Craig Jones and Lachlan Giles Discuss Outside Ashi

 

In 2017, Craig Jones made his name him on the internationally grappling scene and become feared for his leg lock attacks. Now in 2019, his mentor Lachlan Giles made a legendary run in the ADCC absolute division, heel hooking giants like Kaynan Duarte, Patrick Gaudio, and Mahamed Aly for the bronze medal. 

Lachlan spent each match entering into 50/50 and used the position to bring the larger grapplers down to the mat and into submission range, and finish all of them in under two minutes. After that performance, every leg lock technician in your gym is going to be studying that footage. Keeping a step ahead of them with preemptive defense would be a smart move to avoid getting leg locked over and over again I the training room for months to come. 

It just so happens that Lachlan’s chief training partner and student, Craig Jones, has some thoughts on dealing with this style of leg lock entry.

 

Against a standing opponent, getting straight to 50/50 is difficult. It is easier to get to outside ashi instead, knock them to the mat, and pass the leg over to 50/50 if you so desire. Outside ashi is a different position, where the attacker has two on one control over one leg with their own legs, and the defender has a leg on each side of attackers body, instead of their own two on one control on the same side.

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From single leg x it is easy to switch the inside leg over the defenders leg and lock your ankles together, creating a powerful vise on the thigh/hip area. After knocking them down to the mat, the attacker can choose to pass the leg across to a 50/50 position so that they can pursue inside heel hooks, the most high percentage leg lock. Or, they can keep the outside ashi and go straight to an outside heel hook instead. 

Either way, Craig doesn’t want to deal with any of that. His first goal is to stay standing up. With his foot flat on the mat he is safe from leg locks for moment, it’s not until his he gets knocked over and his foot comes up that he is actually in danger. Second, if he stays standing Craig immediately go into passing when he clears the ashi position.

Lachlan’s inside (right) knee acts as a frame against Craig’s body, keeping him away if he tries to pressure down. So Craig’s first goal is to remove this frame. He takes a C grip with left hand against the side of the knee, and his right scoops Lachlan’s opposite hip. 

He lifts the hip and pushes the knee in a wheel motion, clearing the knee. Note Craig’s posture positioning as he does this. At the start he is leaning forward, head over his lead foot. This makes him harder to knock over as he gets his grips. As he does the wheel motion, he turns so that he is facing Lachlan head on. To finish securing this initial position, he shoves Lachlan’s top knee past him into a modified leg drag. 

Craig reaches and forward secures a grip around Lachlan’s head. This upper body control makes it very difficult now for Giles to move, let along continue the outside heelhook attack. Now Craig just has to sprawl out to break the crossed ankle control on his trapped leg, bringing him to a full leg drag. He walks around to his left side to secure the head and arm choke.

After this last ADCC, everyone saw that the leg lock game cannot be ignored any longer. It is a crucial part of competing now. Conversely, being able to foil leg lock attacks and use those position to chain into your own passes is an equally important skill, maybe even more so.

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