The Heel Hook is perhaps the submission which athletes are scared of the most. The injuries (and the severity of them) as well as the lack of knowledge on how to defend against it… Is sometimes more than enough to prevent the Jiujiteiro from even attempting the submission himself.
The Emerald City Invitational 2 tournament just took place… And boy, was it full of action! It featured a 145-pound championship bracket, from which Gianni Grippo emerged victorious; as well as a number of superfights.
Gianni turned some heads with his heel hook victory in the first round. Gianni grabbed the opponent’s heel it and cranked it at full force leaving his opponent Ellis Karadag with no time to tap and just screaming in pain.
The video clips were posted online, and of course there was a heated debate as to whether Grippo’s application of the heel hook were fair play.
Many commenters seem to think that he unnecessarily applied a notorious submission that is known for its devastating power to cause serious harm leaving the opponent no time to tap.
One commentator on IG posted:
“So torn on this, not as torn as homeboy’s meniscus but I digress. Like I get it super high stakes competition so you’re going for it, but theres no control on this. You’re not even giving them a chance to tap before you’re ending their career.”
Ellis Karadag posted on his IG that he his knee was injured and that he had a hard time walking but it is still unclear as to how severe is the injury yet…
Some people questioned whether he was malicious enough that he appeared in the video. Others, including some of Grippo’s competitors who participated in the competition, pointed out that this is a professional event with a cash prize of $10,000, so active use of submission attacks is not only acceptable, but also predictable.
Grippo stated:
“I really wasn’t [trying to hurt him], when I fell back I didn’t mean for it to be as fast as it was. I would never want to hurt him. I never have any ill will toward opponents and I never want to hurt anybody, but the heel was there.”
You be the judge:
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