Grappling-based breakdown of Volkov-Werdum?

[Ghost in the Dark]

Hi grapplers, are there any breakdowns out there on this? Werdum got those singles and trips with the greatest of ease, pulled half guard and swept repeatedly, had top half for about 30-40 seconds, had back control at one point yet was unable to even get close to a sub. He seemed unable to pass Volkov's guard, kept repeatedly trying the can opener from inside guard and only had one sub attempt, the kimura from top half, which again never came close to finishing. He never attacked the legs from the bottom either. Volkov is a MT striker not known for his BJJ - how come Werdum didn't do way better on the ground?

 

[BJJ_Rage]

Hi grapplers, are there any breakdowns out there on this? Werdum got those singles and trips with the greatest of ease, pulled half guard and swept repeatedly, had top half for about 30-40 seconds, had back control at one point yet was unable to even get close to a sub. He seemed unable to pass Volkov's guard, kept repeatedly trying the can opener from inside guard and only had one sub attempt, the kimura from top half, which again never came close to finishing. He never attacked the legs from the bottom either. Volkov is a MT striker not known for his BJJ - how come Werdum didn't do way better on the ground?

It seemed like werdum was half dead by the end of the first....

 

[Thaijitsu612]

I was suprised he wasn't able to pass guard more effectively. Kinda disappointing honestly.

 

[ArtemV]

Volkov can't defend even the simplest of takedowns.. Werdum hit a beautiful back take though.

 

[Typrune Goatley]

He had Volkov's back and he should have been patient and stayed there.

He tried that armbar from behind like he hit on Walt Harris but Volkov escaped and he lost the dominant position. Werdum could have possibly finished the fight there with an RNC, or flatten him out and TKO him or at the very least ride it out to win the round.

That was a big moment and turning point in the fight. I truly think Werdum could have finished the fight if he would have maintained that back control.

 

[rmongler]

Hi grapplers, are there any breakdowns out there on this? Werdum got those singles and trips with the greatest of ease, pulled half guard and swept repeatedly, had top half for about 30-40 seconds, had back control at one point yet was unable to even get close to a sub. He seemed unable to pass Volkov's guard, kept repeatedly trying the can opener from inside guard and only had one sub attempt, the kimura from top half, which again never came close to finishing. He never attacked the legs from the bottom either. Volkov is a MT striker not known for his BJJ - how come Werdum didn't do way better on the ground?

The material cause was Werdum's insufficient conditioning.

The proximate cause was that single legs take a lot of energy to put someone who belongs in the same cage as you down with even when you succeed, and in this sense are less efficient than other methods of takedowns.

The efficient cause was that he did not capitalize sufficiently when he was top; a lack of riding, pressure, and ground and pound techne to keep your opponent stuck and inflict damage and burn his energy that many bjj fighters who transfer into mma struggle with when trying to implement their grappling, even ones with otherwise much experience.

The teleological cause was Alexander Volkov implementing a gameplan in order to defeat Fabricio Werdum in a mixed martial arts match on march 17 at UFC fight night 127; particularly through superiority in neutral exchanges and the minimization of ground activity, perhaps better leveraging his time as a training partner for Werdum when he prepared for other rangier fighters.

 

[EndlessCritic]

Hi grapplers, are there any breakdowns out there on this? Werdum got those singles and trips with the greatest of ease, pulled half guard and swept repeatedly, had top half for about 30-40 seconds, had back control at one point yet was unable to even get close to a sub. He seemed unable to pass Volkov's guard, kept repeatedly trying the can opener from inside guard and only had one sub attempt, the kimura from top half, which again never came close to finishing. He never attacked the legs from the bottom either. Volkov is a MT striker not known for his BJJ - how come Werdum didn't do way better on the ground?

Werdum was not pulling half guard. He was pulling deep half:

 

[Bluesbreaker]

I think a slight breeze could take Volkov down, but I was impressed with his defense and composure on the ground.

 

[mattemate]

Werdum was not well prepared. He looked slow and gassed badly.

I was shocked that his passing was not better. Volkov reguarded at will.

Agree that his pressure and GNP were not very good.

The best thing he did in the fight was his work from deep half. I saw the fight with British commentators and they had no idea what was going on lol.

Ultimately it seemed he came in with no game plan. He resorted at the end to a brawl with a better striker and paid badly. Same story as with Stipe.

Werdum makes more mental errors than any high level fighter I can think of.

 

[EndlessCritic]

It was ultimately a very interesting fight.

Volkov had an extremely conservative gameplan. He didn't mind getting taken down, and was extremely effective at maintaining closed guard without taking much damage. He also burned very little energy off his back.

BJJ fighters are routinely criticized for not going to their bread and butter, yet Werdum arguably paid the price here. He burned a lot of energy on the early takedowns and trying to pass. And, as others have pointed out, it's quite shocking at how ineffective he was at passing Volkov's guard.

Ironically, I think in retrospect, Werdum would have been better off standing with Volkov, and only looking for opportunistic takedowns.

 

[Ghost in the Dark]

Appreciate the responses.

 

[Ryoto Machida]

I don't think Volkov gets nearly enough props for his defense. His reguarding was excellent, and he used a beautiful deep DLR hook to get to his feet toward the end of the first:

 

[JinKazama]

The ufc should be ashamed of putting such ignorant commentators to bat during this fight

These shmucks couldn’t even competently recognize deep half during a hw contenders match

Sad

 

[EndlessCritic]

The ufc should be ashamed of putting such ignorant commentators to bat during this fight

These shmucks couldn’t even competently recognize deep half during a hw contenders match

Sad

Dan Hardy is somehow a pro fighter who knows nothing about grappling. It's absurd.

 

[Bluesbreaker]

I don't think Volkov gets nearly enough props for his defense. His reguarding was excellent, and he used a beautiful deep DLR hook to get to his feet toward the end of the first:

Those are some legs you definitely don't want going for DLR on you!

 

[Ghost in the Dark]

Those are some legs you definitely don't want going for DLR on you!

Why didn't Werdum attempt any leg locks?

 

[rmongler]

Why didn't Werdum attempt any leg locks?

There was (and degree still is to degrees really) a lot of willful ignorance about leg entanglements amidst the bjj universe in Werdum's day; it's not really a wrench in his toolbox.

 

[cakemuncher]

He had Volkov's back and he should have been patient and stayed there.

He tried that armbar from behind like he hit on Walt Harris but Volkov escaped and he lost the dominant position. Werdum could have possibly finished the fight there with an RNC, or flatten him out and TKO him or at the very least ride it out to win the round.

That was a big moment and turning point in the fight. I truly think Werdum could have finished the fight if he would have maintained that back control.

Agreed. That was embarrassingly sloppy armbar attempt. Should've just seatbelt-ed him and then RNC him. I think he was just too greedy.