If it is possible to look lackluster while putting on an absolute
clinic,
Jailton
Almeida may have done so against
Derrick
Lewis in the main event of “UFC Sao Paulo.”
Twenty-one minutes of control time seems like complete domination
but in reality, Almeida did little with that control. In today’s
Aftermath column, we are looking at what Almeida did well against
Lewis. We will be analyzing a few of the takedowns in the fight and
seeing that Almeida’s wrestling is more than just a high kick to a
double-leg.
Almeida: Heavyweight’s Next Big Problem?
Almeida’s performance in Sao Paulo was nothing short of one-sided.
From start to finish, “Malhadinho” controlled Lewis on the ground
from the mount. Some fighters, say
Khabib
Nurmagomedov, will get to mount and grind their opponents down
with vicious ground-and-pound. For the Lewis fight, Almeida
ascribed to the principle of position before submission.
via GIPHY
In “UFC Sao Paulo” Beforemath, we talked about how the 32-year-old
likes to throw the teep or push kick, then transition to a
takedown. Against Lewis, who is content to let you come in and bang
you out, that approach wasn’t as effective. Instead, Almeida had to
be careful to take smart shots that were quick and out the way of
that brutal uppercut Lewis looks for against grapplers. Once the
Galpao da Luta fighter got to the hips, he made sure to pursue the
takedown and keep Lewis moving instead of against the fence to
avoid any anti-takedown elbows coming his way.
Lewis hoped to find the uppercut all night, which meant that
Almeida had to get in on the takedown in different ways. In the
figure above, we see (1) Lewis looking to land something, anything
while he has the chance on the feet. Almeida sees this coming and
hopes to duck under a right hand which (2) does come. (3) As
Almeida gets to the legs, he comes up on the double leg takedown
that he loves so much. Lewis will fall over as Almeida drives
through. Almeida (4) turns the corner and (5) pushes through for
the takedown.
via GIPHY
The entire night was a plague of double-leg takedowns for Lewis.
They are the one thing that Almeida does best. While he did not get
any ground-and-pound going, the thing he did consistently do, for
five rounds at that, is get double-leg takedowns. Once on the
ground, Almeida found submitting “The Black Beast” was easier said
than done. Only
Daniel
Cormier and
Sergey
Spivak have had the fortune of doing so. After that, Almeida
decided he would control Lewis instead of fishing submission after
submission and tiring himself out. Boring? Yes. Effective? Also,
yes.
Position over Submission
That was the name of the game for Almeida. When he got to the
ground, he did all he could to keep Lewis down. Lewis has a knack
for “just getting up.” Almeida never let up on pursuing the
takedowns in a similar vein of
Mateusz
Gamrot.
(1) In the first frame, we can see it is Lewis in the advantageous
position. Notice Almeida’s current leg position. He will use his
legs to create a sweep opportunity that Lewis doesn’t see coming.
(2) Lewis does what is generally right and has the whizzer. Almeida
reaps the leg of Lewis to prevent the get-up by briefly going lower
on his back. (3) As he gets back to his knees, Lewis looks to roll
Almeida back on his back. (4) Almeida is back in a bad spot but
keeps the legs of Lewis. (5) Almeida fights back to his knees and
Lewis is posted on one hand and a leg with Almeida possessing the
leg and the arm trapped in the whizzer.
This is an important part of the sequence. Lewis is posted on two
points: the hand and the leg.
Jailton
Almeida took the other leg out of the game by sitting on it and
knew Lewis would not want to give up his whizzer as he was on his
knees. What Almeida does next is take away one of Lewis’ posts
which gives him the opportunity to drive through to the better
position.
Circling back (5) Almeida punches Lewis in the face. This was
nothing powerful nor did it cause damage to Lewis. It didn’t score
anything. Its sole purpose was to get Lewis to react, which he did.
Lewis lifts his hand up to return the favor. Remember, one of
Lewis’ legs is being sat on by Almeida, one hand is caught in the
whizzer, and now his posted hand is up and punching. This means
Derrick
Lewis is only on one post which Almeida picks up. (6) As Lewis
punches, Almeida locks up the body and pushes his head into his
chest. He will bring his legs backwards to bake the other knee out
of play and (7) complete the takedown.
While I have been critical of Almeida a decent amount, he was
smooth on the ground, and as the saying goes: If you speak for the
wolf, speak against him as well. The way Almeida fought last
weekend was not enjoyable. His lack of activity really brought
forth many questions about his abilities once he gets to the
ground. What would a fighter like
Curtis
Blaydes, his original opponent, do? Blaydes can stop the
takedown and would be good on the feet with his jab. Can Almeida
make do in those situations? That question remains to be seen.
Jailton
Almeida may not have made many fans at “UFC Sao Paulo” but that
was not truly his main objective going into a fight. He is there to
win, first and foremost. Would the UFC like him to be heavyweight
Khabib? Absolutely. But the fact is that Almeida did what he had to
do to get a win to continue his career and earn double the pay. He
wants to be champion and the next step in front of him was getting
out of the cage with the division’s heaviest hitter with a win was
what got him closer to that goal.