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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.
Charles Oliveira returned to Rio to defend his undefeated record in Brazil. He put on a grappling masterclass for as long as the fight lasted. We’re going to explain why he dominated Mateusz Gamrot and look at the Lady Goat’s prelim performance.
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What's In Today's Letter?
CHARLES OLIVEIRA GETS BACK TO HIS WINNING WAYS:
A Reminder On Who Has MMA’s Best Guard Ever
When the UFC announced their plans to return to Brazil on October 11th there was one major piece missing. Star power.
There are plenty of active Brazilians in the UFC but few with the name to carry a card. Enter Charles Oliveira.
The former lightweight champion is the UFC’s all time finish leader and he’s undefeated in his home country. The story sells itself.
The only problem is Oliveira was separated from consciousness by Ilia Topuria as he tried to take his title back 3 months ago. There’s no shame in losing to the fighter that many see as the best currently competing. But, that doesn’t mean fans shouldn’t be worried about Oliveira’s chances, and chin, going forward.
Originally Oliveira was scheduled to fight the lightning quick muay Thai fighter Rafael Fiziev. Fiziev pulled out with a knee injury so Oliveira was given Mateusz Gamrot instead.
Gamrot made for an interesting challenge for Oliveira, completely alien from Fiziev.
Gamrot doesn’t have the pop to put Oliveira down but he has some of the best wrestling in the sport. He even qualified for the ADCC World Championships before joining the UFC. The guy can grapple really really well.
We knew Gamrot was going to shoot. We just didn’t know how Oliveira’s guard would work against such a capable competitive grappler.
Would the fight look like Oliveira’s close loss to Arman Tsarukyan? Or would the UFC’s greatest guard get another highlight reel sequence?
Gamrot picks up a head outside single. Oliveira counters with an arm in guillotine. Gamrot pops his head out but Oliveira keeps the over hook on the arm. Then he sits back and throws his legs up for an omoplata. Gamrot defends correctly by moving his hand to Oliveira’s far hip, but Oliveira reaches under Gamrot’s leg to grab his elbow.
Charles Oliveira - Mateusz Gamrot
This exchange set the tone for the entire fight. Gamrot was active, but every inch he moved gave Oliveira two more.
Gamrot pops out of the omoplata. Oliveira starts to play de la riva guard. Gamrot rushes back in and makes a huge mistake, he puts his hand on the floor. Oliveira attacks the omoplata again and rolls toward Gamrot’s trapped arm for the sweep.
Charles Oliveira - Mateusz Gamrot
Gamrot showed his ADCC veteran savvy and took this opportunity to try to recounter.
Oliveira is between Gamrot’s legs so Gamrot falls away from him to attack a leg lock. Oliveira pushes Gamrot’s feet off of him. Gamrot tries to spin away and stand but Oliveira has a tight waist and over hook on the near shoulder. Gamrot cannot move without taking Oliveira with him.
Charles Oliveira - Mateusz Gamrot
After hanging out in turtle for a bit, Oliveira rolled onto Gamrot’s back.
Oliveira tries to put a hook in. No luck. Then he hits a forward roll and sticks a hook in mid transition. When Oliveira gets both hooks in he tries an arm in rear naked choke. Gamrot avoids it stands up. Oliveira has a body triangle and he uses the outside leg to trip Gamrot back to the mat.
Charles Oliveira - Mateusz Gamrot
Gotta give credit where it’s due. Gamrot was able to stay safe with the UFC’s best submission specialist on his back and survive to the second round. But then Oliveira got back in Gamrot’s face and ran over him.
After two minutes of bullying Gamrot on the feet, Oliveira shoots to a body lock on the fence. He picks Gamrot up and tries to slam him. Gamrot defends with a whizzer, so Oliveira steps over and sags his weight to break Gamrot’s position. Oliveira starts punching so Gamrot moves and Oliveira puts his hooks in.
Charles Oliveira - Mateusz Gamrot
Once Oliveira found himself on Gamrot’s back a second time he decided to let it all out.
Oliveira has one hook in. He swats Gamrot’s right hand away so his left can punch across Gamrot’s face. Then he locks up a figure 4 grip and rolls Gamrot over. Oliveira doesn’t get his arm under Gamrot’s chin but he cranks away until Gamrot says enough is enough.
Charles Oliveira - Mateusz Gamrot
Oliveira pushed Gamrot around on the feet, took away all space on top, and used his guard to turn Gamrot’s offense into his own opportunities. The fight was a complete domination and a reminder of why Oliveira has the best guard in MMA history.
If you want to read a detailed analysis of Oliveira’s all time great guard read this article on the Help Desk.
Seriously who doesn’t love Charles Oliveira? The Brazilian superstar debuted in the UFC when he was 21, about 14 years ago, and went on to become a lightweight champion and the UFC’s all time finish leader after being labeled a quitter. First ballot Hall of Famer doesn’t do him justice.
Charles wants another Hall of Famer in his next fight, Max Holloway. These two actually already had a fight but it ended in about 90 seconds after Oliveira suffered an esophagus injury. If the UFC doesn’t book this rematch it would be one of the biggest wasted opportunities in the promotion’s history.
THE LADY GOAT ARRIVES:
Bia Mesquita Breaks Irina Alekseeva’s Arm
Oftentimes BJJ prospects don’t live up to their hype in the UFC. After all getting by with only BJJ is next to impossible in modern MMA.
Bia Mesquita is no ordinary BJJ prospect.
Undefeated MMA fighter. ADCC Champion. 10 time IBJJF World Champion. They call her the Lady Goat for a reason.
After this weekend, we could add successful UFC fighter to her resume. But successful might be underselling it. Bia mauled her first UFC opponent.
Bia has a body lock. She steps behind Alekseeva’s legs to lift and twist her down to the floor. As they’re falling Bia steps into mount. Then Bia immediately postures up and starts beating Alekseeva like she owes her money.
Beatriz “Bia” Mesquita - Irina Alekseeva
This is what I mean. It’s not just jiujitsu with Bia.
Bia competed in wrestling and judo as well as BJJ when she was a kid. And now that she’s in the UFC, she’s turning common jiujitsu positions into violent ground and pound spots.
Bia hits Alekseeva. Alekseeva grabs Bia’s wrist so Bia reaches behind Alekseeva’s head with her free arm to re-grip Alekseeva’s arm. Now Alekseeva is stuck in the gift wrap position and Bia can drop big elbows.
Beatriz Mesquita - Irina Alekseeva
This was pretty much how the entire first round went. Luckily Bia put Alekseeva out of her misery in the second.
Bia is trying to hit Alekseeva from leg drag. Then she scoots back, takes side control, and slides to mount. Alekseeva explodes to push Bia off of her but Bia takes her back. Bia gets a straight grip on Alekseeva’s left wrist in transition so she can slide in the rear naked choke with her right. Alekseeva taps quickly.
Beatriz Mesquita - Irina Alekseeva
I know this fight was a squash match. That’s fine.
Bia is already 34 and coming off a lifetime of competition. She needs a few quick UFC fights to build her appropriately towards a title shot if she’s going to do anything in MMA. This is just the beginning of that.
More than anything I’m just happy that a BJJ prospect made good on their pedigree.
HELP DESK UPDATES:
A Thorough Study Of Heavyweight’s Best BJJ Player Ever
Fedor Emelianenko, Alistair Oveerm, Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira, and Cain Velasquez. What do these four men have in common?
They were all submitted by Fabricio Werdum.
For my money, Werdum is the best heavyweight Brazilian jiu-jitsu player MMA ever got. Aside from submitting a who’s who of MMA legends, Werdum won the ADCC and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu World Championships while actively competing in MMA!
Werdum ended his career with 24 wins. 12 of those were submissions, and half of those were either arm bars or triangle arm bars. The man had an effective guard nd I’m not sure we’ll ever see anything like it again.
If you want to read about Werdum’s all time great ground game check out my latest article on the Help Desk.
If you want to read about Werdum’s all time great ground game, support my work, and learn how grappling actually works in fighting click here to upgrade your subscription and access the the Help Desk. The Help Desk comes with:
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LINKS, INSTRUCTIONALS, AND MORE MATCHES TO STUDY:
What Are We Talking About Today?
You can actually see all of the finishes from UFC Rio here.
Click here to watch Charles Oliveira roll with BJJ player. It’s impressive that he can even hang with Mica Galvao.
Watch Bia Mesquita’s most thorough highlight video here.
THE MOST IMPORTANT NEWS (you might have missed)
ONE Championship is putting on an awesome match between Lachlan Giles and Marcelo Garcia. I’m excited to see how the old school legend deals with modern leg locking.
UFC BJJ might be in some hot water. According to BJJDoc’s analysis of UFC BJJ 3’s metrics, they likely purchased bots to inflate their viewership. At the very least, their engagement rate was 21x lower than CJI 2’s. Maybe we can’t really trust the UFC brand to turn athletes into stars after all.
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:
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