UFC 295: Violence at the Garden

An Impressive Night of Blood on Fighting's Biggest Stage

Blood was spilled at MSG this past Saturday. Exciting action littered the prelims and unconscious bodies piled up as the main card progressed. Two fresh champions crowned and contenders emerging, UFC 295 was a massive event with more to analyze than the results would suggest.

In last week’s article I analyzed how Jiri and Alex matched up. I thought the man on the front foot would have the advantage, and that Pereira’s leg kicks and left hook would be Prochazka’s undoing eventually. I was right in that sense, no matter what you initially thought of the finish. Here’s how these offensive dynamos matched up.

Disclaimer: The video clips included in this article are not owned by the author. They are included for educational purposes only to illustrate key moments in the fighter’s career and demonstrate aspects of mixed martial arts techniques and strategies. All rights to the video content belong to their respective owners.

Hunter Scores a Kill

I was hoping for a longer fight with a bit more action, but what we did see was certainly intriguing. I initially surmised that each man would do well to establish themselves on the front foot early, as each man is a monster when forging ahead and defensively porous when moving backwards.

However, due to the potency of each man’s offense, both Prochazka and Pereira took a more careful approach to start the fight. Pereira was not committing with his offense wholly, opting to body jab and leg kick from the outside. Prochazka bounced around and was looking for his opportunity to enter range without getting starched himself.

Prochazka’s vulnerability to calf kicks was exposed early. Teixeira threw a single, traditional low kick in their matchup which Prochazka was able to take no problem. The difference between traditional low kick (above the knee) and a calf kick (below the knee) is that it is much easier to off-balance the opponent when attacking the bottom of the lever that is their leg.

Prochazka’s wide stance leaves him incredibly heavy on the front foot, ready to blitz forward with offense at any time. Pereira’s unreadable calf kicks left Jiri falling and stumbling anytime Pereira decided he wanted to attack Prochazka’s leg. As the fight progressed, Prochazka was forced to temporarily switch stances a number of times as his left leg was getting chewed up anytime he was orthodox.

Despite Prochazka’s habits being taken advantage of, he always shows something cool in every one of his fights.

This jumping front kick with the rear leg was really crafty. Prochazka is known to us the flying knee to pressure his opponents, so he jumps up as if to throw one. This forces Pereira to back up (he is quite fond of the technique as well) and instead of kneeing Prochazka brings the back leg forward in a snap kick to force his toes into Pereira’s gut. In changing the distance and target of his weapon, he is able to take advantage of Pereira’s retreat. Lovely little thing.

Pereira was still the man to control the range game. Pereira throws 3 solid answers to Jiri’s movement in the clip below. He immediately takes advantage of Prochazka’s probing jabs by slipping his own over the top.

Pereira then throws a perfectly timed head kick to take advantage of Prochazka’s erratic and jerking level changes. In an attempt to reset, Prochazka switches stance which is immediately met by another Pereira calf kick. Pereira had all his reads on Prochazka from a distance.

Where Prochazka was able to find success was by coming forward and integrating level changes with his striking. A classic uppercut set-up, Prochazka feints the takedown to get Pereira ready to defend, and throws a powerful uppercut right to Periera’s chin to stand him up.

Though Pereira is the better striker technically, the mere threat of grappling adds a new element into finding openings for strikes. As Pereira is getting ready to defend the takedown, he is not doing the same for Prochazka’s strikes, and gets cracked as a result.

Another element I discussed in last weeks article was each man’s offensive prowess when their opponent had been cornered. Prochazka was able to successfully utilize a nice blend of level changes and strikes to back Pereira up to bring the fight into his desired geography.

Once he did have Pereira’s back against the cage, he was able to take the man down after a seemingly tight guillotine attempt.

This aspect of the fight came as a surprise to me. In his previous performances, Prochazka’s ground and pound has been absolutely lethal. On Saturday however it seemed somewhat flaccid. Able only to get a few elbows through, Pereira was able to successfully stifle most of Prochazka’s offense from the bottom position.

This was done largely by transitioning between wrist control, holding Prochazka’s arms back at the shoulder and bicep, and tying Prochazka’s arms up with tight overhooks and underhooks. Pereira was active enough at keeping Jiri focused on freeing his arms that he received almost no damage in one of his least advantageous positions in MMA.

Though stuck under for a good portion of the first round. Pereira was able to use a nice overhook and maintain wrist control with the other arm to stand up along the cage and pivot off of it. One of Pereira’s most consistent skills along the fence has been his ability to turn off and attack of the clinch, just as he does here again.

Prochazka modified his approach heading into round 2. Realizing he was not that effective from the top, he invested his time into attacking Pereira along the cage. Beautifully mixing up his level changes with his wild strikes, once Jiri opened up along the cage he was able to hit Pereira with some devastating offense.

Though a crafty kickboxer offensively, Pereira struggles more defensively. His primary reaction to punches coming his way are to put his arms out and stifle their movement while employing little head movement. This was more effective at middleweight where he had a significant reach advantage on his opponents. At light heavyweight however, they can simply punch through this long guard with ease.

When he did decide to clinch up instead of countering, he was able to maintain himself there just fine. Prochazka merely pushed him up against the fence while he stabbed a knee into Jiri’s mid-section.

Controversial as it was, Prochazka himself said Marc Goddard did the right thing. An honorable man with a mutant like ability to still move though unconscious, Prochazka is a special fighter in many ways.

Prochazka’s lack of defense was his undoing. Though he had success pushing Pereira back earlier, his intentions were all too clear in this sequence. Opting to strike with his hands low and head forward, Pereira countered his aggression with a gorgeous 4-3 combination. Offense really is the best defense.

After Prochazka attempts to recover with a takedown attempt, Pereira finishes him off with some beautiful elbows to the side of the head (Drive your head into their chest when going for a TD, no gilly + less strikes).

An astonishing rise through MMA, Pereira is a special fighter willing to grow so late in his career who has always had an innate killer instinct that can’t be taught. A special fighter and one who I will always watch.

I wouldn’t mind a rematch of the two, it was competitive enough while it lasted, and I’d be curious to see how each man would approach a rematch. At the top end of Light Heavyweight right now, I can’t see a more interesting, consistent contender than Prochazka, who himself is always must watch.

New Era Heavyweight

While a old vet was crowned king of his second weight division, a new era at Heavyweight was ushered in an hour before. Tom Aspinall lived up to his expectations as the most skilled fighter in the division by dispatching Sergei Pavlovich in just over a minute, earning the Interim Heavyweight Strap.

Aspinall established his range early by landing a thudding leg kick that took Pavlovich off his feet. Given Pavlovich’s orangutan-esque build Aspinall made a point to stay on the outside early and build his offense with long-range kicks.

Pavlovich was able to step in and counter Aspinall’s low kick. Rather than defend he opted to counter, and got chinned as a result. If there was ever any doubt before, Aspinall has confirmed that his chin, is indeed, bricked up.

Even after getting tagged by the Russian Refrigerator, Aspinall circled off and re-established his rhythm with a quick jab and some feinted entries. Aspinall is all too quick for his weight, so just seeing him come requires you to address it.

Aspinall continued his kicking assault on Pavlovich. Rather than worry about Pavlovich’s punches, which are his only real weapon, Aspinall made him use his hands to defend the varied kicking attack. A nice high kick here will keep them up and tire out his arms over time.

Tom Aspinall becomes your Interim Heavyweight champion. He goes back to the well with his leg kicks. Aspinall follows up with a beautiful jab to the chest and right straight while circling off the fence. Pavlovich is essentially unconscious right here, but Aspinall follows up with two short hooks and ground and pound to finish the job.

I found this fight to be to Jones vs. Miocic what Whittaker vs. Romero I was to GSP vs. Bisping. Two dangerous, surging contenders who the soon-to-retire upper echelon likely wants nothing to do with. They are smart to do so, as Aspinall is currently looking like a dangerous matchup for the both of them.

Violence Princess Returns to the Throne

Jessica Andrade has been one of my favorite female fighters for quite a long time. She is one of the most consistently fun action fighters across all 3 women divisions and is a genuine knockout threat.

Recently she has been on a tough streak of finishes at the hands of Tatiana Suarez, Erin Blanchfield, and Yan Xiaonan (Was unfortunately live for that one). Against Mackenzie Dern, I expected the similarly physical, younger fighter to press her submission advantage and get the fading fighter out of there. I’m happy to say that Andrade surprised me in more ways than one.

Jessica Andrade’s usual approach is to move forward at all times, throwing full power hooks to the body and head and establishing her strength advantage in the clinch. Every few fights she introduces a jab or low kick that seemingly disappears after that fight, but she was able to put everything together against a flawed striker in Dern.

Andrade came out with a much more patient pressure fighting approach. Following Dern around the cage, cutting off her exits, feinting to force a return, and throwing nice low kicks at Dern’s trailing leg. Just as in the main and co-main, these calf kicks were consistently taking away the base of Dern.

When Andrade wasn’t throwing the low kick and left hook to punish Dern’s lateral bounds, she was inching forward with some proactive head movement, jab feints, and uppercuts to dissuade the takedown. Though an incredible grappler, Mackenzie Dern is a famously flaccid takedown artist and Andrade was ready to counter any sloppy attempts and keep the fight standing.

I loved Andrade’s use of both the outside and inside low kick. While the outside calf kick takes away the opponent’s base and off-balances them, the inside low kick hits the softer part of the thigh and can be a more uncomfortable kick to deal with. Andrade was battering Dern’s lead leg from every possible angle. This was compounded by Dern developing a good jab with coach Jason Perillo as they low kick is the jab’s natural counter.

Interestingly though, Dern had recently left the tutelage of Jason Perillo and was instead being coached by her father. I did not think that was a good decision considering the strides she had been making under her former coach, and that was apparent in this fight.

As Dern jabs and blitzes in, she leaves her head forward and chin in the air while swinging. Head in the air and feet too close together, Andrade calmly moves back and throws a left hook with almost no power. As Dern was bounding forward without a stance, the left slap brought her down.

Andrade’s calm and patience under fire in this fight were a real evolution in her approach. She has incredible power and was always eager to use it, and is now realizing that she will be doing damage without swinging full power.

When Dern blitzed forward with her combinations, Andrade would move her head, inch back, and attack the body as Dern crashed into the clinch. Immediately she would post off of Dern’s hips to keep space and attack off of the clinch break.

This sequence repeated itself in the second round, where Dern crashed into the clinch. Her tendency to keep her head high and maintain a long clinch gave Andrade the opportunity to throw big shots over Dern’s arms and drop her like a sack of potatoes. Dern is so desperate throughout this fight to close the space between them with messy blitzes, but is not disciplined enough to keep Andrade close when she finally grabs a hold of her.

Once Andrade realized that Dern had nothing for her she let her hands go. Once against the cage, Andrade kept enough distance to attack Dern’s head and body while countering her large, swooping movements. Again Dern’s lack of a consistent stance fails her. Desperately swinging to get Andrade off while Andrade maintains her presence, Dern throws her whole body ahead of her hips. She looks like a mess and Andrade simply waits for the right opportunity to counter.

Dern does have power. That was evident in her bout with Angela Hill. Under Perillo she was able to do enough on the feet to keep Hill aware of her power and bring the fight to the ground (her desired geography). She lands 1-2 on Andrade here but her lack of a stance prevents her from maintaining any momentum. Look at how she pursues Andrade, arms out spread eagle and legs square, it is no wonder she gets dropped from Andrade’s left hook. She was thoughtlessly moving, without a safe position to return to in consideration of her opponent’s offense.

Andrade got cracked before, but continued to move her head, keep her hands up and frame off Dern, and bring herself to a stance ready to return with offense. Hence the knockdown. Andrade had her fundamentals in order MUCH more so than Dern, and she paid dearly for it.

After dropping her three previous times, Andrade ends the show with a beautiful 1-3-2 combination. Dern had been thoroughly outclassed this fight.

Jessica Andrade came back in a big way this weekend, and I was so happy to see a flawed but fun fighter add some genuine wrinkles to her game and take advantage of someone almost as physically imposing in Mckenzie Dern.

UFC 295 was a wonderfully violent event that had a little bit of everything. I wish I was able to attend as I did the last one, but I can’t complain. Prelims banged, main card banged, just a straight banger every which way. What bit of technique or tactical knowledge are you going to steal from this event? Let me know, and ABT.