The Wrestlers' Kryptonite?

Fights have kinda sucked lately but we got some unbelievable news last week. Craig Jones has a grappling match against Olympic Gold Medalist Gable Steveson at Craig Jones Invitational (CJI) 2.

Today we’re going to review some history to show why leg locks are the wrestler’s kryptonite and answer, does Steveson have a chance? In the Premium Notebook we’ll be looking at Steveson’s Olympic Gold Medal winning run to show why he’s so special.

Now let’s get into the article.

Before leg locks were need to know techniques in professional grappling it was a niche skillset. There were people that liked to play guard, others that chose to pass and pin, and then a handful of weirdos that thought playing with feet and breaking legs was the way to grapple. Around this time a now old grappling cliche became popular.

Leg locks are a wrestler’s kryptonite.

This phrase stuck around for good reason. We have tons of examples of high level grapplers ripping their wrestling based opponents to shreds by attacking their legs.

And this phenomenon isn’t unique to professional grappling. Leg locks have neutralized wrestlers at all levels of MMA as well.

There’s the classic example of Frank Mir submitting Brock Lesnar.

And, more recently, Roman Dolidze used a leg lock to injure Phil Hawes in their fight. This injury enabled Dolidze to knock Hawes out later.

Clearly leg locks present a unique problem for wrestlers. But why?

Leg locks are so challenging for wrestlers for a few simple reasons. Namely, they never see anything like them in freestyle, folkstyle, or Greco Roman wrestling.

Think about like this. Broadly speaking, there are three types of submissions in professional grappling:

1. Submissions that attack the spine: Guillotines, rear naked chokes, neck cranks, etc..

2. Submissions that attack the arms: Kimuras, arm bars, wrist locks, etc..

3. Submissions that attack the legs: Heel hooks, knee bars, straight ankle locks, etc..

Amateur wrestlers have experience maintaining posture, grip fighting, and clearing ties off of their head and neck. That means they have indirect experience preventing arm locks and chokes.

But no one in freestyle, folkstyle, or Greco-Roman wrestling sits back and grabs legs. That would cause them to lose. So, wrestlers don’t have any experience fighting people off of their legs.

But that’s not the whole story. Mechanically, there are a few things that make wrestlers susceptible to leg locks.

First of all, if a wrestler wants to stand and posture they are giving open access to their legs for a submission.

Second, there are specific leg attacks counters that come from wrestling takedown attempts.

It should be noted this the flying leg scissor, aka kani basami, can be used proactively as well. Check it out below.

Lastly, if a jiujitsu player chooses to sit down and play guard, which of their opponent’s limbs are closest to them? Their legs. Duh. So, leg locks are quite literally the first submissions that can be attacked.

Now you might be saying, Gable Steveson is different. He’s a special athlete and much larger than Craig Jones. Plus his legs are as big as heritage oaks. There’s no way the relatively lean Australian can get ahold of them, much less break them.

Maybe. Maybe not. But recent events actually gave us an idea of how Steveson’s match could go against Jones, or at least where some risk is at CJI.

Last year’s CJI had two of Penn State’s best wrestlers in recent history do the event. Jason Nolf and Daniel Greg Kirkvliet both competed in the weight class tournaments. While their matches looked different from one another’s both lost in the first round.

Nolf was claimed by a leg lock in the final minute of his match.

Kirkvliet had a more conservative style. He stopped the leg lock submissions and put himself at risk of other attacks.

So we’ve seen high level wrestlers lose in CJI’s pit arena. What does this mean for Jones and Steveson’s match? I wouldn’t be too encouraged for the wrestler.

In Steveson’s NCAA finals match he showed some susceptibility to getting elevated while on top. In fact, the move looked a lot like jiujitsu to me.

I’m not saying Jones is going to counter wrestles Steveson. That would be insane. But I do think it’s concerning opponents can scoop Steveson’s legs to elevate his hips. That’s step 1 for getting leg locked. And against a leg locking savant like Jones, you really don’t want to start down that path at all.

At the same time, I’m not entirely sure Steveson won’t just deny Craig Jones’s grips for the whole match and squeak out a boring win. It might not be fun but a win is a win.

For me personally, I don’t really care how the match ends. I’m just excited that Jones has truly created a real spectacle capable of attracting elite talent.

When Jones signed Jason Nolf to CJI 1 last year I wrote that Nolf’s signing could mean more eyes, athletes, and money in professional grappling. Steveson’s signing makes it look like that’s coming true. And that can only be a good thing for the future of combat sports.

Now before we get out of here today I want to look at why Steveson’s signing specifically is such a big deal.