Couple days back a video surfaced depicting a bjj competitor who took a loss somewhat ungracefully and first refused to a tap to a heel hook and then promptly yelped out after getting a toe hold on the same foot after which the ref took over and ended the match.
This caused the following scene:
whole video here.
Now the man from the video opted to respond. As he explained to jiujitsu times:
The heel hook he caught me in was deep and the puppy my was loud but it didn’t break, it hurt. I had no reason to quit at that point. When he slipped my ankle lock and got me into an arm bar it did not hurt and gave me no concern at the time, I had no reason to tap.
Of course Joshua Hightower, an army veteran with his own catch wrestling gym, is far from the first competitor who opted not to tap and get injured instead. Just this year there were gnarly kneebars, and even gnarlier toeholds – but unlike Hightower both Lo and Romulo Barral took it in stride. Still Hightower explained just why it was that he reacted so severely:
I love competing, and as a disabled combat vet this is really the only thing I have to help me deal with all the aftermath of war, so yeah I’m emotional and I’m loud.
adding:
I slammed the mat after that in pain and frustration with myself. I put in 18 weeks of training and cutting weight to get from 220 to 175 to be healthier and compete down there, so it all boiled over for me.
