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.
This week gave us a rare event with two great cards that both had flashy submission finishes. The separate headliners Umar Nurmagomedov and Mario Bautista put on clinics. Here is how they made it look so easy.
Before we get started I want to shout out this week’s sponsor The Code!
The Code is a curated newsletter about the newest trends, tricks, and tools in technology. If you want to stay ahead of the curve and learn about new tools to make your life easier click the image below.
What 100K+ Engineers Read to Stay Ahead
Your GitHub stars won't save you if you're behind on tech trends.
That's why over 100K engineers read The Code to spot what's coming next.
Get curated tech news, tools, and insights twice a week
Learn about emerging trends you can leverage at work in just 10 mins
Become the engineer who always knows what's next
Now let’s get into it.
What's In Today's Letter?
If you saw Mario Bautista’s previous performance you might have convinced yourself he isn’t the most interesting or active fighter. Maybe even a step behind his opponents.
That couldn’t be further from the truth.
Mario powers tactics with tight techniques. He is an excellent all rounder who finds ways to score everywhere. Plus he has a great gas tank.
All of that cascaded to create a wave of offense and counters that drowned his opponent Vinicius Oliveira.
Going into the fight the narrative was, “Could Oliveira blast Bautista out before he gasses out himself”. The question people should have been asking is, “How is Oliveira going to get his offense going?”
MARIO BAUTISTA MAULS VINICIUS OLIVEIRA:
Mario Answers Oliveira’s Questions Before He Can Finish Asking Them
Before the first round was halfway done it was already apparent that Mario was going to make Oliveira whenever he was starting to get offense going.
Mario leaps in with a left hook. Oliveira ducks into a clinch. Mario pulls Oliveira with his whizzer while turning his hips for an uchi mata. They land on the fence and Mario sneaks in an elbow. Oliveira is able to put Mario’s back on the cage but Mario is already digging for under hooks and hitting Oliveira’s body.
Mario Bautista - Vinicius Oliveira
Even when Oliveira had Bautista pressed against the cage he could only react to Bautista’s offense.
Oliveira knees Mario. Mario grabs it, runs through Oliveira, and turns him to take him down. Oliveira gets double under hooks. Mario is trying to pin Oliveira with his forehead. Oliveira uses his butterfly guard and double under hooks to elevate Mario and attack an outside heel hook. Mario pushes the feet down across his body as he turns to step out of the heel hook.
Mario Bautista - Vinicius Oliveira
After this sequence Oliveira spent the rest of the round laying on his back kicking at Bautista’s legs or putting his feet on the floor. It looked like he was out of gas after only three minutes.
In the second round Mario finishing running over the Brazilian.
Oliveira charges in with wide punches. Mario steps back and changes his level for a double. Oliveira frames and kicks Mario away to get up. Mario gets a broomstick takedown to get Oliveira down. They stand up as Mario knees Oliveira. Then he hooks Oliveira’s leg for a kosoto gake and hops onto his back.
Mario Bautista - Vinicius Oliveira
This sequence was sublime. The kosoto gake is a most know takedown for all MMA grapplers.
When Oliveira tried to make use of the initiative he was stealing back, Mario swept him instantly.
Oliveira catches Bautista’s right body kick, turns off of the fence, and trips out Mario’s free leg. But as soon as they land Mario hits sumi gaeshi sweep to end up on top!
This is as close to perfect as you’ll see.
Mario Bautista - Vinicius Oliveira
Then Bautista decided to put top position to use. We were treated to rare passing and a lightning quick transition from holding the kimura.
Mario is in half guard. He uses his free leg to open Oliveira’s legs and slide his knee out to an immediate crucifix. Mario bucks and gets onto his side. But that only gives Mario room for a kimura! Mario rides that kimura to the back for a rear naked choke and finishes the fight.
Mario Bautista - Vinicius Oliveira
This win was procedural. Surgical. Every inch Oliveira clawed out was reversed for an even longer lead for Bautista. He called for a Cory Sandhagen rematch. I’d rather see him fight Sean O’Malley but wouldn’t say no to that fight either.
USMAN NURMAGOMEDOV’S NEW CRAFT:
Adding To The Legacy With A Lights Out Choke
On the other side of the world in The PFL, Khabib Nurmagomedov’s cousin Usman Nurmagomedov extended his winning steak by putting British challenger Alfie Davis to sleep.
Usman drives Davies into the cage. He pushes Davies’s right arm down and drops on a single. Davies falls over and tries to circle. Usman gets to a back body lock first. Usman uses a claw grip with his left to hold Davies in place. Then he grabs his own arm, pushes Davies’s head with his right, and moves his torso over Davies’s to create counter pressure until Davies goes unconscious.
Usman Nurmagomedov - Alfie Davis
After this fight many wondered what this choke was and why it worked so well. This choke is effectively an arm triangle variation.
Arm triangle are most commonly finished from mount or side control. The person on top closes one side of the neck with their bicep and other side of the neck with their head driving into the side. The defender will commonly turn away to expose their back and open up breathing room. We saw this exact thing happen last weekend!
BSD lands an elbow on Hooker before reaching around his head and arm for an arm triangle choke. He immediately slides off to the side while keeping his leg between Hooker’s to prevent him from turning away. Hooker pushes on BSD’s knee while opening his shoulder in the choke so he can breathe.
Dan Hooker - BSD
Notice how Hooker turns away and keeps his shoulder in? That kept him safe.
Usman never secured mount so he didn’t go for a classic arm triangle.
Usman’s head and weight is moving forward to create pressure
Usman left wrist is closing Davies’s carotid artery
Usman’s left elbow is pulling up to create counter pressure under his weight
Short arm-in chokes are a specialty from this camp. Islam Makhachev used a short d’arce to finish Renato Moicano and Dustin Poirier.
Makhachev crunches onto Poirier with a guillotine. Poirier rolls back and Makhachev follows. Poirier gets to an elbow and digs an under hook so Makhachev counters by grabbing Poirier’s neck for the d’arce. Makhachev hooks Poirier’s leg and sits to his side to finish it.
Islam Makhachev vs Dustin Poirier
Typically with d’arce chokes you want to grab your bicep. Above Islam grabs his forearm, slides his weight forward, and pulls his right elbow up to create the counter pressure.
With Usman’s win he moves to 21-0. His brother, Umar Nurmagomedov currently sits at 20-1. Their cousin, Khabib, retired at 29-0. Their other primary teammate Islam Makhachev is currently at 28-1.
Their combined record is 98-2 with a 62% finishing rate.
HELP DESK UPDATES:
More Indirect Chokes And Lesson Plans
If you’ve been keeping up with submission grappling you’ll know that a ton of new arm in strangles are becoming more frequent. You have the short arm triangle, short d’arce, and more variations of these!
I’ve added all of these chokes to the Help Desk as well as a lesson plan that I’ve been working off of for my recent classes. You can find all of that on the Help Desk.
If you want to study every new technique as it gets proven in MMA and BJJ click here to upgrade your subscription and access the the Help Desk. The Help Desk comes with:
A library of technique gifs with instructions
Analysis of classic fights with high level grappling
Regularly updated articles on the best grapplers in fighting
Subscribing to the Help Desk is the best way to support my work so I can keep writing regular articles for you. Plus it only costs $5 per month and you cancel whenever you want.
If you’re enjoying these articles, consider upgrading your subscription here or sharing the newsletter with a friend.
LINKS, INSTRUCTIONALS, AND MORE MATCHES TO STUDY:
Some brave soul uploaded Cory Sandhagen and Mario Bautista’s fight to YouTube. You can watch it here.
You can learn Usman Nurmagomedov’s choke here taught by Craig Jones.
THE MOST IMPORTANT NEWS (you might have missed)
Craig Jones announced The Craig Jones Invitational will be back and it will feature the athlete most likely to pull out, Dillon Danis. Say what you will about Craig but the man knows how to create a crowd.
UFC BJJ 5 is back this Thursday. It features one of the hottest BJJ prospects around, Landon Elmore, Mikey Musumeci, and Nicholas Meregali’s return. Meregali takes on Nicholas Maglicic. This has the potential to be a really bad match-up. I covered Maglicic winning ADCC Trials on The Help Desk and he also won No Gi Worlds but hardly anyone knows him yet!
In the wake of the allegations against Andre Galvao, he has been separated from the affiliation he helped start, ATOS. It’s unclear what that actually means as he is still listed as the individual agent, sole contact, manager, and CEO on record.
Ilia Topuria has settled with his ex-wife. That means he has returned to training and is aiming to return at UFC White House.
Do you want to build your body like the best grapplers? Click here to access East Austin Strength Training.
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.
Don’t wait. Click on the link below so you can get get stronger with us today.
