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First Things First

Now that CJI and ADCC are in the rear view mirror, we're back looking at MMA’s best action. This weekend we saw two major South American prospects step closer to their title hopes and one gritty veteran further cement their all time records. Let’s look at what we can learn from this past weekend.

Technical Takeaways

Winning With The Lead Hand

In the main event of UFC Vegas 96, up-and-comer Caio Borralho took on the tough and terrifying Jared Cannonier. Generally Borralho is patient until he can blitz to get his offense going.

Borralho uses long straight strikes to bounce in and out of exchanges. In the process he’ll either hurt his opponent or his strike will become a takedown he runs through his opponents. On the floor he’ll fight with his Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt.

This fight against Cannonier was entirely contested on the feet. What stood out the most to me was how well Borralho attacked Cannonier's lead side. The first few minutes of the fight really foreshadowed the action of the whole contest.

A few minutes later Borralho went downstairs to take Cannonier's footing away.

Borralho's hard early leg kicks took away much of Cannonier's mobility. As Cannonier became more stationary, Borralho walked him down easier. Borralho would do his best work moving Cannonier's lead hand out of the way to distract him and clear space for slapping fast punches in.

Borralho's hard work establishing the lead hand paid off in the fifth round. He slipped a hook in to stun Cannonier. Then went straight down the middle to push himself towards the top of the contender list.

Borralho ended the fight by hitting Cannonier on the floor until he could threaten an arm triangle choke. He left the Octagon as a new clear middleweight contender.

Borralho's active lead hand is a good lesson for competing in all martial arts. You need to deal with the problem that's immediately in front of you. If you don’t deal with the first problem you face, you risk running onto counters and never getting your offense started. By working to dominate the lead side, Borralho prevented Cannonier's offense from getting going while dealing damage of his own.

A New Rear Body Lock Counter

Earlier in the night, the disciplined journeyman Neil Magny took on Ecuadorian prospect Michael Morales. I have a unique interest in Morales’s success.

One of my favorite things about combat sports is watching small seemingly random pockets of people literally fight their way to the world stage. Ecuador is relatively poor, small country. They have been dealing with significant civil unrest and gang violence for the past year or so. Emerging from this dark and dangerous backdrop is Morales, former bantamweight title contender, Marlon "Chito" Vera, and grappling phenom Roberto Jimenez, among others.

Creativity flowed freely from this often ignored part of the world through the young Morales’s long limbs. He showed the world a counter I can't remember ever seeing.

The 25-year-old Morales was starting to touch up Magny from the word go. Magny did not want to become the next knockout on Morales's undefeated record so he did what any veteran would. He got in close to clinch and make it ugly. He worked to a rear body lock and Morales uncorked a hellacious counter.

Generally, grip fighting from the rear body lock makes you lean back into your opponent to extend their arms so you can break their grip. That loads your hips up for the spinning elbow like we see from Morales below. It really looked effortless, like it was meant to work this way.

I'm not saying this technique will or should become commonplace. What I am saying is it’s fascinating to see moves that look natural emerging for seemingly the first time this many years into mixed martial arts. Just when you think you’ve seen it all, you haven’t.

The UFC’s Middleweight Submission Leader Grits Another One Out

Just before Morales took out Magny, we were treated to the UFC's middleweight submission leader doing what he does best. Gutting out a hard-earned submission win.

In the first round, Edmen Shahbazyan was looking to pick apart Gerald Meerschaert. He kept sneaking body punches in but no real damage emerged until the second round.

Eventually, Shahbazyan decided he needed to stand up to stay away from Meerschaert's ground game. Meerschaert took the fight right to him to get it back to where he had the advantage.

You really need to give it up for Meerschaert's presence of mind mid finish. By staying in ¾ mount, he prevented Shahbazyan from turning away and escaping the choke.

This win cemented his lead as the UFC’s all time submission leader and even gave him the most finishes in middleweight history. That’s right, Meerschaert has more submission finishes than Anderson Silva. If you want to read more about his game you can review my article on how he finds chokes here.

This week is a bit light on MMA action so we’re reviewing a historic ADCC run on Friday. If you want to read that, upgrade to a premium subscription here.

Talk to you soon!

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