To begin with, it’s worth noting the official, IBJJF definition of what constitutes a knee reap. According to the IBJJF it is “When one of the athletes places his thigh behind the leg of his opponent and passes his calf on top of the opponent’s body above the knee, placing his foot beyond the vertical midline of the opponent’s body and applying pressure on his opponent’s knee from the outside.”
With this said, the knee reap is when the leg of one player threads past and above the leg of their opponent. In doing so this puts tremendous torque on the opponent’s knee which can cause considerable damage. Although not illegal in all BJJ competition rules, it is something that is under IBJJF rules.
As the majority of competitions are done so under IBJJF rules, it’s a good idea to learn the ins and outs of reaping and how it can affect you. From a defensive and offensive position, it’s important to learn for self defense and injury prevention as well as when attacking the knee for your own attacking options. Below we shall delve into the world of knee reaping and analyze how it all works.
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Examples of Knee Reaping
Imagine you’re in an IBJJF gi competition where knee reaping is illegal. Typically knee reaping will be done accidentally in this case and results in an instant disqualification. For instance, you may see this commonly at white belt level where competitors are completely clueless about reaping, or they just don’t understand the mechanics.
Anyway, knee reaping commonly happens during the ashi garami position. Imagine one player has their opponent on the floor in a leg entanglement and is going for a straight ankle lock. This position is completely legal for all belts, but reaping is illegal for all. With the outside leg that is typically rested on the hip, the player’s leg goes beyond the hip and their toes are pointing inwards.
This acts as a knee reap as their opponent’s leg is torqued inwards as a result. Due to the mechanics of the knees and legs, your knee has very little movement when forced inwards. If facing outwards, your knee has a considerably bigger range of motion. Because of this, it is illegal. The specific reasoning is that you can easily blow your knee out as a result. By twisting the inner tendons of your knee inwards, they can snap which can result in damaging your ACL and other key ligaments.
Another example is yet again from the ashi garami position. This time, the one player is standing up whilst in single leg x guard. The bottom, guard player once again brings their outside leg inwards which again bends their opponent’s leg inside. Due to this, the result is the same which results in the possibility of damaging the knee.
So, what is legal when using the ashi garami?
This is a good point. Obviously, a straight ankle lock without a knee reap is completely legal for all. However, there are a few other leg positions that may look similar to knee reaping, yet are completely legal due to being safe on the knee.
The first example of this is where the outside foot is hovering over the hip and is close to crossing the knee completely, yet isn’t. This is a grey area and is often due to the discretion of the ref. As a result, sometimes you may get a lenient referee to allow positions that are borderline illegal, whilst others may judge safety as the top priority and give a DQ as a result. As a general rule, it’s good to play it safe when doing an ashi garami. You can definitely keep your foot on the hip, but don’t risk it by placing it far over the hip.
The second example if your leg passes over the knee line, but is under the knee. For instance, if you have the opponent in single leg x, who then decides to push your foot down below their knee. Whilst below the knee, your leg comes inside. This is completely legal but generally isn’t a good position in terms of guard playing strategy. Having said this, there is nothing wrong with the position.
Similarly, there are a couple of other obvious leg entanglements which are also fine for all levels. Although 50/50 does put your leg over the knee line, it’s completely legal due to the leg originally entering from the inside, as opposed to the outside. As a result, the opponent’s leg is torqued outwards instead of inwards. This means there’s no danger to their leg. Another example is the Caio Terra ankle lock. This stems from a leg entanglement but again, there are no legs intruding on the opponent’s knee in a dangerous way, so it’s completely fine.
Lastly, there is quite a complicated rule which is quite an advanced technique. In BJJ, there is a move called the bear trap. This is due to your acts acting similarly to a bear trap which traps the leg of the opponent. From here, you can choose to sweep or submit the opponent depending on your preference. For example, from the bottom single leg x position, you may opt to enter the bear trap by entangling their leg.
If you put the opponent on the floor, you cannot touch the ankle of the entangled leg otherwise it constitutes as a reap. However, you are free to attack their other leg or chose to pass from the position. Technically speaking, as you are not controlling their ankle in this position, their leg is not in danger.
Please note, this is quite a specific example of avoiding a knee reap and maybe confusing for a newcomer. If you don’t really understand the mechanics of how reaping works, then it may be best to avoid the example of the bear trap until you have advanced your BJJ knowledge.
When knee reaping injures – Jake Shields vs Cub Swanson
Before Gordon Ryan, Jake Shields was widely known as a top leg lock player. In one particular Quintet match, he fought MMA fighter Cub Swanson. During their grappling exchange, Shields caught Swanson in a reaping position. Here, Shields didn’t attempt a heel hook or even control the ankle of Swanson. However, he did have a huge knee reap entanglement.
Almost the entire leg of Shields was threaded through the leg of Swanson. This wasn’t a few pointed toes or a foot, it was his entire leg. Here, Swason tried to escape as his leg was bent but eventually tapped in agony. As a result, Swanson was badly injured which highlights the dangers of knee reaping. This means that if you do compete in a setting where knee reaping is legal, it may be best to learn defenses. The first stop is to remove the knee against your knee line. Depending on how deep, controlled and locked the opponent’s leg is, this can either be simple or incredibly difficult.
When Knee Reaping is legal
Outside of IBJJF, knee reaping is generally a legal attack in BJJ. For instance, in NAGA competitions it is illegal until ‘advanced’ categories where it’s allowed. In ADCC rules, it’s legal for all and in the vast majority of nogi superfights such as EBI and F2W, reaping is yet again legal.
Not only this, but IBJJF actually announced that they would legalize knee reaping for their nogi competitions from 2021 onwards. Of course, this was for brown and black belts only as it’s deemed too dangerous for lower belts. As a general rule, most non-IBJJF nogi competitions are reap-friendly, whilst most gi competitions don’t allow reaping either.
Moving away from BJJ, other martial arts such as Sambo completely allow knee reaping. Further, Sambo legend Vlad Koulikov has gone on record saying it should be legal for all levels in BJJ. Reaping is also fully legal in MMA competitions, as are heelhooks which are commonly associated with the position.
Should we fear the Knee Reap or allow it for all levels?
This is a matter of opinion which differs from person to person. For example, Ryan Hall has said that in some gyms, the position is overly-feared and so practitioners are over-the-top in their fear of it. Some gyms even go as far to allow reaping and heel hooks for newcomers, although this is somewhat rare. The reason for this is that it will teach students early on about the dangers of the position and how to defend it and stay safe.
Generally, more IBJJF and gi friendly and gyms are mostly against knee reaping which may be what Hall was talking about.
Typically, most gyms will focus on upper body submissions and positions when training beginners. This may be another reason why reaping isn’t focused on and may lead to being ignored completely.
Final Thoughts
Overall, knee reaping can be a dangerous position. A lot of this depends on the knowledge and body positioning of the player who is stuck in the reap, however. Due to this, it can be considered a very harmful position, or a relatively harmless one. However, most practitioners will agree that it is taboo to knee reap a newcomer who is clueless in the position.
In conclusion, there is a debate as to whether legalizing knee reaps would lead to the growth of skill in the sport, or whether it would result in too many premature injuries. Regardless of your stance, it is still important to understand what a knee reap is, and the mechanics behind them. Too often people are taught reaping, but forget the basics after due to not fully understanding the position enough. By reading this article, hopefully you will understand the logic between reaping and make sure you don’t get injured or disqualified any time soon!
