Some times called the straight ankle lock, or the Achilles hold, this ankle submission is a bugger. A guy can stack you in the guard, pop up and grab a leg as soon as your ankles become uncrossed. When he does, he basically puts a guillotine choke on your ankle and finishes the submission. It can happen really fast.

Just like this vid shows.

If you want to learn more on how to apply this ankle lock, look over at this instruction by Steven Kesting.

The real video gem is watching Carlos Machado go into the details of escaping and blocking the submission. The vid below is 8 minutes and goes into a lot of specifics.

The foot/ankle lock

This is a great submission to try when you’re attempting to break your opponents guard.

Now watch a slightly different variation, from standing position. This video is of Jean-Jacques Machado at ADCC (the toughest no-gi submission tournament in the world) slapping an ankle lock on his opponent within the first few seconds of the match. JJ Machado is awesome!

Sambo Leg Manipulation

The position in this video is a little bit different than the guard, but you can wind up there in several ways. You could have just gone from single/double leg takedown and had difficulty in going to side control or may have just thwarted a sweep attempt from your opponent. You may have also just transitioned into the leg lock position if the guard you’re in is open or loose.

Bruce Foster goes through a bunch of different submissions in a short time – so watch out. Notice how his hips are swiveled all the way to the side. If you aren’t sideways, on hip on the floor the submissions won’t work well, as his leg isn’t trapped very well.

A couple of tips:

• Remember – when locking in the submission, squeeze your knees together.
• Get those hips sideways.
• Get the other leg out of the way – you don’t want it interfering, be careful not to overextend it. At very least, your overextended leg will keep you from getting sideways. Worse yet, your opponent may grab your leg and try something.
• Use your radial bone (thumb-side forearm bone) to dig into his tissue.
• Get your radial bone under his Achilles tendon, close to his foot. Don’t choke up onto the leg – you have the most leverage and damage dealing potential at the end of his leg.