OUCH…My knee pop’d!

Ugh…what a day.  After nursing a sore back for most of last week…I decided to get back into the swing of things and roll today.  Going against one of the other visiting black belts I was playing butterfly when he launched into 50-50 guard and attacked with an outside heel hook.  Under control he applied pressure while instead of rolling the direction he was twisting… I attempted to –go to the head, figure four the attacked foot behind my knee, and defend the submission attempt by fighting his hands.

Needless to say…during the scramble the knee pop’d before I had a chance to tap…and I’ve spent most of the day walking with a limp.  I don’t think any “serious” damage (torn ligaments) has occurred…but I’m pretty sure I strained a few tendons/ligaments.. .and will be out of training for a couple days.  I’ve jumped back on the anti-inflammatory pills, and have had a “Tiger Balm Patch” on the back of the knee most of the day.

Foot locks are one of those things that use to be considered “Taboo” in BJJ—>but like everything else have evolved into common attacks.  The school I first started training at was more of a “catchwrestling” gym…and we regularly went over toe holds-ankle locks-knee bars-and heel hooks.  Later when I moved to California Mo Khayat was a foot attacker, so I feel comfortable playing with them and often catch grapplers in my own leg-lock setups.  You don’t see many leglocks in MMA simply because of the risk of ‘losing position’ while going for the submission.

I’ve only been submitted a few times in 2010, and all have been by leg locks…One of the things about being a good grappler…is you have to constantly review your ‘game’ and look for areas to improve.  Something you ‘use to be good at’…might need to be reviewed if you find yourself making mistakes.  As the ol’ BJJ Saying goes…if you don’t use it you lose it.

Looks like I’m gonna spend the next couple of weeks brushing up on my leg lock defenses…On the bright side…At least I’ve got some quality training partners at the gym to problem solve with :)