UFC 299: Bad Blood at Bantamweight

Chito vs. Suga II, This Time, with a Belt

UFC 299 is freaking awesome. Stacked from top to bottom, this night in Miami is shaping up to be the best for the promotion in quite a while. While there are so many fights I’d LIKE to cover, there is only so much time in a day, and the main event became much more interesting the deeper I dug into the initial matchup between the two former foes.

I would not call their first fight a fluke loss for Sean. Chito is a devastating hitter and O’Malley is not the most durable fighter (he injured himself beating up Kris Moutinho for too long). However, it certainly does paint a favorable picture for the Bantamweight Champion given the most recent form of each fighter. What can we learn from their initial meeting, and how should each man approach the rematch?

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.

Chito’s leg kicks occupy the memory of this fight due to Sean’s injury, but Sean was doing great work with the outside low kick in the closed stance. Sean was able to throw his kick as Chito was circling towards the rear hand with impact as Chito stepped.

These outside low kicks would stifle Chito’s entries and off balance him to the point of turning his back to O’Malley. Chito stands quite high in general making the calf kick an optimal weapon to take him out of his stance and reduce his (already low as of late) offensive output.

Both men are comfortable out of either stance and Chito did well throughout at switching stances with O’Malley. O’Malley will constantly switch his stance to feint entries and utilize different weapons for the open or closed stance matchup. Chito was initially switching with O’Malley to keep the fight in the closed stance, but O’Malley’s hard calf kicks forced Chito to opt instead for the open-stance fight.

Note: In a fight between men who are comfortable out of either stance, orthodox and southpaw become irrelevant terms to use. The orientation of their stances is much more telling.

Closed Stance: The fighters are fighting out of the same stance (Orthodox vs. Orthodox or Southpaw vs. Southpaw). Their lead hands and feet are on opposite sides of the opponent’s.

Open Stance: The fighters are fighting out of opposite stances (Orthodox vs. Southpaw). Their lead hands and feet are on the same side and occupy the same line of attack.

Rather than waste energy switching stances, forcing a switch from Chito with the outside low kick gave Sean an immediate opening for the body kick. You’ll hear commentators constantly talk about the opening for the body kick in the open stance matchup. Though not fool-proof, it is an attritive, heavy strike to throw without having to switch kick into the open side. Against a seemingly immortal opponent as Chito Vera, body work is a good idea.

Through his use of the outside calf kick, Sean was able to control the stance matchup and force the open stance, to look for his more damaging strikes off the rear foot and hand.

The rear-leg front kick was also used by Sean to continue his attritive work and control the distance. Sean does a great job of circling out a bit before throwing to gain a more direct line of attack on Chito’s body and make it less likely that he can slip out of the strike’s path. Due to Chito’s general inactivity as of late (barring a recent exception), a front kick is a wonderful strike that allows O’Malley to stay busy, work the body, maintain distance, and switch stances if he desires.

Even if not committing fully to the front kick, feinting the front kick gives O’Malley a free stance switch to work off of. Chito has a habit overreacting to feints. While most evident in his loss against Sandhagen, Chito retreating with his hands up allows O’Malley to switch stances and dictate the orientation of their fight, while Chito is reacting to it.

Even if O’Malley wants to keep the match in open stance, he now knows that Chito has a heavy reaction to the front kick, and can capitalize accordingly.

Most of the battle between these men took place at kicking range. O’Malley opted for the heavier outside low kick in the closed stance, but Chito decided to throw a step up inside low kick. Though not as immediately impactful, the benefit of the inside low kick is that the inside of the thigh is much softer than the outside.

The muscle is a little less dense, but the reality is that due to getting kicked on the outside of the leg more often in training the inside of the thigh is much less conditioned to taking kicks. Sean certainly won the closed stance kicking, but Chito’s ideas were by no means stupid.

Rather than constantly eat front kicks or retreat, Chito also kicked with O’Malley. The step up inside low kick could actually work as a nice sweep under the front kick if timed a bit better in the rematch.

As the round progressed Chito was able to pick up on O’Malley’s love for the body kick in the open stance. Given how hellacious Chito’s ground and pound to finish this fight was, catching the kick to force a grappling exchange could be a great idea for Chito.
This is doubly true given O’Malley’s tendency to give up his back.

Chito’s own idea in the open stance was a stomp kick to the lead leg of O’Malley. Given the open stance this strike is quite quick to reach the target and could yield damaging results against a man who has injured his lower body in two fights.

Just as Sean utilized the front kick to force Chito’s straight line retreat, Chito used this stomp kick to force the same reaction from O’Malley. Though both men are known as devastating and accurate strikers, O’Malley threw heavy strikes more consistently and Chito opted for lighter strikes to set up his big shots. An interesting dynamic between the two given Chito’s durability and Sean’s fragility.

And so comes the shot of the fight. O’Malley broke Chito’s stance with every outside leg kick but Chito’s own seemed flaccid in comparison. Funnily enough, Chito’s kick did more damage than any of Sean’s strikes. It appeared glancing as Sean was retreating, but seemingly hit the infamous peroneal nerve ooooo spooky scary skeletons!!!

From a tactical perspective kicking the trailing leg of a movement heavy fighter like Sean is a splendid idea. The front foot was the last piece of the body to move as Sean darts in and out of range, and even a glancing kick can do damage. While perfectly hitting the nerve is not a reliable strategy, kicking the trailing leg consistently can give a fighter fits when trying to move. Right after this strike Sean began stumbling around the ring, and the momentum of the fight shifted drastically.

With Sean injured, Chito was able to easily back him against the cage. This geography allowed Chito to showcase some of his best work in this matchup. Bringing back the stomp kick in the closed stance allowed him to put a little more stank on the strike and keep the threat of further leg damage at the forefront of Sean’s mind. With his back against the wall he is unable to move his leg backwards to avoid the stomp either. With the momentum in Chito’s favor, this stomp allows him to switch stances to dictate the stance orientation.

Where Sean controlled the closed stance matchup in open space, Chito dictated closed stance exchanges along the perimeter. Chito’s own outside low kicks began to land with authority, taking a page out of his opponents book.

Chito consistently low kicking: Check

Sean backed up with only two movement options: Check

Sean’s movement is already hamepered due to injury: Check

High kicks baby *chef’s kiss*

With Sean against the fence, Chito kept an active and varied kicking game to keep his prey cornered. Straight kicks either push them back into the cage, or force lateral movement, which can then be capitalized upon with round kicks.

The front strike-round strike spin cycle along the cage is a great way to maintain constant pressure on your opponent

The finish largely stemmed from Sean slipping and Chito taking advantage with elbows to the head. Throughout the fight, Sean controlled the fight in open space but Chito’s ability to land hard shots and capitalize with his opponent against the cage could cause problems for the burgeoning champion.

Coming into the Rematch

I detailed each man’s last performance on the same card at UFC 292. Sean O’Malley has gone from strength to strength in two incredible performances over former champions Petr Yan and Aljamain Sterling.

Chito is a strange case on the other hand. Many see his title shot as undeserved, and rightly so. Merab Dvalishvilli is the boogeyman of the division on a 10-fight win streak, and Corey Sandhagen (though injured) made Chito look impotent a year ago. However, Chito did show a key improvement in his forgotten fight against Pedro Munhoz: He jabbed.

Though such a simple tool, it perfectly adds to Chito’s recent style as a tentative shot-picker. His lacking activity as of late was exposed by Sandhagen. He was overwhelmed with offense and could not find his reads. Showing off an active jab against Munhoz allowed him to stay buy, safely, in moments where he would have done nothing in previous fights.

Looking Forward

Given where they are in their careers and their previous meeting, most are expecting Sean O’Malley to retain his crown. Sean was able to control the open space striking quite well, and didn’t fall behind until his injury. I expect this to be replicated in their rematch, but Chito’s newly active jab gives him more of a chance to force reactions from O’Malley and keep him pulling too far ahead on the scorecards.

Given how well Chito did with Sean backed up against the cage, I think reverting to his old, pressuring style would be perfect to make O’Malley uncomfortable and limit his movement options. Chito has incredible shot selection, and narrowing O’Malley’s options will only amplify his ability to find the big shots he so desperately wants. If Chito can end up on top, I’m sure his offense will shine there as well.

O’Malley is dynamic and skilled, but fragile. He is a devastating hitter, but Chito seems to be made of adamantium. Their opposing durabilities present a problem to Sean. If his power can’t dissuade Chito or know him out, then how can he stop him?

Sean should be focusing on leg attacks early and often. They worked well in this fight and allowed him to control the stance orientation. Sean needs to accumulate enough attritive damage to the body and legs to stifle Chito’s offense and potential pressure which might allow him to land a finishing blow later. I would be appalled if he could finish Chito early. Even if he can’t finish him, landing enough offense to outpoint Chito is the way to go. Sean hits harder, and though his cardio is a bit of a question, he can overwhelm him as Sandhagen did for at least 3 rounds.

Sean might also benefit from mixing in takedown attempts. Sandhagen did this to great effect against Chito. The threat of the takedown slowed down Chito’s offense, and Chito often opts to play guard rather than get up. His bottom game can be crafty, but is often predictable.

Each man’s clearest path to victory involves them adding elements to their style which we have either not seen or have not seen in quite some time. Chito needs to pressure O’Malley to the cage in order to open up, and O’Malley needs to maintain enough varied output to prevent Chito from engaging in his own offense. This will ultimately be predicated by the kicking game and stance matchup The man who controls the low kicking game will ultimately lead the dance on what stance orientation the fight takes place in. If Vera learned anything from the first fight, he should be throwing hard calf kicks just as often as Sean did against him.

Who will be able to do this? Who knows. With each man’s opposing durability , and a strange but brutal loss looming over the champion, there are many questions that will be answered come Midnight in Miami. Given Sean O’Malley’s recent look we at the Movement Martials are obligated to support the champ (but boy do I like Chito).

I would love to see Sandhagen and Merab get their flowers, as a fight between the two feels like the “Real Champ” matchup, but this fight is incredibly intriguing nonetheless. If I were to give an official prediction? I’m feeling Sean on vibes, as I don’t know if I can trust Chito to trust his jab and adopt a pressuring game again. How do you see this match going? Let us know below, and as always, ABT and all love

-Kick