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.
I’m trying a new format with a new section and more analysis for premium subscribers this week.
We’re going to start with a recap of the UFC’s return to China this weekend. There was a good lesson on why turtling isn’t the safest place to stay. Then we’re going to look ahead at something I’m looking forward to this weekend that doesn’t take place in the UFC.
The sport is bigger than the UFC and the rest of the combat sports sphere deserves more attention.
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Now let’s get into it.
What's In Today's Letter?
WHAT YOU MISSED:
Rei Tsuruya Runs Over Another Man
The UFC went back to China this weekend. To celebrate, they rounded up as many people from around Oceania and East Asia to get some wins for their prospects. The fighter I was most excited to watch did not disappoint.
Rei Tsuruya is a Japanese flyweight. He brutalized competition in Road to the UFC. Then he ran into Joshua Van in the UFC, dropped a decision, and many people wrote him off.
That was a short sighted mistake.
Tsuruya was an internationally competitive cadet wrestler. That means he was one of the best in the world as a teenager and he’s still one of the most dynamic grapplers we have in the sport. Plus he’s only 23 so he still has plenty of time to get better.
Tsuruya was given Luis Gurule in a late replacement fight. It took him less than four minutes to finish him.
Tsuruya stuns Gurule with an up jab to left straight. Tsuruya gets a front head to spin behind Gurule. Tsuruya hangs his weight off of Gurule. Gurule is stuck awkwardly trying to block Tsuruya’s strikes and hand fight while getting pulled over. Tsuruya gets Gurule down to turtle. Then he hooks Gurule’s near leg between his own legs.
Rei Tsuruya - Luis Gurule
Once Tsuruya had Gurule’s legs controlled he started hurting him.
Tsuruya has one hook in, his legs locked, and a grip on Gurule’s far wrist. Tsuruya has an open lane for hard punches from his free hand. Gurule rolls into Tsuruya’s back control. Tsuruya tries a rear naked choke. Gurule turns out of it, gets back to his feet, and runs to the fence. Tsuruya lifts Gurule up and slams him before putting a single hook in again.
Rei Tsuruya - Luis Gurule
Tsuruya put Gurule away the second time he saw the choke.
Tsuruya switches from hooking Gurule’s near leg to broom sticking back to hooking the near leg. Gurule is forced to squat low to stay upright. Then Tsuruya attacks a rear naked choke and jumps to back control. Gurule hangs on for a few seconds until he’s forced to submit.
Rei Tsuruya - Luis Gurule
This fight was important for understanding defensive grappling in MMA.
Right now many people claim you only need to do turtle if you get taken down. The idea is that you can shake people off if they try to take your back in transition. And we have seen some embarrassing examples of this exact situation recently.
Buchecha is in top half. Spann posts on his hip and swims his right arm across under Buchecha’s cross face to enter octopus guard. Buchecha swings a punch but Spann is already building height. Spann turtles. Buchecha tries to spin to the back. Buchecha tries to throw his left leg over and insert it as a far hook but there’s no weight on Spann so he just stands up and runs to the fence as Buchecha falls off.
Ryan Spann - Marcus “Buchecha” Almeida
But there is a limit to turtle’s utility on defense. It works better against people that want to play jiujitsu like Buchecha above.
If you turtle against someone that knows how to wrestle like Tsuruya you just give them rear body locks, cross body rides, and lots of opportunities to hurt you. That’s why Khamzat Chimaev got 4:47 of control time against Sean Strickland in round 1, Tsuruya was able to dominate Gurule, and fighters like Anthony “Fluffy” Hernandez dominate their opponents.
Fremd starts standing up so Fluffy grabs a front head lock to slow him. Fluffy release it to shoot a double. Then he puts a hook in to ride cross body. Now he can wrist ride and punch Fremd relatively freely. When Fremd does try to get up Fluffy locks his hands to throw Fremd down with a cross face before going back to his cross body ride.
Anthony “Fluffy” Hernandez - Josh Fremd
Turtle is as valuable as you can keep it active. If you get stuck playing turtle you’re going to get hurt.
Another modern MMA myth was dispelled after Tsuruya’s fight finished.
WHAT YOU MISSED
Smesh Survives In Australia
Immediately after Rei Tsuruya got his rear naked choke, Australia’s Cody Haddon took on Inner Mongolia’s Aoriqileng. Within the first minute Haddon was already wearing down on Aoriqileng.
Haddon shoots under Aoriqileng’s punches to put him on the fence. Then he lifts Aoriqileng to slam him. Aoriqileng tries to pop back up. Haddon grabs a body lock and hangs onto Aoriqileng until he can put a hook in. They struggle on the fence until Haddon hits a kosoto gake to take Aoriqileng down.
Cody Haddon - Aoriqileng
After Haddon got Aoriqileng onto the floor he started switching between punches and chokes to keep Aoriqileng on defense.
Haddon is riding Aoriqileng with one hook in. Aoriqileng tries to shake Haddon off but that gives Haddon space to put his second hook in and threaten a rear naked choke. Haddon abandons it to start punching. Aoriqileng tries to squirm out. Haddon grabs Aoriqileng’s wrist to break his base and keep hitting.
Cody Haddon - Aoriqileng
Aoriqileng could hardly cover up and survive by the end of the first round.
Hadodn’s punches open a RNC. Aoriqileng slips out of it. Haddon gets a cross wrist grip to start punching again. Then he takes his hooks out to stand up and throw knees. Aoriqileng stands up too. Haddon gets a body lock to keep kneeing, take Aoriqileng down, and punch some more. Aoriqileng flops over and Haddon drops a huge punch.
Cody Haddon - Aoriqileng
Haddon got the fight back on the fence in the second to secure a TKO knockout win.
Aoriqileng swings a wide right. Haddon shoots under it, gets a body lock, and pushes Aoriqileng onto the fence. Both men are fighting for inside knee position when Haddon gets a grip on Aoriqileng’s right wrist. Now he has room for two clean knees. Aoriqileng drops, Haddon pounces, and the fight ends.
Cody Haddon - Aoriqileng
Congratulations Australia, you have a Fluffy Hernandez.
Several of MMA’s most prominent voices have been claiming that ground and pound is gone for the past year or so. On the surface you can kind of see it.
Several champions were winning with a constant barrage of takedowns, judges started scoring wrestling less favorably, and many rising fighters opted only to kickbox. But MMA is an ever evolving sport. Today’s prospects build games to solve the problems currently being presented. We can predict that grappling that facilitates ground and pound against people that want to turtle and stay standing will emerge.
WHAT TO LOOK FORWARD TO:
Rizin’s Rematch With Makoto Shinryu
After Cody Haddon won he gave us another look into the reality of being a UFC fighter. Haddon took his time on the mic to ask for a bonus and say “I'm super broke. I have no money.”
It sucks hearing shit like that week after week. Especially when the UFC did $851 million in EBITDA in 2025.
The UFC is facing several legal battles right now. One of them could change how the UFC negotiates contracts. And that could result in them paying athletes more.
We combat sports fans have to do our part and watch MMA outside of the UFC while their legal battles rage on. I’m going to do what I can and promote fighters and events outside of the UFC that deserves your attention. This week we’re looking at Makoto “Shinryu” Takahashi.
I first saw Shinryu when he fought Kyoji Horiguchi in Rizin for their inaugural flyweight title. He was only 23 years old at the time.
2 and a half years have passed since then. Shinryu has built on his athletic base to turn into a more well rounded MMA fighter. But he still brings a base of exciting, and sometimes reckless, wrestling and jiujitsu.
Shinryu launches Ito with an under hook uchi mata. Ito pops up. Shinryu runs to hold onto Ito before lifting him for a huge slam. Ito pops back up. Shinryu slams him again. Ito stands up again. Shinryu puts one hook in before hopping up to back control.
Makoto Shinryu - Seiichiro Ito
Shinryu rematches Hiromasa Ougikubo this weekend at Rizin Landmark 14. You might remember Ougikubo from TUF where he beat Alexandre Pantoja. Ougikubo lost to TIm Elliott in the finals and wasn’t offered a UFC contract.
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LINKS, INSTRUCTIONALS, AND MORE MATCHES TO STUDY:
What Are We Talking About Today?
Makoto Shinryu’s first fight with Hiromasa Ougikubo is here on YouTube.
Rizin puts their all of fights on YouTube after the events are done so you can catch most of Shinryu’s career here.
Cody Haddon’s single loss came from Steve Erceg on the regional scene. Watch it here.
You can watch a video I made about Rei Tsuruya’s over hook game here. Should I go back to making videos?
THE MOST IMPORTANT NEWS (you might have missed)
The UFC’s return to Abu Dhabi has its headlining fights. Magomed Ankalaev will fight Khalil Rountree and Umar Nurmagomedov will fight David Martinez.
Umar’s cousin also has a fight. Usman Nurmagomedov will fight Archie Colgan in the PFL’s return to New York. That card also features Dakota Ditcheva. Not a bad event from The PFL.
Kade Ruotolo was injured and had to pull out of his next grappling match in ONE. Now Owen Jones will take on Fabricio Andrey.
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