UFC on ESPN 11: Quick Hit Grappling Breakdowns
Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC
Well my people, another card is in the books and it was a mixed bag to be sure. Some slow moments, some awesome ones, and some damn good submission grappling too.
So I started thinking, let’s talk about that cool grappling stuff, right?
No long prelude, no winding introduction, it’s cool grappling shit time.
Jim Miller is Still Doing Cool Shit:
Jim Miller is still just knocking rising contenders back with old daddy slaps, or arm-bars in this case. The old bastard locked up his 4th submission win in a row, this time over Roosevelt Roberts, someone with some solid potential in the eyes of many.
With Roosevelt stuck in half guard under Miller, he attempted to hip bump Miller off him. Roosevelt blocks Miller’s right knee and opens his legs up to bridge Miller over. The problem for him was the lack proper drive and hand positioning to create the space necessary to get Miller off him. Miller’s upper body control was tight and Roberts’ lack of an underhook on the left side, or pushing against Miller’s right hip, allowed Miller to counter easily. He posted his left knee to stop the momentum of the bridge while keeping tight control of the left arm. As Roosevelt went belly down, Miller slid his left leg across the hip line of Roberts, kept his right leg over the back of Robert’s neck, and did a one armed handstand to stay on him. As Roberts’ tried to stand, he had virtually all of Miller’s weight pulling him back down from the neck, and was forced to crouch back down. From there, Miller was able to swing his right leg from the back of the neck to the front of Roberts’ face, and it was just a matter of time from there. The elbow was far past the hip line, and Roberts’ longer arm gave Miller a long lever to work with. He bided his time, waiting for Roberts’ inexperience to work against him, and kept control of the arm. Once he was ready, Miller used his right forearm to begin to peel the hand free, and Roberts’ made the most common “young fighter” mistake. He stood up to try and shake Miller off, which made the extension of the arm that much worse. Roberts’ immediately tapped, and Miller scored his 18th career submission win.
Gillian Robertson Doesn’t Need Hooks to Choke You
We enter the fray near the end of the fight, one which has seen Gillian dominate Casey on the ground with her superior grappling skills. Casey, still makes some questionable decisions on the ground, despite being a pro fighter since 2013 and a brown belt in BJJ. Casey tries to, I guess sit up and just gets put onto her back again while Gillian calmly works to free her right leg from half-guard. Casey begins to pull Gillian’s left foot towards her and begins turning into Gillian. Gillian already starts to slide her left arm under Casey’s neck as Casey releases the foot and turns her hips so she’s on her knees. Gillian frees her leg from between Casey’s and throws her leg over Casey’s back, using the combination of the choke being virtually locked in as well as bringing her right knee into the space between Casey’s elbow and knee, causing Casey to fall to her side. At this point, it’s over (despite the tap taking a few more moments to materialize) as Gillian squeezes tight and chokes her out without the need for hooks.
What’s impressive from Gillian here is how she locked it in on Casey. at :40 seconds, Gillian begins to slide the arm under the neck of Casey, and once it’s deep enough, she drops her shoulder to the jaw of Casey and her head to the mat to keep Casey from being able to create space to potentially escape the hold. As Gillian brings the leg over and rolls them over, she keeps her head under Casey’s as she fully locks in the choke. It’s not simply a matter of Casey making mistakes, but Gillian also showing off some savvy technique in the process as well. Great stuff from Gillian.
Turns Out Austin Hubbard Can Defend Leg Entanglements
First off, while not the point of the article, fuck Robert Drysdale for his behavior in the corner. Your fighter was telling you he wanted out, don’t try and convince him to keep fighting. Max is young and has a long career ahead of him hopefully, don’t throw him in for a 3rd round to get the shit beaten out of him.
Anyway, with that out of the way, Austin Hubbard defended the leg entanglements from Max Rohskopf extremely well, making the right defensive decision at with every transition and shutting down the Rohskopf’s grappling completely.
Max uses a throwaway overhand right to close the distance and grab a single leg. He gets the leg high and is able to briefly force Hubbard to turn and plant his hands to avoid the takedown. Hubbard tries running away but Max keeps a tight grip on the ankle and lifts his leg high again, forcing Hubbard to balance on his right leg, and here’s where the fun begins.
Max has Hubbard’s ankle in the crook of his left armpit and attempts to swing his leg over the top of Hubbard’s to begin a kneebar attempt. He accidentally kicks Hubbard in the face, which stops the momentum briefly and gives Hubbard an extra moment to react to the now slowed down kneebar attempt, and he rotates towards his right hard, pointing his knee to the mat and getting his leg free. Now, this little sequence is kind of cool enough on its own, but we’re not done just yet.
The cage impedes Hubbard’s escape, and Max is able to immediately re-shoot against the cage, where he grabs another single. Rather than attempt a traditional takedown however, he tries to wrap up Hubbard’s leg for another entanglement. Hubbard immediately rotates again toward his right, bringing his knee to the mat once more. This time he’s unable to immediately free it, and Max figure 4’s his leg to prevent him from pulling the knee out. Hubbard back steps as Max begins to arch his back, attempting a straight ankle/Achilles lock. He abandons it quickly as Hubbard is in no danger in that spot, and he gets himself under Hubbard’s hips to get himself to a better position to attack the legs, and he succeeds.
As Hubbard attempts to free his knee and get top position, Max rolls over his shoulders, getting under Hubbard’s hips and weight and pushes up. Hubbard works to stay on top as Max gets deeper under and tries to work for a kneebar again, continuously rolling and forcing Hubbard to balance using his hands, pushing himself back on top of Max to keep the leg from being extended. Finally, Hubbard falls to his butt and Max is in a position to attack the ankles, but not in the cleanest way. Both of Hubbard’s legs are in between his, with Max’s right leg controlling Hubbard’s left on the quad, bus Max’s left leg is mostly out of play, unable to help him secure and control either of Hubbard’s legs above the knee line. In addition, Hubbard’s legs are crossed over one another. Max is stuck attempting a straight ankle lock on the right foot in his armpit, which he has no leverage to really trouble Hubbard with, and trying to heel hook the left foot, which he does not have controlled at the knee joint, thus not being able to get the rotation he needs to damage it. We see Max commit to the heel hook, but cannot secure it due to the awkward positioning of Hubbard between his legs. Because of this, Hubbard rolls with Max’s rotation and points his knee to the mat once more, back steps over, and is able to free his leg. From here, he lands some good strikes on Max as they stand up against the cage.
Well there you have it, a bunch of cool shit I wanted to talk about from this past card. Hopefully it was enjoyable for all of you, and you see a few things you may have missed on the card. Hopefully we will get to see some more cool grappling shit on the upcoming Poirier/Hooker card, so I can do this again. Until next time, keep choking your friends out, it’s fun. Especially in pajamas.