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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.
The UFC created a Caucasus highlight reel in their return to Azerbaijan’s Baku. Today we’re going to talk about the card’s all star and a new submission straight from PFL’s San Diego fight night.
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Now let’s get into it.
What's In Today's Letter?
Asu Shines In Baku
The UFC made their annual return to Azerbaijan's capital, Baku. They played their part by bringing compelling Caucasus talents and prospects like Tahir Abdullayev, Farman Hasanov, and Rafael Fiziev. But the man that stood out was the Kazakh killer, Asu Almabayev.
Asu was matched up with Charles Johnson midway through the card. Asu has a good overhand right, some spinning strikes, and great chain wrestling. Other than his foul fueled loss to Manel Kape, he’s undefeated in the UFC.
Johnson is a bit trickier to pin down. He’s well rounded but unorthodox. His best weapons are front kicks, elbows in the clinch, and a gas tank that doesn’t get empty. He regularly shifts through stances and uses those steps to hide kicks.
Johnson is 35. That means he's older than every ranked flyweight other than Kyoji Horiguchi. Still, he’s beaten entertaining strikers like Su Mudaerji, Lone’er Kavanagh, and champion Joshua Van with craft that confuses opponents. You really can’t count him out.
Asu answered Johnson’s unorthodox game by running through his body kicks.
Johnson pushes out of the clinch and puts Asu on the cage. He lands about 5 punches as Asu covers and circles to the cage. Johnson lands two right leg kicks as Asu is moving away. But then Asu starts coming forward as Johnson throws a left body kick and Asu puts him on his back.
Asu Almabayev - Charles Johnson
Before we go on I have to get personal. Johnson contracted me for scouting reports in the past and he asked me to put some footage together on how to beat Asu. This sequence above highlights the way to beat Asu and lose to him.
If you kick at Asu when he’s coming forward you’ll end up on your butt, But Asu is a completely different fighter when he’s going backward. That’s what we identified in the lead up to this fight and why Johnson was able to punch freely coming out of the clinch and kick his legs in the open.
Asu’s game falls apart if you stand southpaw and lead with left straights. Just look at how Manel Kape handled him.
Asu throws an overhand right and right body kick. No set-up for either. Kape cuts Asu off to keep him on the cage. Kape shifts with a left, Asu tries to counter with a left hook, and Kape flurries on the cage. Kape cuts Asu off again, leads with a left, and scores more punches while Asu retreats.
Manel Kape - Asu Almabayev
Enough of that fight. Now let’s get back to this weekend.
Asu was nearly unshakeable on the floor. He would float over Johnson’s hips and take his back when Johnson tried to turtle and stand-up.
Johnson turtled. Asu has a rear body lock. Asu knees Johnson as he tries to crawl away. Asu puts a left hook in, postures for punches, and Johnson rolls over. Asu locks a body triangle in transition. Johnson ends the round elbowing Asu’s legs.
Asu Almabayev - Charles Johnson
In the third round Asu pulled off an ultra rare submission.
Johnson tries to turn out of Asu’s figure four. Asu hits Johnson before looking at an arm triangle. Johnson tries to sit up and turns over again. Asu goes back to holding a seat belt. Johnson quadpods and stands up. Asu holds Johnson’s leg to break him down. He keeps pulling the leg for a suloev stretch.
Asu Almabayev - Charles Johnson
This suloev stretch makes two rare submission in back to back weeks that are both direct counters to people being overeager to get on top when they have their back taken. This begs the question, what else can people do on bottom to get up?
A Good Guard Will Always Help
The past several years of MMA grappling has been the “just stand-up era”. MMA fighters have been turning to turtle to stand-up instead of playing guard.
The problem is, if you run into someone who can wrestle better than you, you’re giving them what they want. That’s why Khamzat Chimaev ran Sean Strickland into the floor in the first round of their fight and it’s why Asu was a step ahead of Johnson on Saturday.
Johnson sits up from butterfly to scoot back. Asu switches to a front head lock. He pushes Johnson to the cage before going back to a front head lock. Johnson stands. Asu switches to a single to take him down again. Johnson goes with it to elevate Asu and attack a single leg. Asu gets another front head lock, runs to the back, and ends in top side.
Asu Almabayev - Charles Johnson
Conversely, when Johnson played bottom he actually got close to some weird sweeps and submissions.
Asu catches Johnson’s naked body kick to throw him down. Asu is in between Johnson’s legs so Johnson throws up an inverted triangle choke. It’s on, but Asu’s inside shoulder is open so he has room to breathe. Asu falls to his side. Johnson stays on his back to try to finish the choke. Asu gets his knees under him to posture up out of the submission.
Asu Almabayev - Charles Johnson
Johnson was actually much closer to a simpler attack earlier in the second round.
Asu is trying to pass with a body lock. Johnson throws his left leg up. He’s near a triangle but Asu is keeping his head in the center. Johnson doesn’t have an angle to free his right leg. Asu postures up and gets chest to chest. Johnson gets on his left hip. Asu is hitting Johnson over his knee shield. Johnson turtles and Asu stays behind his hips.
Asu Almabayev - Charles Johnson
Johnson was inches away from an omoplata.
The omoplata is a shoulder lock where your legs break your opponent’s posture to damage their shoulder from bottom. They’re pretty hard to finish no gi and I’m not suggesting Johnson would have submitted Asu. I am saying that Johnson could have used the position to make space, get up, or sweep to top position like this.
Bodoni picks up Lovato with a double leg. Lovato immediately pushes Bodoni’s head away and throws his leg over for an omoplata. Bodoni postures up. Lovato hooks Bodoni’s near leg while his own legs stay locked. Lovato sits up to grab Bodoni’s far side, scoot away, and build head height. Bodoni is forced to roll out. Lovato comes up to top side.
Rafael Lovato Jr. - Giancarlo Bodoni
That clip is from the then 42 year old Rafael Lovato Jr.’s match with 30 year old two-time defending ADCC champion Giancarlo Bodoni. If the submission is good enough to sweep maybe the best -88KG no gi grappler of all time maybe it’s good enough for mma fighters to use and make space.
If anything I think this gets at the cyclical nature of mixed martial arts.
Fundamentally sound techniques don’t stop working. As fighters gravitate towards specific styles and techniques, they move away from other solutions that are, perhaps, being wrongfully discarded.
At one point Brazilian jiu-jitsu was a secret weapon. Then better ground and pound made a style centered around Brazilian jiu-jitsu a liability. Today, many fighters are wrestling and riding tighter and tighter which is removing their room for ground and pound while reinvigorating the opportunity for Brazilian jiu-jitsu attacks.
I’m not saying that everyone should abandon turtling and wrestling up. That’s silly. But fighters should make the most of the simple weapons that emerge naturally in their fights so they can get back to playing their A-game.
Another Day, Another New Choke
The PFL put on the best event of the weekend several hours after the UFC’s Baku card ended. The fighter I was most excited to watch, Salamat Isbullaev lost, but Zabit Magomedsharipov’s brother Khasan debuted a choke that’s new from professional MMA.
Khasan is passing half guard with head and arm control. Khasan puts his right shin on Weems’s belt line to hold Weems’s hips down so he can knee slice out. Khasan switches his grip so his outside arm is flush with his opponent’s back and his primary arm is grabbing his support forearm. Weems submits.
Joshua Weems -Khasan Magomedsharipov
This choke looks like an arm triangle but it’s usually called a reverse grip d’arce or inverted d’arce. It’s hard to see what Khasan was doing so I’ve taken a screenshot from Legion’s YouTube account.
1 - Grout’s support arm is going down, flush with his opponent’s back, so his primary arm can grab the forearm.
2 - Grout’s shoulder is driving his opponent’s head foreward.
3 - Grout’s primary arm elbow is going up towards the ceiling.
Breylor Grout Demonstration
With this choke, last week’s Scottish twister from Murtazali Magomedov, and Kody Steele’s recent backside heel hook I feel like we’re in the beginning of a submission grappling renaissance.
ADCC ROOKIE REPORT 2026 🇰🇿 Bekzat Kapashov 🇰🇿
MMA is slowing down a bit in the lead up to July 4th and Conor McGregor’s card. I will also be out of town this weekend so I won’t be releasing an article next week. I will be taking the break to watch more from the ADCC trials.
This most recent Oceania Trials gave us a new - 66KG rookie, Bekzat Kapashov. Across both Oceania Trials this cycle only one person has score on him and he’s submitted 80% of his opponents.
Kapashov is on his back. He arm drags Urwin and pulls Urwin to his back control. Kapashov gets a body lock, rolls over, and claims a claw grip in transition to secure the back. Urwin keeps turning but his hands go to the floor so Kapashov has an open lane for his rear naked choke.
Bekzat Kapashov vs Liam Urwin
If you want to study Kapashov’s whole trials run and see what other newcomers qualified for the 2026 ADCC World Championships check out the 2026 ADCC Rookie Report.
Suloev Stretches And More Arm Triangle Variation Videos
If you want a short video on how to do the reverse grip d’arce watch this.
Here is a thorough video on the suloev stretch.
Khasan Magomedsheripov is something of a submission specialist. His last finish was an arm triangle in Bellator and you can watch it here.
THE MOST IMPORTANT NEWS (you might have missed)
Ian Garry has signed with Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom Sports. This is the same team that manages Tom Aspinall and is actively beefing with Dana White. Not sure what Eddie’s angle is but I have to assume he’s trying to gain leverage so he can force TKO and Zuffa Boxing to have to work with him so they can’t push Matchroom out of boxing. Good luck!
Craig Jones claims he’s coming back to make another B-Team gym. Not sure if he’s just trolling or how that’s going to work with his travel schedule. I am curious to see how this puts him at odds with his old teammates.
Roger Gracie recently promoted King Charles to his first degree…of belt. The Brazilian gave the royal family member a white belt as part of a demonstration of REORG. REORG “creates safe environments through jiujitsu for veterans, military and emergency services personnel to support their physical and mental wellbeing.” It’s cool to see grappling sports exist as charitable recreation for people across the world.
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