Jon Jones: Controlling Range

This past weekend I went to Los Angeles to attend UFC 232, the first UFC event I've ever attended in person.  It was a blast.  The energy in the room when Nunes beat Cyborg was the biggest highlight of the night, yet the match I felt most invested in was Jones vs Gustafsson.  I was rooting for Gustafsson, both because his entertaining yet technical style makes him my favorite fighter in the light heavyweight division and because a Jon Jones victory usually means he'll fuck up soon thereafter, once again throwing the division into chaos.

If Gustafsson couldn't win, though, then I at least wanted a fight like the first.  That first bout in 2013 may be my favorite MMA fight of all time, as it has a great mix of high octane action and technical thoughtfulness that checks every single box for what I want out of a fight.  If Gustafsson were to lose, I at least wanted another classic that could satisfy both my fight science brain and my more animalistic brain.

Obviously, things didn't play out that way.

It was definitely disappointing to see my favorite light heavyweight lose, and even more disappointing to realize that, with two losses to Jones (as well as a close loss to Cormier), that may be the last title shot Gustafsson ever receives.  I was thoroughly impressed, however, with how well Jones had learned from his first fight with Gustafsson.  He implemented a lot of changes to his approach in this fight that really paid off.

To keep this post from becoming a novella, I'm gonna focus on Jon's use of distance and the changes he made made in how he controls distance to win the rematch.  Jon's biggest gift as a fighter isn't just his reach, after all, but his understanding of how to use it.  There's a reason why Stefan Struve never won a world title despite having a Jon Jones reach.  It's one thing to have a useful attribute, it's another to know how to use it.  Jones succeeds not just because of his physical gifts, but because he has the fight IQ to use them.  Let's dig into how.

Imagine if this friggin' skyscraper actually developed a high level jab.

First, let's start with one of the key conceptual approaches of Jon's game.  T first thing most wrestling-based MMA fighters who learn to strike gravitate toward is punching.  It's a pretty smart idea.  Knowing how to exchange in the pocket is important, as you'll inevitably find yourself there as you try to go for a clinch or your opponent's hips.  Beyond that, knowing how to throw your hands can also be great for setting up takedowns, and vice versa.  This is why, for example, Khabib Nurmagomedov out-strikes fighters like Conor McGregor and Edson Barboza.  He'd get demolished in a boxing or kickboxing bout.  It's the threat of his grappling that prevents his opponents from knowing whether his next move will be a strike or takedown.

Jon Jones, however, makes an interesting alternative case for wrestlers developing their striking: what if you developed a really good kicking game instead?

Back when Jones first started fighting in the UFC everyone talked about the occasional spinning kicks that he threw with flair, while on a more nuts and bolts level he threw side kicks and teeps/push kicks aplenty.  He used a solid jab-cross to help keep his opponents at bay, but his punching never compared to his kicking.  Why?  Well this takes us to his range, as well as Gustafsson's footwork.

Throwing straight-line kicks (that is, kicks that you throw immediately in front of you, like the kicking equivalent of a straight punch) is a great way to jam up someone trying to close the distance on you.  Jones understand this well, and uses it to stifle fighters trying to close the distance on him to great effect.  His Shogun and Rampage fights in particular saw him using these tactics to make sure that neither fighter could get in any meaningful offense against him.

Jones using Rampage's face as persuasive evidence for why wrestlers should learn kicking.

So why would this be good for wrestlers in particular?  Because if you're a wrestler who can control the kicking range, your opponents will desperately try to close the distance.  That's when you can use your wrestling.  Your opponents are then faced with a dilemma: do they try to keep distance to avoid your wrestling, or try to close the distance to avoid your kicks?  The ultimate goal is boxing range if their hands are good enough, of course, but they would need the ability to maintain that exact range.  Too little or too much distance and you're in danger.

The closest Jones ever came to facing someone who could effectively use their footwork to control that distance was Machida, whom he had to out-feint and rock on his way to finishing him with a devastating guillotine.  With every other fighter up until that point he was able to control the range of the fight easily, alternating mostly between kicking and grappling ranges.  He could kick when he wanted to keep fighters on the outside, then, whenever they got inside, step in to use his wrestling.  No need to close the distance when your opponent is doing it for you!

Then he fought Gustafsson.

In their first fight Jones struggled not just against Gustafsson's size, but his skillset.  Yes, Gustafsson's size threw off Jones.  But he also used his excellent boxing to land body shots that opened up punches to the face, and vice versa, even throwing in the occasional unexpected takedown.  It wasn't just Gustafsson reach, but his variety of attack.  His footwork also played a key role.  He was able to use his elite lateral (side to side) footwork in order to evade the straight-line kicks Jones likes to use.  While Jones did throw the occasional round kick, especially to the head, he very much favored those straight line kicks.  With Gustafsson able to effectively sidestep them, however, he couldn't control the range nearly as well.

That combination of footwork, mixing up attacks between the head/body, and his impressive physical attributes helped Gustaffsson challenge Jones more than any fighter had, or has since.  Whoever you thought won that fight, it was pretty clear that Gustafsson made things closer than most people thought possible. While many thought his height might prove an interesting challenge to Jones, his relatively unimpressive run to the title simply didn't prepare anyone for how good he would look that night.

Jones clearly learned from the experience, as he intelligently made a variety of improvements to his game thereafter.  One was that he began to fight more in the pocket.  Being smart enough to use his natural gifts, he didn't do so by trying to throw his long, lanky arms in such a small, confined space.  Instead he relied primarily on his elbows, which have rapidly become one of his top weapons.  Glover Teixeira in particular got absolutely brutalized by Jon's punishing use of his elbows up close.

 Y I K E S

Then came last Saturday's rematch.

In the first round of their second fight, things were quite close.  Jones succeeded in using his better-rounded skillset, which we'll get into the details of in a moment, but Gustfasson looked good, too.  One of the biggest changes he made between this fight and the first was that he mixed in more kicks with his punches.  Specifically, he used leg kicks and the straight-line kicks to the knee that Jones is known for.  He didn't jab to the body as much as he did the first fight, unfortunately, but his skills looked sharp overall, and the first round made it seem like it could still be anyone's fight.

It was the second round that the differences began to show, however.  Though the round was still close, Jones used a variety of tactics to get the upperhand. Two of the biggest changes, paired together, is that he had more mobile footwork while also better knowing how to outstretch his arms to keep Gustafsson at bay.  In the past, against shorter opponents, Jones would stick out his hands to block fighters from coming in on him.  He couldn't do that the same way against Gustafsson, who shared his approximate stature.  In this fight, however, he stuck out his hands on Gustafsson's shoulders.  This allowed him to jam up Gustafsson's boxing, forcing Gutafsson to either retreat or engage in hand-fighting, which Jones often used to try to set up elbows and short punches.

Jones also threw far more round kicks to the legs and body to take the wind out of Gustafsson's sails.  Round kicks are useful for opponents with lateral movement because its line of attack isn't a single point in front of you, but a wide sweep.  These kicks landed often.  Because of that Gustafsson's mobility declined more quickly than it did in the first fight, where it wasn't really compromised until Jones rocked him with that beautiful spinning back elbow.  The lowered mobility, mixed with Jones using his hand-fighting and improved footwork (not on Gustafsson's level, but sufficient enough mixed with everything else), allowed Jones to better control the range.

These things all worked together in different ways.  Jones used the hand-fighting to set up some of his leg kicks, for example, while his round kicks helped slow Gustafsson down enough to land more straight kicks that kept Gustafsson at range.  In the third round Jones used Gustafsson's lowered mobility and his own better control of range to land that takedown, which Gustafsson didn't expect considering during the second round almost every takedown or clinch attempt was a fake meant to set up strikes.  Once it got to the ground, Jones showed great positional control and passing abilities en route to a pretty devastating finish by ground 'n pound.

Also, can we take a second to appreciate how Mike Beltran comforted Gustafsson after?

As I said before, it sucked watching Gustfasson lose so decisively.  Still, I love me some high level MMA gameplanning and technique.  Both fighters, but especially Jones, delivered those in quantities I can't help but be thankful for.  UFC 232 was a great night, and this bout was an exciting, technical one that any fight fan can learn from.  It'll be interesting to see what happens from here.  Jon Jones has a lot more he can achieve, and a lot more greatness in technique and strategy that he can show us.

Hopefully he doesn't fuck it all up.

UFC on Fox 12: Lawler vs Brown

I've been out of the MMA world for a while, partially because of everything I've been trying to do since graduation, and partially because our apartment no longer gets Fox Sports 1 and I therefore have missed out on a lot of the free events.  But I was fortunate to be able catch the UFC on Fox card this last weekend, which- like almost all of the UFC on Fox cards- was fantastic.  In this post, I am going to analyze a lot of the striking techniques and strategies we saw on the main card.

For anyone who doesn't know me, a quick breakdown of my experience with martial arts (that way everyone knows I'm only partially speaking out of my ass): the martial art I have the most training in is Muay Thai, at just a little over three years.  In other arts relevant to MMA, I also have a little over two years of training in Jeet Kune Do, a year of Boxing, and about a year's worth of training in no-gi Jiujitsu.  I also regularly read books about fighting technique/strategy, as well as articles by analysts such as Jack Slack.

On a more personal level, in my own training, I've always been pretty strong, but not very fast or aggressive.  A strong punch means nothing if it can't connect.  Reading up on fighting techniques and strategies helps augment my training, and teaches me how to strategically set up my attacks against faster and more aggressive opponents.

Reading up on these techniques and strategies, and putting them into practice, has been crucial to my progress as a martial artist.  It's saved my ass in sparring too many times to count.  The point of this post, then, is to analyze fights in a way that can hopefully be helpful to all martial artists/fighters/combat athletes out there looking to improve their understanding of the game. It is meant to be accessible to people who train in any sort of martial art, as well as those who don't train at all but enjoy watching.

Bobby Green vs Josh Thomson
 
Green is a fighter who has been around for a little while, but is just now starting to come up (this was only his fourth fight in the UFC).  Josh Thomson, meanwhile, has been near the top of the division for a while, dating back to when Strikeforce was around.  This wasn't quite the old school vs new school match up we saw in other fights on this card, but there was definitely a significant experience disparity between the two.

One of the most noticeable aspects of this fight was Bobby Green's footwork.  He was the aggressor the entire fight, and played the role well with his movement.  A mistake many fighters make is yp simply follow their opponent, playing a game of cat and mouse that can go on forever and tire the contestants out- especially the aggressor if they have a consistent attack output when trudging forward.

What Green did so well was to cut off the cage.  In other words, he would back his opponent toward the cage but, instead of following him in a straight line, would use lateral movement to corral him against the cage and block off his escape.  This cuts off your opponent's movements so that they have nowhere to run, and can be a death sentence for movement based fighters.

When you corral someone like this, you have to be careful not to get sloppy and think you are now safe to light them up without worry.  When cornered, fighters can still throw shots, and will often throw powerful ones in an attempt to escape their entrapment.  Bobby Green seems to have taken this to heart, but perhaps a little too much; he was very reserved in his striking when he cornered Thomson, and Thomson soon figured out he could get trapped there and not have to worry about being too brutalized.  He was therefore able to keep trying to find was to circle out of his corner, because Green wasn't punishing him hard enough for doing so.

Another thing that Green did well was shoulder roll.  Shoulder rolling, in boxing, is when you keep your lead hand low and let your lead shoulder do the blocking by keeping it high and tucking your chin into it.  It's used often enough in boxing that boxers know how to deal with it, but it's not used very often in high level MMA (Anderson Silva and Robbie Lawler are the only elite MMA fighters I can think of who have used it consistently).  Because it's not seen often in MMA, Thomson didn't seem to know what to do; the answer is body shots and Thomson didn't throw enough.

However, again, Green didn't capitalize on this move as well as he could have.  When taking a shot on your lead left shoulder, your body is turned to the right, meaning your right hand is already cocked up for a counter right punch.  In boxing, fighters like James Toney and Floyd Mayweather Jr are experts at absorbing a punch with their left shoulder and immediately responding with a good punch from their rear hands.  Green, however, mostly used the technique only defensively.

In the end, it was a close fight, with Green pulling out the split decision.  Josh Thomson threw a lot of fantastic combinations, but Green had some tricks up his sleeve that helped him level the playing field against one of the best 155lb fighters in the world.  If he could just work on becoming a little bit more bold in his offense and throwing more combinations instead of just a single shot or two each time he strikes, he could become an even more formidable fighter.


Clay Guida vs Dennis Bermudez

Ahh, the featherweight division.  Perhaps my favorite division since the light heavyweight division lost its luster (other than Jones, Gustafsson, and Cormier, who are phenomenal).  With a champion like Jose Aldo and other fighters like Chad Mendes, Cub Swanson, Chan Sung Jung, and Conor McGregor, there is a lot to love about the division.

Anywho, Clay Guida was a fan favorite for a long time for his wild style of fighting (though for his last few fights, he has been much more reserved).  He represents the old type of wrestling based mixed martial artist: a wrestler who learns how to brawl, and mixes in that brawling with his wrestling.  Dennis Bermudez, on the other hand, is of the new variety: he has learned proper striking technique and supplements his wrestling-based grappling with high level Jiujitsu.
 
The match went exactly as you would think it would given the description I just provided.  The two started off at a quick, exciting pace, and when they were striking it out Bermudez got the best of the exchanges almost every time.  Whereas Guida was almost always throwing a mild jab to set up for a strong but obvious right overhand, Bermudez was throwing varied combinations and almost always ending with a strong leg kick on Guida's lead left leg.  Guida is a tough guy, not to mention experienced, but they still took a toll on his movement.  Guida also threw some kicks, but only by themselves (that is, no set up or follow up strikes), and they therefore didn't do much.

One thing that Bermudez did that was lovely was striking when breaking the clinch.  Hitting after disengaging from the clinch is something you learn in every MMA gym, yet in the heat of the moment can be hard to remember to do in that split second.  Almost every time Bermudez disengaged from Guilda, he would throw strong strikes, including some very potent knees.  Striking on the break is generally good for making an opponent not want to try to clinch with you again, though since Guida was losing so badly in the striking exchanges, he had no choice but to keep going for it anyway.

The fight ended after Guida desperately tried to wrestle Bermudez to the ground, and Bermudez used his superior Jiujitsu to get the back and lock in a nice rear naked choke.  It was pretty sweet.  Bermudez, like Bobby, has now proven he is ready for the top of his division. 

Anthony Johnson vs Rogerio Nogueira

Oh, how the light heavyweight division has fallen.  Jon Jones is perhaps the best fighter on the planet today, but with many of the former superstars of the once packed division now either far past their prime or in another weight class, he doesn't have much compelling competition outside of Alexander Gustafsson and Daniel Cormier, and perhaps Anthony Johnson.

That is the only reason this fight happened.  Rogerio Nogueira, the smaller twin brother of Rodrigo Nogueira, is far past his prime, and yet somehow was ranked near the top of the division due to a lackluster win over Rashad Evans.  Anthony Johnson, meanwhile, is back in the UFC after multiple weight cutting problems.  He now fights at light heavyweight (205lbs); he used to somehow fight at welterweight (170lbs) and was eventually cut when he kept showing up overweight to fights.

In this fight, Johnson massacred the injury prone 38 year old veteran.  There isn't much to be drawn from this one sided match up that ended in under a minute, other than a critique of the defense Lil Nog used.  He brought his arms up to his face and covered with his gloves to defend from punches.  This works with 16oz boxing gloves, but doesn't work well with the smaller MMA gloves.  Johnson was able to get past Nogueira's defense by picking his shots and scored a quick knockout.

If anything, this shows that MMA fighters should be sure they get in much more sparring with MMA gloves than with boxing gloves (often times, in my experiences at least, Muay Thai classes in MMA gyms usually use boxing gloves exclusively, and only use the MMA gloves for the MMA specific classes).  It also shows that Anthony Johnson is a wrecking machine and his power should be taken very seriously.

Matt Brown vs Robbie Lawler

Brown and Lawler are two of my favorite fighters in the welterweight division (my favorite being Carlos Condit), and I was excited leading up to this fight.  Lawler has phenomenal boxing skills by MMA standards, and Brown has a fantastic Thai clinch.  While Lawler has found a bit more success in his overall MMA career, both have been around the scene for a minute.  The only significant experience disparity was that Lawler has more experience in 5 round main event fights than Brown.

When this fight started, the first thing that became apparent was how much looser Lawler was on his feet than Brown.  MMA fighters usually can't be too light on their feet, because they have to keep a firm enough base that they can defend against an opponent diving in for their hips and attempting a single or double leg take down.  However, in fights like this where both fighters are expected to remain standing and strike, a fighter may risk using more fleet-footed movement and theoretically worry less about getting taken down.  Lawler decided to take this gambit, and it worked out marvelously.

In their striking exchanges, Lawler was always quicker to the punch, and because of his agile footwork he was able to remain just outside of harm's way whenever Matt Brown threw strikes of his own.  Brown was clearly using his strikes to try to set up for his Thai clinch, but Lawler's slick movement meant that he was always gone whenever Brown tried to get a grip on him.

Eventually, Brown did get the clinch and threw some beautiful knees and elbows, as well as attempting the trip.  But Lawler showed he wasn't a pushover in the clinch, either, and landed some very strong punches and avoided being held against the ground.  However, after they broke from the clinch, Lawler's footwork slowed down.  He still had the upperhand in most of the punching and kicking exchanges, but not as much as when he had been darting around in the beginning of the fight.

One of the most important things Lawler did better than Brown was dodge.  Everytime Brown suspected a counterattack was coming his way, he would duck very low and sometimes not even keep his eyes on his opponent.  This can be dangerous, and there were indeed a few times where Lawler capitalized on it.

Lawler, on the other hand, would dodge by bringing his head back just far enough away to avoid the oncoming hit, and would then fire back rapidly.  This difference in defense was perhaps one of the most decisive factors of the fight: Lawler's method of avoiding attacks allowed him to keep his rhythm and fire back, whereas Brown's method of avoiding attacks left him out of position to return fire and marked the end of any combination he might have been throwing.

It was, however, a close battle.  A closer battle than the appearance of both fighters at the end may have led one to believe, as Lawler looked fresh and Brown looked a mess.  One thing both fighters did well (Brown the entire fight, whereas Lawler didn't start catching on until later rounds) was mixing levels with their kicks.  In other words, they would switch between kicking the leg, body, and head.  When a fighter does this and does it consistently, it leaves their opponent uncomfortable because they don't know where that next kick is headed.

One brilliant moment in the fight had Brown twist his hips to feint like he was about to kick Lawler, to see what his reaction would be.  He saw that Lawler prioritized blocking his head.  He then threw a half-power kick to the head that Lawler blocked, then threw a full power kick to the body that hit Lawler square in the ribs.  These were Brown's best offense throughout the fight, other than the elbows that he is so brilliant at throwing.  Because Lawler prioritized blocking his head so much, Brown wasn't able to get a Cro Cop style head kick knockout, but anyone who has experienced them knows a series of good kicks to the body will take a severe toll.

Lawler did a similarly good job of changing levels with his kicks later in the fight; in the earlier rounds they were almost all low kicks.  His biggest advantage was his punching, which was fluid and crisp, especially by MMA standards.  He has developed a few signature moves, such as throwing a left cross (straight rear punch), then following up by moving his upper body to the right while throwing a right uppercut.  But these signature moves were mixed in periodically, and with good variety, so he was able to remain unpredictable while also throwing shots that were technical and smooth.

Lawler ended up winning the fight.  It was both exciting and technical, which is my favorite combination.  Overall, the card was a quality one, like most UFC on Fox cards have been.

Expect more fight card analyses from me in the future!