In partnership with
FIRST THINGS FIRST
Welcome to Open Note Grappling.
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.
The UFC returned to Qatar this weekend and left with two clear number one contenders. Both submitted their opponents with completely different techniques, tactics, and strategies. Below we review both.
Before we get started I want to shout out this week’s sponsor Livelong Media!
Click the image below to get actionable health insights from industry leading experts sent directly to your inbox!
Looking for unbiased, science-based advice to live longer?
Subscribe to Livelong and get current, clinically grounded insights on diet, exercise, supplementation, and restorative sleep—pulled from the latest research and turned into do-this-now checklists. For serious health enthusiasts, Livelong makes longevity practical, measurable, and real.
Now let’s get into it.
What's In Today's Letter?
ARMAN TSARUKYAN OVERWHELMS DAN HOOKER
Winning With Pressure And Proactive Gripping
After pulling out of a title fight against Islam Makhachev in January Arman Tsarukyan was sent to the sidelines. He was forced to watch Islam beat Renato Moicano, vacate the belt, and leave Ilia Topuria to beat Charles Oliveira for the vacant 155 pound title.
Ilia has been on a boastful victory lap ever since.
This weekend Arman got an opportunity to prove he deserves to interrupt that victory lap. Headline a card in the UFC’s return to Qatar against New Zealand action star Dan Hooker.
Hooker himself has been plagued by injuries recently. He’s won 3 fights in a row but they came over 3 separate years. Before that, Hooker fought a minimum of two fights per year since 2014.
Many thought the pairing between Arman and Hooker was odd. Almost like the UFC was punishing Arman by forcing him to take a side step from contention and wait. At the same time, it was an opportunity for him to get a highlight win against a man allergic to wrestling and re-affirm Arman’s position at the top of lightweight.
Arman made good of the opportunity.
Hooker knees Arman from a double collar tie. Arman is blocking Hooker’s far hip so Hooker has an angle to chase the back. Arman grabs one of Hooker’s legs. Hooker tries to jump on Arman’s back but ends up stuck on the fence. He sits on a guillotine to counter Arman’s takedown. Arman steps to half guard and turns out of the submission.
Arman Tsarukyan - Dan Hooker
Escaping guillotine chokes by spinning is insane. Maybe not so much in the sequence above but Arman actively puts himself in a horrific spine cranking position to get out of chokes.
Arman picks up a single and clotheslines Hooker to finish the takedown. Hooker goes back to the guillotine choke. He does a good job scooting out to get on a hip and crank Arman’s neck. Arman turns his shoulders down to the mat and spins out of the choke.
Arman Tsarukyan - Dan Hooker
Allegedly, Arman has back problems. No wonder dude. You bend your spine in half whenever someone gets over your head!
After Arman was free of Hooker’s chokes he started to put the heat on him.
Arman drops an elbow on Hooker. Then he stands to swing on Hooker covering up. Hooker gets double under hooks and holds Arman down. Arman slips out of the grips and stands again. Then Arman grabs Hooker’s wrist so Hooker can’t cover or make grips but Arman can still shoot strikes through.
Arman Tsarukyan - Dan Hooker
I am a huge fan of hand fighting and wrist gripping on top to set up strikes and passes. You see it often in no gi competition, but hand fighting on the floor hasn’t fully made its way into MMA except from the very best grapplers like Islam Makhachev.
About a minute after the sequence above Arman used more wrist gripping to set up his submission.
Arman pushes Hooker’s left arm away from his face to sneak some elbows in. Then he pushes Hooker’s right arm away while dropping his chest to clear space for an arm triangle. Arman drops his far hip to the mat to tighten the submission and get his win.
Arman Tsarukyan - Dan Hooker
This fight was a thorough win. Arman got a finish, escaped a couple bad spots, and even showed some niche high level techniques.
Arman might be the most physically imposing fighter at lightweight. He’s the only man who was able to consistently counter Islam’s grappling in one of the best grappling contests of all time. A fight between him and Ilia Topuria is one of the best you can make in the sport right now and I’m keeping my fingers crossed that the UFC doesn’t fuck this up.
KYOJI HORIGUCHI CUTS TAGIR DOWN:
Dealing Damage With Movement
35 wins. 3 organization’s titles across 2 weight classes. There is only 1 Kyoji Horiguchi.
The Japanese flyweight phenom returned to the UFC fresh off of a 9 year odyssey that saw him beating the best people outside of the promotion. And his return looked easy.
Horiguchi took on Tagir Ulanbekov. Tagir is a tricky Dagestani fighter who trains with Khabib Nurmagomedov’s Team Eagle. He has 8 submission wins on his 17 fight winning record.
The dude can grapple really well. And that was supposed to be his key to victory.
Tagir has a body lock. Horiguchi taps him with small punches. Tagir responds with light knees. Tagir steps between Horiguchi’s legs, pulls him over his hip, and turns him to the mat for an uki goshi. Horiguchi crawls to the fence to escape. Tagir follows and pulls Horiguchi off of the cage.
Kyoji Horiguchi - Tagir Ulanbekov
Tagir got this big takedown and about a minute of control in the first round but Horiguchi landed 31 more strikes than him. Horiguchi clearly won the round. More importantly, Horiguchi’s work rate was starting to wear Tagir out.
In the second round Horiguchi started to control more than the striking exchanges.
Tagir is desperately trying to get up. Horiguchi sprawls and gets a front head lock. He holds it to keep Tagir under him and punch. Tagir starts to stand and Horiguchi switches from a front head lock to a cradle. Then he spins to the back and starts punching.
Kyoji Horiguchi - Tagir Ulanbekov
Man I love cradles. It’s one of the easiest ways to counter someone wrestling up off bottom in MMA and grappling. In wrestling you can use them for pinning but in sports with submissions you can use them to get to the back and attack rear naked chokes.
In the third round Horiguchi ran away with the fight. He was able to push the bigger grappler around with movement, keep Tagir working, and win the exchanges.
Below pay attention to how Horiguchi keeps projecting his head and chest over Tagir to weigh heavy on him.
Horiguchi sprawls over Tagir’s butterfly hooks, gets a claw grip, and puts his head outside. Tagir gets on an elbow to build up so Horiguchi pulls the wrist out. Tagir reaches up and around for an octopus entry. Horiguchi gets an over back grip and walks over Tagir to force him down to his butt.
Kyoji Horiguchi - Tagir Ulanbekov
Then Horiguchi punished Tagir for getting his base beneath him to stand-up.
Horiguchi stands over Tagir. Tagir is able to get a knee under him before turtling. Horiguchi drives a knee into Tagir’s rib cage and spins to his back. Tagir uses the space to start standing. Horiguchi punches him on the way up. They separate and Tagir nearly falls over from exhaustion.
Kyoji Horiguchi - Tagir Ulanbekov
The finish itself came moments after this.
Tagir ducks into Horiguchi’s kick and stumbles back. Horiguchi feeds him some more punches. Tagir is stuck between covering up with his right arm and trying to wrestle up. Horiguchi steps around Tagir’s back, punches with his right, and slips his left under Tagir’s chin for a clean rear naked choke.
Kyoji Horiguchi - Tagir Ulanbekov
This fight was a thorough beatdown. The perfect event to introduce new fans to the man that was the best fighter outside of the UFC.
Horiguchi’s training partner is UFC flyweight champion Alexandre Pantoja. Horiguchi doesn’t seem to care about any team conflicts. He even called for a title fight against Pantoja in his post fight interview.
Pantoja himself has his next title defense scheduled for 2 weeks from now. If he gets past Joshua Van, fighting Horiguchi is a no brainer.
HELP DESK UPDATES:
Brandon Reed’s ADCC Rookie Report
ADCC East Coast Trials was last week. That means we have some new rookies to study.
Brandon Reed is an elite wrestler. He won the NAIA national title 3 times and was undefeated in his final season. That’s why you should be so excited to study his game.
There are two dynamics that are shaping who is going into professional grappling and how they’re changing the sport.
Good wrestlers are skipping college wrestling to do professional grappling. In the past kids like Dorian Olivarez might go to college to keep grappling at a high level. But because the growing professional grappling scene now has regular high paying matches, there’s no need to go to college to keep competing in grappling.
Many college wrestlers are avoiding MMA to do professional grappling. Think people like Michael Pixley, Jason Nolff, and, now, Brandon Reed.
Reed is the biggest of the three but the guy can move but he has subtle skill and a giant motor that comes together to make his wrestling look effortless. Plus he’s exploiting a major hole in no gi jiujitsu’s stand-up.
Read reaches with his rear hand. Jackson bats the hand down. Reed feints with his lead hand to get Jackson to reach before he super ducks all the way to a back body lock. Reed threads his right leg through Jackson’s legs like he’s going to hit a broom stick. Then he lifts Jackson for a giant mat return.
Brandon Reed - Brian Jackson
Want to learn about one of the sport’s best wrestlers, why they’re finally hitting their stride, and how they’re exploiting a major hole in no gi jiujitsu’s stand-up? Click here to upgrade your subscription and access the the Help Desk.
Leading up to the 2026 ADCC World Championships we’ll be profiling the rookies competing on the big stage. We also have:
In depth studies of fighters like Islam Makhachev
Analysis of classic grappling fights you probably missed
Regularly updated articles on techniques, athletes, and principles of fighting
I’m constantly adding new articles, studies, and more to The Help Desk. It’s the simplest way to study high level grappling and subscribing to it is the easiest way to support my work.
If you like reading these and want to see more click here to upgrade to The Help Desk.
PS - it’s only $5 per month.
LINKS, INSTRUCTIONALS, AND MORE MATCHES TO STUDY:
What Are We Talking About Today?
I popped when Kyoji Horiguchi hit that cradle in the clip above. I think cradles are one of the simplest techniques that have yet to make their way over to professional grappling. Watch this if you want to know how to use them.
You can also review the submission Arman Tsarukyan put himself in if you click here.
THE MOST IMPORTANT NEWS (you might have missed)
Arguably the best kickboxer ever retired. We really only cover grappling here but Giorgio Petrosyan is a wizard. He definitely deserves your attention, even if you only do jiujitsu. His mastery of movement and distance is applicable to every martial art. If you want to watch a cool highlight video on him click here.
In more kickboxing news, Rico Verhoeven is leaving Glory Kickboxing. I’d like to see him take another MMA fight, maybe against Francis Ngannou? Ngannou hardly has anything else outside of the UFC.
Former Bellator Welterweight Champion Yaroslav Amoslov officially has a UFC fight lined up. He’ll be taking on Neil Magny on December 13th. Welterweight has never been better.
Thanks for reading today. If you enjoyed this piece and want to read more about the top techniques, principles, and stories from the world of fighting upgrade to the Help Desk! The Help Desk has:
Detailed analysis of specific techniques, athletes, and themes
A searchable technique library with gifs and explanations
New content added every week
Accessing the Open Note Grappling Help Desk only costs $5 per month and it’s the best way to support my work. You can even try a week for free if you click here.
