We’re now looking at one of the fastest finishes you’ll ever see at a high level grappling event. Craig Jones is an Australian based grappler who went big-time in 2017. With an impressive resume of having gone toe to toe with the likes of Leandro Lo, Keenan Cornelius and Gordon Ryan he carries a reputation of attacking and taking heel-hooks to a new level. His name blew up when he almost won the 14th Eddie Bravo Invitational by taking Gordon Ryan into overtime and almost taking his arm off. Even more impressively, he’d taken out his three previous opponents in a combined time of less than 90 seconds.
Richie Martinez is a 10th Planet black belt under Eddie Bravo and part of the home-team. They’d been top dog before the likes of Jones and the Danaher Death Squad. Martinez had gotten a lot of great wins using unorthodox submissions such as the gogoplata or orchard armbar. 10th Planet are famous world-wide. With an interesting gimmick and approach, the club owner, Eddie Bravo, himself is a rather unique individual with his own unique perspective of the world and this along with their connection to the UFC undoubtedly attracts many newcomers.
Now for the match; it barely lasts a minute. Jones drops down to his butt and scoots into Mr. Martinez. Now for the big-bucks, he attacks a shallow De La Riva hook. I have to say, I’d never thought this would work that well. I’d seen Jones’ instructional DVD and there’s a section where he demonstrates the De La Riva foot-lock but I’d never have believed it would be that effective. He over-hooks the De La Riva’d ankle and goes for a guillotine grip, but what really makes it effective is the free leg. The free leg has to stay active and fight the upper body of the attackee. Otherwise, he’ll spin out. For a detailed instructional check out Jones’ Leg Locks from Down Under.
