Brendan Allen showed that there are levels to the leglock game at UFC 261 when he managed to secure the finish against a clearly outgunned Karl Roberson. Of course, Allen is a legitimate BJJ black belt under Daniel Wanderley and was entering this fight already with over half of his professional MMA victories coming by way of submission. He was also eager to right the ship after suffering his first loss over two years in his last appearance at UFC Vegas 14, where he was knocked out by Sean Strickland.
Allen isn’t just your any old BJJ black belt competing in MMA either, as he’s also taken pure grappling bouts in the past against full-time competitors in the sport. Just recently at F2W 161 he decided to step on the mats against rising star Haisam Rida and although he wasn’t able to get the win, he didn’t look out of place against someone who spends all of their time focused on grappling. That’s what made it so surprising at UFC 261 when Karl Roberson decided to take advantage of Brendan Allen by entering into a leglock battle.
Within a split-second of recognizing the danger, Allen immediately protected his own feet at the same time as starting to expose the heel himself. He couldn’t get the heelhook in place and transitioned to outside ashi-garami, taking an ankle-lock grip instead and wrenching back as Roberson screamed and tapped frantically. All-in-all, fighting for leg control was not somewhere that Roberson would’ve wanted to be against an elite grappler like Allen who can hold his own against men who devote their entire lives to Jiu-Jitsu.
The full UFC 261 event replay will be available to watch on UFC FightPass, click here to subscribe and watch.
Showing off his leg lock game, @BrendanAllenMMA forced the tap 🦵
Stream #UFC261 on ESPN+ ➡️ https://t.co/11j8ptNbRf pic.twitter.com/hdK7R6jHpn
— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) April 25, 2021
