How Alex Pereira

~ Killed the King ~

Once again, we are here on Sunday morning reflecting on the impact of the calf kick. If you needed any more convincing that this tactic has been a gamechanger, note that Alex Pereira won kickboxing titles in a major organization, in two divisions, and he was not using the calf kick then. In this fight with Jiri Prochazka, where everyone expected chaos, it was Pereira who stoically calf kicked the wind from Prochazka’s sails. Prochazka made good on a takedown that likely stole him the first round, but when the fight was on the feet, the Czech striker failed to get anything going.

That Prochazka’s legs are an open target is not a secret. Almost anyone who has thrown low kicks at him in his UFC run has landed them. This is because he makes the same trade as Magomed Ankalaev: he fights from a longer stance to give himself access to quick counter punches and retreats. Comparatively, Pereira fights in a much higher, shorter stance, where his lead leg can be pulled back with ease.

Even as an established kickboxer Pereira continued to add tools through his entire Glory run, and this calf kick is only a couple of fights old. The two most notable elements are that he doesn’t turn his his shoulders prior to throwing it—removing the tell—and he holds his right hip back, so that he can recover it more easily. By holding the hip back, the line of the kick cannot turn over like the textbook Thai round kick, and instead it scrapes up the side of the opponent and he connects almost with the inside of his shin. This connecting with the inside of the shin is something that Fedor Emelianenko has been filmed teaching in seminars, though Emelianenko threw his low kicks to the thigh.  

Fig. 1

Not only did the calf kick punish Prochazka’s lengthy stance, it hampered his mobility. Prochazka often fights with his head forward of his hips and his hands low. This is to draw a punch and then fire a swing across the top. Pereira simply gave ground, circled out when he neared the fence, and refused to punch for the most part.

In contrast, Pereira’s legs were never there for Prochazka. Whether it was a low kick or a reach for a single leg, Pereira answered in the same way: he pulled his lead leg back and then retreated. Almost all of Pereira’s defensive looks involved him giving ground. This meant when Prochazka looked for it, he could charge Pereira onto the fence. Figure 2 shows a long retreat, where Pereira first extends his stance, then draws his lead foot back for a galloping retreat, and then withdraws his lead leg from a Prochazka reach.

Fig. 2

Prochazka was attempting to use low commitment reaches for single legs to set up punches from the opening seconds of the fight but rarely even touched Pereira’s leg when he made a reach.

While he lost emphatically, and landed little, Prochazka did not seem without options in this fight. Against the fence he could cut off Pereira’s retreat and score some blows. When he did get Pereira to the ground, Pereira seemed far less confident out in the open mat than when he is fence wrestling. Rather than shrimping onto his side, looking for underhooks or using a knee shield, Pereira simply hugged Prochazka in a flattened half guard.

But the phrase I used on the podcast when discussing trades was that the Pereira left hook will “look after that on its own.” When Prochazka did corner Pereira in round two and step in to swing, he got caught with a short right hand that carried him into the path of the legendary Pereira left hook and that sealed the deal on the fight.

Fig. 3

In the co-main event, Tom Aspinall used low kicks and movement to keep Sergei Pavlovich turning. Yet it would have come to naught but for the reveal that Tom Aspinall’s chin is cut from granite. But a great chin buys you time and gives you a chance to correct your errors and, to Aspinall’s credit, he did that. Moving laterally and low kicking, he had Pavlovich walking onto a good one-two that sent the big Russian to the mat for the TKO.

There were plenty of other notable moments on this card, but we will start with the highly anticipated tear up between Benoit Saint-Denis and Matt Frevola. Saint-Denis showed his usual mix of sublime and ridiculous. He looked for his southpaw left body kick as he tried to cut the cage on Frevola, and then jumped a guillotine on Frevola’s first takedown attempt. But he returned to the sublime pretty quick as he turned a body lock pass into the most beautiful butterfly sweep of the year. Figure 4 shows the action.

Frevola has stepped over Saint-Denis’ left foot and is driving his way up, hoping to “swallow” Saint-Denis’ knee between his thighs and force half guard (a). Saint-Denis keeps a grapevine with his right foot behind Frevola’s left calf and pummels his left hand to the inside Frevola’s right (b). This gives Saint-Denis the underhook which he raises in combination with an extension of the grapevine (c), and finally uses his butterfly hook to elevate Frevola (d), freeing the grapevining leg. Saint-Denis lands in top position with a strong underhook and the guard mostly passed (e).

Fig. 4

Frevola scrambled his way up and soon got top position again. Figure 5 shows Saint-Denis demonstrating one of Demian Maia’s great innovations.

As Frevola attempts to punch Saint-Denis (b), the Frenchman digs an underhook (c). Getting to his right elbow and hip, Saint-Denis ends up in an “S legs” position (e). Fighting out of a pigeon stretch might seem unathletic, but this was Maia’s key to going from any guard position to the single leg or a stand up. If the fighter can drive his butt off the mat, he can swivel his lead leg back underneath him and get to a more athletic position (f). From here Saint-Denis drives his way up to the feet along the fence as Frevola attempts to hold the front headlock (g).

Fig. 5

Mackenzie Dern had a bad night against Jessica Andrade. Having left Jason Parillo—the man who taught her one of WMMA’s best jabs—no one in her corner was able to control her worst tendencies. Dern lunged in behind right hands and was so off balance that a slapping left hand on the shoulder in the first round spilled her across the mat and left the commentators and crowd thinking she had been chinned.

There were a couple of interesting moments though. After the Angela Hill fight, Dern seems to have embraced WMMA’s most annoying technique: the headlock. However, some fighters have been able to mitigate the scrambles and back exposure that bad headlocks and head and arms create by stepping over into half guard. When Dern threw Andrade in the first round (Figure 6), she threw her near leg high and stepped over Andrade (d), but instead of getting half guard or mount, she ended up over Andrade’s shoulder (e). This left her scrambling to turn to face Andrade before the Brazilian powered up to her feet.

Fig. 6

Dern made a much neater attempt at boxing into her wrestling later in the round. Figure 7 shows a one-two to inside reach. Dern throws the jab (b), the right straight (c), and then level changes as she shifts through to southpaw (d), attaching with her left hand to the inside of Andrade’s left knee. This allows Dern to square up (e) and pick up the leg (f).

Fig. 7

In spite of winning a UFC title, Jessica Andrade has always seemed like a fighter who fell short of her potential. Strength, power, a gas tank, and durability were all traits she owned but refused to do more than windmill hooks with. Occasionally a bit of head movement or a low kick would turn up for one fight, and then she would revert to her usual self. In this bout she not only low kicked effectively, but cornered Dern and finished her with a 1-3-2. A wonderful ring cutting combination that she managed to remember when she would normally be swinging wild for the finish.

Fig. 8

A final note must be made for Mark O. Madsen versus Jared Gordon. It was a decently technical fight in a way that few others are because Madsen looked to force the clinch and dirty box from there. After an adjustment period, Gordon did a great job of stopping Madsen from clinch boxing and finally punished him for trying.

I have been watching Roberto Duran fights all week so I was immediately pleased when Madsen threw his right hand and dropped it underneath Gordon’s counter left hook, crashing in chest-to-chest to score the clinch. But for the most part, Madsen was simply trying to step in on Gordon and grab a hold. This meant that Gordon could check Madsen’s hands and push them into his chest to keep him from getting grips.

Fig. 9

Handfighting is an overarching element of MMA that borrows from multiple disciplines. Handfighting in the clinch is obviously a strong suit for the Greco-Roman Olympian, Madsen. But extended handfighting out in the open is something that you will see more commonly in Muay Thai or in some more unusual boxers like George Foreman and Jack Johnson. In MMA, Daniel Cormier had enormous success with the “mummy guard” and two handed handfighting.

Because you are committing your hands to checking the opponent’s, you must be able to use what Muay Thai calls the long guard and what boxing calls the leverage guard. There are multiple elements of that, but the main one is being able to get down behind your shoulders. Figure 10 shows why.

Madsen reaches out with his right hand to check Gordon’s left hand—stifling his jab (b). Gordon drops his left hand below the handfight (c), and swings in a left hook over the top that stuns Madsen (d).

Fig. 10

This is down to Madsen’s awkwardness on the feet: he could have got down behind his shoulder, ducked, or even stepped in to tie up underneath the hook. Checking the hand in a boxing contest means that the opponent is limited to using a slower, roundabout motion. It doesn’t mean that they cannot do anything.

Finally there was Gordon’s two-on-one on Madsen’s wrist. The single collar tie is a great position to hit from because it removes the opponent’s advantages in boxing: his footwork and his head movement. But it also reduces the holding fighter to one striking hand and his knees. We discussed this when Stephen Thompson used the overtie against Kevin Holland’s collar tie.

In this instance, as in Jon Jones versus Daniel Cormier, Gordon used both of his hands to control the wrestler’s free hand. Figure 11 shows Gordon using a cross grip on Madsen’s right hand (b) and then covering it with a two-on-one (c), before pushing it straight into Madsen’s belly (d).

Fig. 11

Madsen could perhaps try to turn over an elbow with the collar tie hand from this position, but anything he does with his left hand sacrifices the clinch. Gordon, meanwhile, could free either hand and hit Madsen. In this exchange he freed his right hand and wobbled Madsen with an uppercut. In the next exchange he freed his left hand and scored the TKO with a left elbow.

Dirty boxing is so underused in MMA that it is almost sad to see a committed use of it get countered. Yet it was Gordon’s own dirty boxing that allowed him defend himself from Madsen and ultimately score the finish.