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Every Tuesday morning I send out a breakdown of the best combat sports action. In less than 10 minutes you'll learn how the top fighters win and anything else fighters, martial artists, and fight fans need to know.
Aljamain Sterling ain’t done. The 36 year old former bantamweight champion obliterated Youssef Zalal on the floor. Here is how he made the most of his experience to dominate the positions.
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Now let’s get into it.
What's In Today's Letter?
THE VETERAN BULLIES THE PROSPECT:
Aljamain Sterling Ain’t Done
I can’t stop breaking my own rule. I keep picking against the better grappler!
I know Aljamain Sterling was an all time great bantamweight. I also think he is one of the best back attackers in the sport.
But last week I fell down a Youssef Zalal rabbit hole, got mesmerized by his fancy footwork, and saw him survive against the violent virtuoso, Ilia Topuria, even when Topuria had his back. Surely that means Zalal could beat Sterling. Right? Especially because the UFC’s judges don’t even regard grappling as important enough to score anymore. How could they give it to Sterling if Zalal was scoring on the feet?
Because Zalal hardly got anything going on the feet.
Sterling used his weird kicks, shifting stance, and loopy punches to confuse Zalal. Zalal was so bewildered he fell back to the cage too often to win the fight. Even when Zalal held the center, Sterling knew exactly how to counter Zalal’s mesmerizing footwork. Just look at the first definitive moment from the fight.
Zalal is feinting to line up a big shot. Sterling is twitching in anticipation. Zalal throws the rear knee he loves to land. Sterling kicks Zalal’s post leg as he pushes Zalal. Zalal falls and tries to roll away. Sterling chases to slide into Zalal’s full guard.
Aljamain Sterling - Youssef Zalal
Zalal loves throwing long knees. I wrote about that last week here. Surely Sterling and his coaches had to see that in the tape if I picked up on it.
Sterling spent the rest of the round posturing out of Zalal’s triangle attempt. It was a close 5 minutes but you had to score the opening period for Sterling. But in the next round we got a taste of what makes Sterling a special fighter.
Zalal is encroaching, checking Sterling’s hands. Zalal steps in and swings a wide right. Sterling ducks, Zalal tries to spin into an elbow, and Sterling is on his back. Sterling’s leg blocks Zalal’s knee and he falls over. That leg becomes a hook becomes a body triangle. Zalal collapses on his side as Sterling postures up to drop heavy strikes.
Aljamain Sterling - Youssef Zalal
Sterling is not one to rest on his laurels nor top position. When he gets to his spots he’s going to make you pay until you’re ready to quit and you give up a submission.
Zalal didn’t quit. He even rallied in the third round! But before we get to that, let’s look at one more example of Sterling dominating the fight on the feet. It’s a perfect example of why Zalal’s footwork failed him in this fight.
Zalal is stuck on the cage. He tries to circle and Sterling cuts him off with leg kicks. Then he rushes in with wild punches that hide his shot. Sterling converts his single into a body lock and walks behind Zalal. Then he kicks out Zalal’s leg and puts his hook in. Sterling forces a forward roll, locks a body triangle, and starts hitting.
Aljamain Sterling - Youssef Zalal
There are a few important things to point out here:
These men are fighting in the UFC’s Apex. That means it’s a smaller cage and Zalal has less room to run around and avoid strikes.
Zalal can’t plant his feet, fire back, and cover on the cage because that will give Sterling what he wants: an open avenue to shoot on Zalal’s hips.
Zalal tried to do what he’s known for, move to reset the distance and start striking. Sterling knows what to expect so he’s just cutting Zalal off with kicks. Zalal is stuck crashing into the veteran’s shins, ruining his legs.
THE RIGHT WAY TO GUILLOTINE:
Youssef’s Hail Mary
Zalal nearly stole the fight in the third. That came from one well attempted choke.
Zalal throws a left hand and a left knee. Sterling shoots. Zalal sprawls. Now Sterling’s hips are far away. Zalal locks up a guillotione as Sterling tries to move in. Sterling slams Zalal but ends up in his guard. Sterling tries to raise his hips and move his head to the center but Zalal’s hooks hold Sterling in place. He has to roll over so he doesn’t submit.
Aljamain Sterling - Youssef Zalal
Planning on getting a guillotine on everyone who shoots on you is dumb, especially against a grappler as good as Aljamain Sterling. Zalal’s guillotine worked so well because Sterling never had the posture he needed. Here are the important pieces
Zalal wrapped up Sterling’s head and collapsed his posture
Sterling’s hips are under his shoulders but both men are stuck on the cage so Sterling doesn’t have room to stand-up and throw Zalal’s legs to the side or run behind him
Sterling lifts Zalal which allows Zalal to tighten his grip around Sterling’s neck
The cage blocks Sterling from hopping off to side control and his head is stuck on Zalal’s side
Most of the fight winning damage came right around back mount so let’s end there.
BETTER BACK ATTACKS:
How Aljamain Made The Most Of His Position
Youssef Zalal made the most of top position by using a near hook back take.
Sterling is up kicking at Zalal. Zalal moves into Sterling’s hips and starts to stack him. Zalal shrugs Sterling’s legs off. Sterling turns away to turtle. Zalal hangs his weight off to the left. Zalal slides his near hook in and pulls Sterling into back a body triangle to try to choke him.
Aljamain Sterling - Youssef Zalal
Inserting the near hook and sagging to that side is helpful for taking the back against someone who only tries to stand up. It keeps their weight down and can help you pull them into your lap. Contrast Zalal’s back take with Marcus “Buchecha” Almeida’s back take from the same card.
Buchecha is in top half. Spann posts on his hip and swims his right arm across under Buchecha’s cross face to enter octopus guard. Buchecha swings a punch but Spann is already building height. Spann turtles. Buchecha tries to spin to the back. Buchecha tries to throw his left leg over and insert it as a far hook but there’s no weight on Spann so he just stands up and runs to the fence as Buchecha falls off.
Ryan Spann - Marcus “Buchecha” Almeida
I’m not going to pretend I’m half as good at Brazilian jiu-jitsu as Bucehca. But if even he slips off the back trying to insert the far hook first, maybe you should try to put the near hook in first.
Zalal couldn’t convert his back take into a win. He couldn’t convert this lead to much of anything because he never opened up to attack like Aljamain Sterling when he took the back.
Sterling has a back body triangle. Zalal is opening up Sterling’s hooks. Sterling has double under hooks so he can’t choke. Sterling closes the body triangle again and grabs Zalal’s left his own left. Zalal tries rolling back and forth. He falls to his left while Sterling still has the left grip. Now Sterling can punch freely with his right while Zalal can barely cover up.
Aljamain Sterling - Youssef Zalal
Casuals fans that can’t see the difference between side control and inside ashi have mislabeled Sterling as a boring backpacker. I don’t see how anyone can say that when he’s getting rear naked chokes, suloev stretches, and arm triangles falling off the back. Almost no one blends damage, wrestling rides, and submission threats better than him.
Zalal tries to turn out of Sterling’s mount. Zalal gets on his side. Sterling uses cross faces, claw grips, punches, and a half nelson to hold Zalal in misery. Zalal gets to his knees and crawls to the fence. Sterling punches and picks out Zalal’s far leg. Zalal stands to eat more of Sterlings punches and knees.
Aljamain Sterling - Youssef Zalal
In the third round Sterling even tried a submission that’s becoming more common in professional grappling.
Sterling has a body triangle. Zalal is keeping his shoulders high to block the choke. Sterling locks up an arm in rear naked choke. Sterling tries to squeeze up into the trapped arm and his grip slips open so Zalal remains safe.
Aljamain Sterling - Youssef Zalal
The announcers called this a ruotolotine in real time but that’s not quite right.
If you really want to get technical (and obviously you do otherwise you wouldn’t have read this far) Sterling’s choke was a tackettine, named after another grappling star, Andrew Tackett.
As soon as Tackett puts both hooks in in back mount Varela begins to turn and roll. As they move, Tackett keeps a long seat belt on Varela. They hit the slanted wall and stop rolling. Then Tackett locks his hands outside of Varela’s left shoulder. He pulls up and squeezes to get the finish.
Andrew Tackett - Andy Varela
Sterling’s win is yet another reminder that the fighter who can control where the fight takes place will usually win. No matter how much the UFC abhors grappling it’s still the number one skill you need to learn.
HELP DESK UPDATES:
One New Grappler For The ADCC Rookie Report
No gi grappling is having a changing of the guard moment. No male competitors from Kinsgway, Simpleman Martial Arts, 10th Planet, or ATOS won a division at the 2026 ADCC West Coast Trials. One of the people helping push the old guard out is the 20 year old black belt from Miami, Michael Sainz.
Sainz trains at his father’s gym Alpha Miami Grappling with his other 5 brothers. The Sainz family even set a Florida record in 2025 by being the first to have three brothers in the same state championship finals.
You read state champion wrestler and you expect shots, front head locks, and going behind to the back. On the first day of the ADCC West Coast Trials, Sainz finished everyone from his back with the total match time right around 6 minutes.
They slap hands and Sainz stays in tight to pull on Goff’s head. No rest for the wicked. Goff gras a single. Sainz sits back and throws up his left butterfly hook. Sainz rebounds up to lock his legs for cross ashi. Goff tries to jump out but Sainz is already finishing the heel hook. It’s over in 12 seconds.
Michael Sainz vs Billy Goff
If you want to study Aljamain Sterling’s back attacks and learn why Sainz is one of the best up-and-coming grapplers upgrade your subscription here. The Help Desk is an evergreen library of grappling techniques, athletes, and more. It comes with:
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LINKS, INSTRUCTIONALS, AND MORE MATCHES TO STUDY:
Learn The Ruotolotine And Tackettine
If you want to see Aljamain Sterling wrestle more watch his match against Ben Henderson at RAF here.
Here are two videos to help with arm in rear naked choke variations:
Here’s a short one demonstrating the difference between the ruotolotine and tackettine
THE MOST IMPORTANT NEWS (you might have missed)
Are you a Brazilian jiu-jitsu brown belt or higher? Do you want a job teaching jiujitsu in New Jersey? Check out this job posting.
If you’re looking for a more lucrative career you should figure out a way to do whatever the fuck Ari Emmanuel does for TKO. His 2025 compensation was reported to be $67 million. For context, that means the UFC could afford to pay every athlete an out $50,000 for training expenses and Emmanuel would still make over $30 million dollars.
It looks like politicians outside the USA are using MMA to launder their images. Petr Yan was awarded the “For Merit to the Fatherland” medal by Russian president Vladimir Putin. Watch the video here.
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