Down Under Leg Attacks by Craig Jones

The System That Craig Jones Used To Become The Most Talked About Grappler In The World – Just 2 Years After Starting To Learn Leg Attacks

Craig Jones Was A purple belt living in the middle of nowhere, Australia – where Koala Bears are as common as squirrels are in the U.S. training on a continent where no one had ever won a medal as a Black Belt at the World Championships. After his coach told him that he wasn’t even allowed to roll with anyone not affiliated with their very small gym, he left and started training in a garage – in Australia – with beginners as a purple belt just 2 years ago.

Try to imagine, without laughing.. a skinny purple belt competing against the great Leandro Lo, the legendary Murilo Santana or the gangster from West Linn, Oregon: Chael Sonnen. They would surely murder him…

In Sports, in business, and in life.. sometimes what appears to be a prohibitive lack of resources can be turned into an incredible advantage if the will is strong enough. Often the guys who are too naïve to know they don’t have a chance – have a chance, a great chance. Craig, worked like crazy on his leg attack system: studying every match he could find on Youtube.

The 26-year-old has earned submission victories over Leandro Lo, Murilo Santana, Nathan Orchard, Darrah Oconaill, and Chael Sonnen, and the future looks bright for Jones as the pro event invites keep coming. Jones has two sub victories in the Submission Underground promotion since May, one at SUG 4 over Micah Brakefield and another at SUG 6 against Ben Egli. He just recently competed in EBI 14 and made it to the finals against the red-hot Gordon Ryan, nearly tapping the ADCC Champ with a vicious armbar in overtime.

Creating The System

He came up with first attacks and then he asked “what if they do this..?” and he had a counter.. and again, and again.. He did this with his local training partners and he became one of the best leg attackers in the world. There was a hint of where he was in May, 2017 when he paid his own way and competed at EBI 11, he defeated very tough 10th Planet Veteran Nathan Orchard, then submitted one of the best competitors from Europe: Darragh O’Connell via Kneebar.

The submission-only style of competition seems to suit Jones’ jiu-jitsu best, as he possesses a high understanding of the leg-attack game. In fact, seven of his 11 victories this year have come by way of heel hook. Known to pull guard rather than elect for top position, this strategy has allowed him to climb deep into several recent no-gi tournaments, including EBI and the prestigious ADCC Championship.

Everything came full circle for Craig after he qualified for the 2017 ADCC at the qualifiers in Kazakhstan. His first match was against the Great Leandro Lo – the 5x World Champion in 3 different weight classes. Craig saw the draw and said to himself what virtually anyone else would have said: “Oh F**k.” After his initial thoughts, Craig decided to remain calm and trust in his leg attack system.

The match began and Craig worked Leandro into a Reverse Heel Hook and went for it full throttle. He heard a loud snap as Leandro pulled out of it. Leandro escapes!!! Was this man super human? Well yes.. and no. Leandro escaped, but his knee must have been destroyed.

He wasn’t the same guy and Craig quickly took his back and choked him. No one does that – it was a victory by leg attack that only technically was a choke. But however it happened, Craig Jones, who had just began studying leg attacks in the middle of nowhere Australia a couple of years earlier had defeated one of the greatest champions of all time.

The next match was against Leandro’s good buddy, Murilo Santana: the man who many feel is the greatest competitor in the world in the gym and a No-Gi World Champion. Well the secret was out… Murilo was very wary of Craig’s leg attacks. Craig used a fake ankle lock to jump into a flying triangle when Murilo defended the ankle lock: it was the most beautiful submission of the weekend and almost everyone watching live and on their computers said the same thing: “Craig Jones? Who the hell is Craig Jones?”

In the Open Class, he was matched up with the legendary Chael Sonnen – the highest paid MMA figher of all time by most accounts, an incredibly strong wrestler and it wasn’t even fair. Craig used his system pulled guard and tapped this crazy strong 220 lb wrestler in about a minute.

It Is The System Craig’s system is very easy to learn. There are some pieces to it, but he was able to go from a Purple Belt to one of the best Black Belts in the world in just 2 years. That isn’t to say that everyone who learns it will get as good as him, but they will surely be able to be a lot better than they are and submit a lot of upper belts – even black belts, if they learn it well enough. No one else trains this stuff.

Craig Jones ADCC Highlight

 So what is on the DVD?

DVD 1:

-intro

-leg lock philosophy

-leg pummeling concepts

-single leg x position

-countering the running escape

-exposing the heel

-countering the foot knock

-outside to saddle

DVD 2

-finishing from the saddle

-finishing from the saddle #2

-running man defense

-countering the foot push

-countering the kick off defense

-reverse x guard to saddle

-reverse x guard when opponent is on knees

-reverse x guard push over

DVD 3 

-breaking the triangle from 50/50

-breaking the crossed feet from 50/50

-criss cross 50/50

-Staying safe in single leg x

-staying safe in outside leg position

-taking the back from single leg x and outside leg position

-estima lock from single leg x

-safe options from outside leg position

-staying safe in saddle

-saddle outside counter

-taking the back from running man escape

DVD 4 

-guillotine to heel hook

-toe hold to heel hook

-kimura to heel hook

-heel hook from closed guard

-knee shield attacks

-knee shield attack #2

-50/50 knee bar to saddle

-heel hook entry from standing

-de la Riva

-flying triangle

---