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Although he possesses some of the best chain wrestling in MMA, Nurmagomedov’s initial penetration on his shot leaves something to be desired. Because of this, he’s at his most effective as a grappler after he backs his opponent onto the cage. The cage wall acts as a backstop, preventing his opponent from circling out. If he takes a sloppy shot and finds himself getting stuffed or pulled up into the clinch, he can simply run his man onto the cage and hold him there while he goes to work with his chain wrestling.
Barboza did an admirable job stuffing the takedowns and keeping himself safe against the cage. He was able to dig an underhook every time Nurmagomedov shot in, using it to lift up and pull the Dagestani off his hips. Barboza also did a good job fighting for head position, keeping his forehead in Nurmagomedov’s face to prevent the grappler from straightening his posture and exerting leverage. Although Nurmagomedov was able to smash in some punches while Barboza was maintaining head position.
When he was able to smash through Barboza’s defenses into the clinch, Barboza would overhook hard with one arm and prop the other hand under Nurmagomedov’s chin. To keep his posture up and prevent him from ducking in on the hips. He solidified this position by grabbing his opposite wrist with his overhooking hand. At one point, Nurmagomedov attempted to fight this grip and Barboza was able to take his back off the cage by shoving the head away and circling out.
Although Barboza was able to maintain an underhook with his back on the cage, preventing Nurmagomedov from prying his hips in with a double leg, Khabib had success using a body lock to kill Barboza’s ability to exert leverage with the underhook.
Nurmagomedov connects his hands behind Barboza’s back in a body lock, trapping Barboza’s underhook against his body and preventing him from cranking up on it. He steps between Barboza’s legs and uses his hip to block the far leg, attempting to take Barboza toward the underhook with his body lock, but Barboza resists it by using a whizzer grip. In defending the takedown, Barboza weights his right leg to prevent himself from being taken over it. This allows Nurmagomedov to capitalize with an inside trip on the now-unweighted left leg of Barboza. Nurmagomedov rips the leg from inside and uses a series of short hops to pull Barboza’s weight over the leg, tripping him to the ground.
Nurmagomedov did the same thing later in the fight, but with an outside trip instead of an inside trip.
Here Nurmagomedov is in on Barboza’s hips, but an underhook prevents him from pulling Barboza directly off the cage. Instead he pulls the Brazilian’s left hip of the cage, taking an angle toward his right side. From there, he sweeps out Barboza’s foot and circles back to hit a takedown.
Note Nurmagomedov’s footwork on his sweep. He catches Barboza’s ankle with the inside of his sole, before dragging it out slightly. Then stepping the sweeping foot down outside it, and immediately pivoting to square up to Barboza. He doesn’t drag Barboza’s foot out far enough to take him down with that alone. As doing so would take Nurmagomedov’s own foot past his center of gravity. Instead he sweeps the foot just far enough to break Barboza’s balance and force him to post with his right hand, giving up his underhook so that he can pressure the hips down with his double leg.
Once Barboza is resting on a post with his hand on the edge of his feet, Nurmagomedov lifts slightly and rotates his torso to pull Barboza’s lower body out. Before dropping his knee in between the legs to kill the post.
Crushing Top Control
As always, once Nurmagomedov got on top of Barboza, the fight was essentially over. Nurmagomedov prefers to break the guard and pass standing, using ground-and-pound to aid his passing game. In theory this leaves space for the man on bottom to build frames, threaten upkicks, and get back to his feet. But good luck building strong frames on Nurmagomedov. Just as on the feet, he applies relentless pressure once his opponents are on their back. Crushing and redirecting their frames and slicing up the guards and faces of his opponents.
Barboza attempts to frame Nurmagomedov away with a shin shield and a foot on his hip, but his pressure keeps him flat on his back while the Dagestani lands devastating ground-and-pound. Barboza is eventually able to square up to him and get both feet on the hips, but as soon as he tries to kick away to create space, Nurmagomedov simply redirects the kick with his left arm, bypassing the frame. From there Barboza attempts to cross his left leg over to regain his lost frame, but Nurmagomedov shrugs it off and folds it over to stack him.
Here Nurmagomedov stands up from side control in order to land ground-and-pound. As he stands up, he keeps his near-side hip in tight, controlling Barboza’s right leg in a leg-drag position. With his shin trapped, preventing him from framing with his right leg, Barboza crosses his left leg over Nurmagomedov’s head in an attempt to create space. Instead, Nurmagomedov immediately drops his weight on the leg, and with it Barboza’s body, folding him up and smashing through his guard into a leg mount.
https://gfycat.com/SecondVigorousIsabellineshrike
Once Nurmagomedov has his legs triangled around Barboza’s in a leg mount, the only way out is for Barboza to back his hips out or turn to expose his back. Barboza attempts to frame on Nurmagomedov’s neck with his left hand to back his hips out, but he controls his wrist and strips the frame off. This forces Barboza to frame on Nurmagomedov’s leg to escape, giving him a few free whacks at his face while he does so. As if this couldn’t get any worse for Barboza, Nurmagomedov immediately back steps over his butterfly guard, trapping his shin. Before cutting his left leg in to hold the shin in place, while he back steps again with his right leg. Creating space to step right into mount.
Continued here...
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Barboza did an admirable job stuffing the takedowns and keeping himself safe against the cage. He was able to dig an underhook every time Nurmagomedov shot in, using it to lift up and pull the Dagestani off his hips. Barboza also did a good job fighting for head position, keeping his forehead in Nurmagomedov’s face to prevent the grappler from straightening his posture and exerting leverage. Although Nurmagomedov was able to smash in some punches while Barboza was maintaining head position.
When he was able to smash through Barboza’s defenses into the clinch, Barboza would overhook hard with one arm and prop the other hand under Nurmagomedov’s chin. To keep his posture up and prevent him from ducking in on the hips. He solidified this position by grabbing his opposite wrist with his overhooking hand. At one point, Nurmagomedov attempted to fight this grip and Barboza was able to take his back off the cage by shoving the head away and circling out.
Although Barboza was able to maintain an underhook with his back on the cage, preventing Nurmagomedov from prying his hips in with a double leg, Khabib had success using a body lock to kill Barboza’s ability to exert leverage with the underhook.
Nurmagomedov connects his hands behind Barboza’s back in a body lock, trapping Barboza’s underhook against his body and preventing him from cranking up on it. He steps between Barboza’s legs and uses his hip to block the far leg, attempting to take Barboza toward the underhook with his body lock, but Barboza resists it by using a whizzer grip. In defending the takedown, Barboza weights his right leg to prevent himself from being taken over it. This allows Nurmagomedov to capitalize with an inside trip on the now-unweighted left leg of Barboza. Nurmagomedov rips the leg from inside and uses a series of short hops to pull Barboza’s weight over the leg, tripping him to the ground.
Nurmagomedov did the same thing later in the fight, but with an outside trip instead of an inside trip.
Here Nurmagomedov is in on Barboza’s hips, but an underhook prevents him from pulling Barboza directly off the cage. Instead he pulls the Brazilian’s left hip of the cage, taking an angle toward his right side. From there, he sweeps out Barboza’s foot and circles back to hit a takedown.
Note Nurmagomedov’s footwork on his sweep. He catches Barboza’s ankle with the inside of his sole, before dragging it out slightly. Then stepping the sweeping foot down outside it, and immediately pivoting to square up to Barboza. He doesn’t drag Barboza’s foot out far enough to take him down with that alone. As doing so would take Nurmagomedov’s own foot past his center of gravity. Instead he sweeps the foot just far enough to break Barboza’s balance and force him to post with his right hand, giving up his underhook so that he can pressure the hips down with his double leg.
Once Barboza is resting on a post with his hand on the edge of his feet, Nurmagomedov lifts slightly and rotates his torso to pull Barboza’s lower body out. Before dropping his knee in between the legs to kill the post.
Crushing Top Control
As always, once Nurmagomedov got on top of Barboza, the fight was essentially over. Nurmagomedov prefers to break the guard and pass standing, using ground-and-pound to aid his passing game. In theory this leaves space for the man on bottom to build frames, threaten upkicks, and get back to his feet. But good luck building strong frames on Nurmagomedov. Just as on the feet, he applies relentless pressure once his opponents are on their back. Crushing and redirecting their frames and slicing up the guards and faces of his opponents.
Barboza attempts to frame Nurmagomedov away with a shin shield and a foot on his hip, but his pressure keeps him flat on his back while the Dagestani lands devastating ground-and-pound. Barboza is eventually able to square up to him and get both feet on the hips, but as soon as he tries to kick away to create space, Nurmagomedov simply redirects the kick with his left arm, bypassing the frame. From there Barboza attempts to cross his left leg over to regain his lost frame, but Nurmagomedov shrugs it off and folds it over to stack him.
Here Nurmagomedov stands up from side control in order to land ground-and-pound. As he stands up, he keeps his near-side hip in tight, controlling Barboza’s right leg in a leg-drag position. With his shin trapped, preventing him from framing with his right leg, Barboza crosses his left leg over Nurmagomedov’s head in an attempt to create space. Instead, Nurmagomedov immediately drops his weight on the leg, and with it Barboza’s body, folding him up and smashing through his guard into a leg mount.
https://gfycat.com/SecondVigorousIsabellineshrike
Once Nurmagomedov has his legs triangled around Barboza’s in a leg mount, the only way out is for Barboza to back his hips out or turn to expose his back. Barboza attempts to frame on Nurmagomedov’s neck with his left hand to back his hips out, but he controls his wrist and strips the frame off. This forces Barboza to frame on Nurmagomedov’s leg to escape, giving him a few free whacks at his face while he does so. As if this couldn’t get any worse for Barboza, Nurmagomedov immediately back steps over his butterfly guard, trapping his shin. Before cutting his left leg in to hold the shin in place, while he back steps again with his right leg. Creating space to step right into mount.
Continued here...
Follow me on twitter @RyanAWagMMA for more combat sports analysis
