would offer little threat. However, the 90’s was a completely different scene in terms of grappling knowledge and it was entirely possible to win a match with a sloppy leg lock. Like all submissions, as defensive knowledge grows, the threat of the attack weakens and this is possibly what happened with leg locks.
MMA shifted its ruleset against grappling
This argument can be made towards all grappling types but especially BJJ and even more so with leg attacks. Back in the days of Pride and even early UFC, the rounds were much longer. Some rounds could be over 10 minutes. In short, this allowed grappling to flourish.
In modern day MMA, you may have to work 3 minutes to takedown an opponent, then another minute to pass their guard and then you have 1 minute to beat the opponent. In this scenario, it may be best to attack with strikes as setting up and finishing submissions becomes less worthy as time diminishes. Because of this, grappling suffered as a result.
It’s no secret that in the earlier days of UFC that grappling and BJJ in particular were more dominant whereas now significantly more fights are won by striking. It’s a cliche but sometimes you will hear fans shout “Stand them up” which is a testament to modern MMA fans disliking grappling and wanting strikes. From a marketing perspective, this may have been the reason why MMA shifted its rules to minimize the use of grappling during events.
The biggest reason why leg locks aren’t used in MMA
Although the advancement of defense is relevant, as is the change in ruleset – the main shift away from leg locks is due to the risk-reward on offer. For instance, in the earlier days, some would drop back and risk a top position for a leg lock. Whilst this may be ok in BJJ as it doesn’t have as severe consequences if it fails, in MMA it can be a huge mistake. For obvious reasons, losing top position in BJJ doesn’t lead to getting your head punched in, whereas in MMA it’s a real possibility.
This is why MMA grappling is different from grappling in BJJ. Not just with leg locks, even pulling guard can be dangerous in MMA whereas in BJJ it’s commonplace. Again, gone are the days in MMA where fighters would pretend to fall and pull guard. These days most fighters are wise to this and are cautious to engage with savvy grapplers. Or, if they do it is often on their terms. In brief, it’s high risk, low reward to enter leg lock positions in MMA and most fighters with a high fighting IQ will avoid this unless it benefits them massively.
Fighters won’t tap to leg locks as much
The average BJJ competitor may have 10-20 matches per year, or even more. These days, most MMA fighters have maybe two fights in a calendar year. Because of this, they are less worried about breaking bones, especially when it comes to their ankles. For instance, in a BJJ competition, you may tap to a bad achilles lock. It probably isn’t worth the break and time off if your foot snaps. However, if you look at top BJJ competitors, they also adopt a similar mentality when dealing with ankle locks and toeholds. Many of these competitors will risk breaking ankles if it means winning.
Whether this is pride or due to harming their career with a competitive loss, most elite competitors will risk it with most leg locks. With this said, the same does not apply with heel hooks which are still treated with fear and respect, most of the time. For those wondering, this is because heel hooks are the most dangerous leg lock submission. Unlike others, they can break the knee in seconds and can cause life-long damage.
Looking back at MMA, the fight isn’t over if your foot breaks to a toehold and as long as your knee ligaments aren’t damaged, many will carry on. The same logic can be applied to wristlocks. Whilst most BJJ competitors will tap to wristlocks to avoid a broken wrist, MMA fighters will see it as part of the cause and will continue the fight regardless of the damage caused. With this said, if you are going to attempt a leg lock in MMA – it should be good, and ideally a heel hook which attacks the knee.
Evidence of leg locks re-entering MMA
In recent times, there has been growing evidence of leg locks re-entering MMA due to the growth in BJJ specialists entering the sport. As mentioned previously, the decline of leg locks was due to the knowledge learned from those trying to defend against them. However, since then leg locks have soared in popularity in BJJ during recent years. This is mostly down to John Danaher who taught the likes of Gordon Ryan and Garry Tonon how to be effective with heel hooks and most importantly the control needed to hold and finish from the saddle position.
Before this, leg locks were mostly seen as chaotic and without the control needed to finish tough or competent opponents. However, Danaher’s students proved these moves to be effective which saw heel hooks explode in popularity. Combined with heavy marketing of the move, heel hooks quickly became the number one leg lock in the BJJ world which was a few years ahead of MMA in terms of grappling developments. Not only this, but Danaher’s own student Garry Tonon often used heel hooks in the MMA promotion ONE to win various matches.
Recently, leg lock specialist Ryan Hall has found success with his slick heel hook entries from standing in MMA. Here, he does Imanari rolls into the position and has defeated the likes of BJ Penn in a short time whilst doing so.
This proves that if the leg locker is proficient enough, then leg locks can be accomplished safely and successfully in MMA. Of course, this involves excellent entries, control and finishing mechanics. As a result of the complexity, some BJJ fans predict that leg locks are slowly becoming more common again in MMA but this will still take a few years for MMA grapplers to become good enough at hitting them in the cage.
Summary
Whilst leg locks are still fairly uncommon in MMA, they’ve definitely seen something of a renaissance in recent times. Not only this, but some predict that they will go on to become even more common within the next five years or so into the future. It should be said that these only counts for the best leg locks in MMA.
For instance, if heel hooks are the king of leg locks then the achilles lock is much further down the list, and slicers are even more uncommon due to lacking the power to break bones as easily.
Nonetheless, it would be foolish to rule out leg locks based on recent events and as BJJ further develops the leg lock game, they should only continue to become a more normal part of the sport, similar to their use back in the earlier days of UFC and Pride.
If you want to improve your knowledge of leg locks as a BJJ or MMA fighter, then check out the Modern Leg Lock Formula DVD by Rob Biernacki and Stephan Kesting.
