FIRST THINGS FIRST
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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.
UFC 328 was nearly a perfect card. You had an attraction for casuals (Strickland - Chimaev), something for old heads that stopped watching around 10 years ago (Jim Miller fought), and an instant classic (Joshua Van - Tatsuro Taira). We’re going to talk about that last one and some cool grappling innovations the undercard gave us.
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Now let’s get into it.
What's In Today's Letter?
BREAKING THE BEAT:
Joshua Van Sneaks In Strikes
Joshua Van and Tatsuro Taira stole the show at UFC 328. Nearly 300 total strikes landed, a combined 9 takedowns, and 2 knockdowns from 2 fighters who’s combined age is only 50! It’s a good reminder that the best parts of MMA are still getting better.
While this fight was an instant classic it was also really weird. Both men got to do whatever they wanted but only one of them had a game plan that could win a fight in the modern UFC.
We were sold on the classic “striker vs grappler” match-up. Could tricky Tatsuro Taira find a spot for a submission? Early on it looked like that was only a matter of time.
Taira swings a left hook and connects on a right low kick. Van stumbles back. Taira bends over and runs Van to the fence. Taira locks his hands to pick Van up. Taira finishes the takedown by stepping behind Van’s leg for a Polish throw. Taira immediately steps over Van’s legs to mount him.
Joshua Van - Tatsuro Taira
This was the opening minute. Taira ended this round with 4 takedowns, 3:40 of control time, and one huge problem.
Van was controlled for 73% of the first round and still out struck Taira.
That’s a stat that should raise everyone’s eyebrows. You’re just not going to win fights in the UFC if you don’t do damage, let alone strike on the ground.
In the second round Van turned his urgency and accuracy into real damage.
Taira throws a naked right leg kick as Van is hopping up into an overhand right. Taira’s head bounces off the canvas to wake him up. Van pounces. Taira gets full guard and grabs his left ankle over Van’s back. This bad rubber guard slows the action enough to save Taira.
Joshua Van - Tatsuro Taira
Taira held on. Barely. When the third round started Van was throwing whatever he wanted and most of it found its way to the target.
Van splits Taira stepping in with a right uppercut and left hook. Taira reaches to clinch. Van hits him with 3 punches as Taira lifts a lazy knee. Taira whiffs on another knee. Van walks in to pop Taira with a jab and then a lead right. Taira circles away. Van cuts off Taira with a right and a left. When Taira circles out Van slides a jab up the middle.
Joshua Van - Tatsuro Taira
Fights have a certain rhythm. I go, then you go, and sometimes we both go at the same time.
Sooner or later one of us takes control of the beat, changes the rhythm, spends the rest of the fight dictating the pace of the exchanges. That’s exactly what Van did.
Taira would start to strike and eat one of Van’s short straight punches before Taira’s fist left his face. When he tried to circle to safety Van hopped in front to pop punches out.
Van didn’t win with any magic techniques. He broke the challenger because he broke the rhythm Taira expected.
Van’s jab finds Taira’s face. Then a lead right. Then two more jabs. Taira lands a low kick. Taira shoots. Van whizzers and drills Taira with a knee. Van flurries with Taira on the cage. Taira circles out. Van cuts him off with a jab. Taira misses on two punches. Van goes back to jabbing as Taira steps to cut him off.
Joshua Van - Tatsuro Taira
You see what I mean? Van’s short single punches come right as Taira is stepping or throwing. Taira could never establish the rhythm he required to win.
Taira throws a knee, a couple punches, and tries to clinch. Van is hitting Taira’s body. Van sneaks in a right to the body and a left to the head. Van throws a knee. Taira shoots. Van stops it and circles to the center. A left to the head and a right to the body from Van. Taira backs up. Van flurries to the body and head until the ref steps in.
Joshua Van - Tatsuro Taira
Taira jumped up to protest the stoppage. It was a bit early but I don’t think anything would have changed. Taira wasn’t making the most of his moments anyway.
NO ANGLE FOR VICTORY:
How Taira Was Trying To Win
Tatsuro Taira got a lot of three things in this fight. Concussions, takedowns, and full mount. Check out the guard passing Taira was using.
Van is in bottom mount. He pushes on Taira’s hips and kicks his legs out for what’s known as a kipping escape. Van is now back in butterfly guard. Taira gets a left cross face and puts his head on Van’s left shoulder to pin him. Van kicks away. Taira gets a body lock and floats over Van’s hooks to side control.
Joshua Van - Tatsuro Taira
And this next sequence might as well be straight out of ADCC.
Van uses a kipping escape to get back to butterfly guard. The he gets double under hooks. Taira floats on Van until he can get a left under hook and move his head to the right. Now Van’s shoulders are pinned. Van pushes Taira's head. Taira switches to a body lock & hops to half butterfly. Then he goes back to tripod passing to step to mount.
Joshua Van - Tatsuro Taira
Here’s the problem. Taira wasn’t able to posture and strike without Van moving to escape.
Taira does a lot of damage when he has an angle to his opponent’s back. In the third it looked like that’s what he was waiting to get.
Taira is mount with a left cross face. He’s fighting to control Van’s left wrist. When Taira gets his grip and Van turns his hips Taira starts punching. Van doesn’t like it so he goes flat back again and starts holding onto Taira’s posture.
Joshua Van - Tatsuro Taira
We did almost got a highlight reel submission about a minute later.
Van is reaching up holding onto Taira with his right arm. Taira postures up. There’s no weight on Van so he just stands up. Taira grabs his shin and tries to jump into a triangle choke. Van has his left hand inside to make space. He postures up, Taira misses the omoplata, and Van is safe.
Joshua Van - Tatsuro Taira
The ground work in this fight showed us both the positives and negatives of jiujitsu.
Yes Taira was able to pass. But he was so focused on a specific positional hierarchy he never made the most of his lead. That’s a problem that comes with doing jiujitsu in MMA.
Oddly enough, Van’s mount defense and kipping escapes is exactly what you want to take away from jiujitsu training. He was in a bad spot on his back and immediately got to work using his legs to improve his position.
You really can’t say enough about how good Van looked. Now I just want to watch him fight Pantoja to see how the Brazilian can make the most of these ground exchanges.
UNDERCARD INNOVATIONS:
We’re Still Getting New Techniques!
UFC 328 had some of the most dominant grapplers in the UFC today. Two of them added clips to their highlight reel by debuting techniques I’ve never seen.
There’s an unspoken rule in MMA. If someone’s name ends in a vowel before a v they’re probably good at wrestling and they’re probably going to use it to win most of their fights. Makhachev and Nurmagomedov being the gold standards of this rule.
A man on UFC 328’s undercard’s first and last names both had the vowel and v of victory slapped to their ends. Yaroslav Amosov reminded us that he can really wrestle.
Amosov hooks Alvarez’s right leg with his right to trip him. Then he hooks the left leg with his right and shoots on the hips. Alvarez stays up so Amosov hooks his left leg to break his balance and start punching. Alvarez stands back up tall so Amosov jumps off the cage to pulls Alvarez down backwards. I guess this is a showtime reverse tai otoshi.
Yaroslav Amosov - Joel Alvarez
Amoslav put Joel Alvarez out of his misery after ragdolling him for the first 6 minutes of the fight.
Alvarez throws a jab. Amosov shoots under it to grab a single leg. Amosov converts the single to a body lock, mat returns Alvarez, and immediately changes his grip to become an arm triangle. Alvarez taps quickly.
Yaroslav Amosov - Joel Alvarez
This win makes the former Bellator champion Amosov 30-1 with a 3 submissions in the row. I say it’s time to expedite him up the rankings.
American grappler Grant Dawson debuted a crafty new grip for rear naked chokes before Amosov’s fight.
Dawson is hitting Mateusz. Mateusz rolls face up. Dawson tries a tackettine choke with his left. Mateusz raises his arms to protect his neck. Dawson holds Mateusz’s arms. Mateusz punches Dawson behind. Dawson shoots his right arm across Mateusz’s neck. He grabs his right tricep with his left hand to finish the choke.
Grant Dawson vs Mateusz Rębecki
HELP DESK UPDATES:
Nick Hartman’s Modern Twist On Old School Jiujitsu
Nick Hartman started training jiujitsu in 2017 after joining the Air Force. After moving bases he ended up in Las Vegas and began training with Robert Dysdale.
Drysdale coached Hartman to win a world title at blue belt as well as no gi world titles at purple and brown.
Drsydale is an old school Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu legend. He won IBJJF Worlds in 2005 and the ADCC World Championships in 2007. His old school big man game fostered a classic style with modern updates in his student, Hartman.
How many big men are still playing half guard and which are winning matches like this?
Pana is sprawled out with a cross face. Hartman locks a shoulder crunch and drives his left elbow into Pana’s face. Pana’s hips rise. Hartman puts in a left butterfly hook. He posts on Pana’s arm pit while using his hook to elevate Pana and get standard ashi. Hartman rolls onto his side to finish the ankle lock.
Nick Hartman - Francis Pignoti Pana
If you want to learn how to update old school techniques to win at the highest levels of no gi grappling upgrade your subscription and access the the Help Desk. The Help Desk comes with:
A full report of ADCC’s most compelling rookies
Analysis of classic MMA fights with high level grappling
A library of submissions, takedowns, and more techniques that work in fighting
LINKS, INSTRUCTIONALS, AND MORE MATCHES TO STUDY:
What Are We Talking About Today?
The UFC already put up a highlight of Joshua Van’s fight with Tatsuro Taira here.
Watch Yaroslav Amosov’s two last finishes:
If you want to watch more of Grant Dawson’s finishes click here.
THE MOST IMPORTANT NEWS (you might have missed)
My gym hosted a submission only jiujitsu event with FloGrappling this weekend and I got to make my commentary debut. Click here to watch the replay of Tap or Chat.
Arguably the best active jiujitsu competitor of this generation Mica Galvao is creating a new team, MJJ. Mica’s teammate, ADCC Champion Diogo Reis, is also leaving to join a new team. Why? Mica’s father was arrested for sexually assaulting minors.
Arman Tsarukyan’s activity is being rewarded. He was officially named the back-up for the lightweight title fight at the UFC White House card.
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East Austin Strength Training is a live strength & conditioning protocol developed by Dr. Sean McEachern. Dr. Sean is responsible for building some of the best bodies in jiujitsu, like ADCC Silver Medalist, Jay Rod, CJI 2 winner, Chris Wojcik, and many more. His program will make you more athletic, reduce your risk of injury, and ensure you’re not overtraining so you can stay on the mats.
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