A few weeks ago we showed a great straight ankle lock by Luiz Panza to add to your game. Now that you’ve been catching it in training your rolling partners are probably starting to catch on and defend against it. Well this week reigning world champion Mikey Musumeci shows us a nasty ankle lock to use when your opponent defends. He used this same ankle lock to win Worlds, so it’s already battle tested. Let’s take a look at some of the key details he shows for this technique.
The Technique
This technique is actually a counter off when the opponent defends your normal ankle lock. When you go for the normal ankle lock, the opponent might counter by moving their hips to the opposite side to take pressure off their ankle. By doing this, they take away the angle for a normal ankle lock, but give up the angle for a straight knee ankle lock.
First, Mikey grabs a grip of their pants on the knee and pushes the grip upward. With that tension created, Mikey then clamps his elbow down, brings his forearm to his chest, and pulls his head back towards the mat to get the tap.
This is a great technique because it highlights the importance of being able to continue chaining attacks even if your opponent is able to defend against the initial submission attempt. The only things that changed were the angle and the part of the foot you are putting pressure on.
For more techniques like this, check out our technique section and look for more techniques added weekly.