This weekend Cory Sandhagen took on rising star Umar Nurmagomedov. The exchanges gave us some valuable lessons on taking and controlling back mount. We’re going to review them today and look at one of the craziest back takes you’ll ever see in MMA.

Cory Sandhagen is one of the most interesting fighters in the UFC. He can fight out of both stances, strike short and long, and generally is not in a bad exchange, let alone fight.

Umar Nurmagomedov is the cousin of lightweight great Khabib. What’s left to say about their family? They completely revolutionized fence fighting and have been dominating combat sports since they threw their first strike.

Umar doesn’t really fight like Khabib though.

Where Khabib charges through opponents, Umar bounces in and out. Yes he can wrestle, but he also fights with light feet uncommon for what his family is known for.

He whips high kicks up at a moment’s notice. He’s even stopped a fight with body kicks. His boxing might need some work but overall I’d describe his striking as somewhere between dynamic and chaotic.

Umar has been the next big thing since he debuted. Going into his fight with Sandhagen his opponents had landed a combined 26 strikes. Could Sandhagen stop who so many think is the crown prince of bantamweight?

Within the first minute, everyone knew the score. Umar was going to shoot and Sandhagen would be trying to stop it so he could score on the feet.

Umar kept trying to grab singles. Sandhagen would sprawl and Umar would try to climb and finish his takedowns. When Umar got on his hips Sandhagen would turn and give his back to escape.

In most jiujitsu schools, beginners are taught to never grab their opponent’s hooks while defending the back. Why? In theory, it’s easier to choke someone when their face is open.

Generally, you want to keep the hand opposite your opponent’s choking hand beside your face. That way you can stop the choke. Below Petr Yan grabs Aljamain Sterling’s choking hand to block the rear naked choke.

The reality is there are certain situations which require you to use your hands to remove your opponent’s hooks. When you’re in transition you can grab your opponent'‘s feet to disrupt them climbing up your back.

The battle to secure and maintain back mount is based on a few things. One of the most important elements is head height.

If you’re trying to choke someone you need to keep your head above their’s. The inverse is true for escaping. If you get your head above your opponent’s it’s much more difficult for them to choke you. This is important when we look at how Sandhagen grabbed Umar’s feet.

If you disrupt someone’s feet you ruin their posture. Their hips move, then their back, and finally their head.

When Sandhagen pulls on Umar’s feet, he’s indirectly pulling Umar’s head down and preventing Umar from getting his head over Sandhagen’s.

That is basically the whole story of the fight’s key moments.

Umar’s use of crab hooks was a key adjustment in how he controlled Sandhagen.

A crab hook is when you put your shin behind your opponent’s leg instead in front of their thighs like you see traditionally in back mount. Crab hooks allow you to kick away and move your opponent’s hips while you stay behind them.

In between the wrestling exchanges Sandhagen was able to strike far better than Umar’s previous opponents. He landed 71 strikes in total, but Umar still outstruck him numerically in each round. The fight was announced as an unanimous decision win for Umar with one judge scoring it 5 rounds for Umar to 0 for Sandhagen. The other two had it 4 to 1.

You can’t really argue against Nurmagomedov winning it on activity alone but the fight felt closer than that. Sandhagen had an answer for everything Umar did, but Umar just kept asking questions until time ran out and the judges had heard enough.

Earlier before this back take battle took place, we were treated to probably the coolest back take you’ll ever see in the UFC.

Before Sandhagen and Nurmagomedov fought, two well-rounded lightweights had a fun chess match. Hardcore fan favorite Guram Kutateladze took on late replacement Jordan Vucenic.

Last week my internet friend Ocelott MMA tipped me off to Vucenic. He told me Vucenic has great submission arsenal. What I really love about Vucenic’s game is how well he blends careful aggression with a modern submission oriented style to score finishes like this.

The fight between Vucenic and Guram was back and forth throughout the first two rounds. Vucenic dropped Guram to take the first and Guram controlled Vucenic to win the second. The fight was up for grabs in the third when Guram hit maybe the coolest back take in MMA history.

I’m not sure if we’ll ever see this recreated but there is one important thing to point out. Look at Guram’s hands. He had double under hooks the whole time.

If Guram had an over hook and under hook (commonly known as a seat belt) he would have fallen off the side. The double under hooks saved him, and the fight.

If you like attacking the back, especially from turtle and standing, you need to get comfortable using double under hooks to maintain the position until you can set your legs in place.

This week is a bit of a slow news week. That’s strange to me considering the UFC just announced the biggest fight in company history. It almost looks like the limited coverage is by design.

Come back Friday to read about that fight, the news cycle, and what we all need to prepare for.