Last year, Eddie Bravo decided to ban heel hooks for minors competing at his Jiu-Jitsu invitational, EBI. The decision comes as a result of the recent kids match between Riley Breedlove and Sophia Lee at EBI 5. In that match, Breedlove applied a heel hook on Lee who took a while before tapping. Breedlove was even giving her a ‘Are you going to tap?’ look. Lee injured her knee in the process.

The event caused heated debate in the BJJ community, and many called for heel hooks to be banned for minors.

Bravo told FloGrappling.com about his decision:

“For kids, heel hooks were not allowed at EBI. They all wanted it, they’re 14 and I let them have it. They all wanted it, and I decided for them I’ll change the rules.

“All my kids at my school train heel hooks, from day one. We’ve been reaping for 12 years, since day one, and we don’t have a problem with people’s knees getting ripped apart.

“I think it’s a fear of leglocks – it’s like sharks. Everyone thinks you jump in the ocean and Jaws is going to get you, like from the movies. Yeah they are dangerous, but you’re going to be fine out there surfing. And it’s not as dangerous as they appear to be.

“Yeah she (Sofie Lee) did get hurt, she popped her knee. But again, will I allow heelhooks for minors in the future? No, I won’t do that. I did, and it became an issue on the internet and I’m not going to go through that again – we banned heel hooks permanently for minors on EBI.

A heel hook is a leg lock affecting multiple joints, and is applied by transversely twisting the foot either medially or laterally. The torsional force puts severe torque on the ankle, which in turn transfers torque to the knee.

The heel hook is generally considered to be a very dangerous leg lock, with a high rate of injury, especially to ligaments in the knee. It is banned, except in advanced competition, in many combat sports featuring other leg locks such as Brazilian jiujitsu and Sambo. Where it is allowed, holding it for too long is considered a serious infraction.

Vinny Magalhaes, MMA fighter, ADCC champion and BJJ black belt that is fond of leg locks, weighed on the situation on his Facebook page:

I disagree with who says that heel hooks should be considered illegal. An ACL joint injury caused by a well applied kimura isn’t any easier on the body, and it isn’t less dangerous than heel hooks, the problem is that everyone learns Kimuras as fundamental submissions, therefore people are more prepared to defend Kimuras, or at least know the mechanic of it.
I think the instructors that don’t teach their students all kind of submission (including leg lock, neck cranks, etc) are the ones to be blamed on when these things happen.
My son is only 5 years old and he’s already doing rolling kneebars, twisters, and heel hooks, by the time he’s a black belt or even a blue belt, he won’t be crying about how heel hooks should be illegal.