I only saw the Mark Hunt V Brock Lesnar fight, and the main event – Meisha Tate V Amanda Nunes
Brock Lesnar vs Mark Hunt
From a technical perspective, it was an interesting, striker V wrestler match up.
2 takedowns basically won Brock the fight.
Some things that Hunt could possibly do different, or ‘learn’ from this fight:
- Take down defence against the cageThreaten with elbows more when defending the takedown against the cage. Obviously Travis Browne is about 9 inches taller than Mark Hunt, but the ‘flappy elbow’ technique is perhaps worth a go:
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This is also a great technique for takedown defence against the cage that nobody seems to use – pulling up on one of the elbows:
Use one underhook with one of your arms, and with the other, pull upwards as hard as possible, underneath your opponent’s elbow.
I’m not sure whether he could side-step more and use a wizzer or an underhook to move his opponent, so that positions are reversed.
- Counter the Takedown Against the Fence – Switch Positions
It’s possible that Brock had hold of his leg, so Hunt was unable to do so, but from 36 seconds Hunt appears to have a tight overhook, that he could have potentially used to sidestep to his right, and thrown Brock against the cage to reverse their positions:
- Mix things upMark Hunt has the best uppercut, left hook and arguably overhand right in the division. But his game is still pretty one dimensional. If he could make fighter’s afraid of a knee, then that would make then more conservative with takedown techniques. A low leg kick once or twice per round wouldn’t go a miss either, inside leg kick is good for shorter guys. Although I appreciate why this wouldn’t be a good technique against a wrestler.
- Ground GameHe needs some go-to techniques from half-guard and mount by the looks of it. He either pops straight up from a takedown, or gets stuck there for the rest of the round.
Good win for Brock anyway. He looked exhausted, and as though he had an adrenaline dump in the second round, so he did well to get that final takedown.
Amanda Nunes Vs Meisha Tate
A super-explosive striker in Nunes, against a strong all-rounder in Tate.
Such a difficult fight for Meisha; she was just beaten by a much better athlete and striker.
Her best strategy was exactly the one which she tried to implement – grapple, smother and tire Nunes, before increasing the tempo in the later rounds.
Fast twich, explosive fighters, (very) often fade in the later rounds. Hector Lombard being the most extreme example.
Meisha generally shoots for a traditional double leg takedown or variation.
The only humble-suggestion I would make, is to study the tactics of Rhonda and Mcmann for clinching.
Rhonda loves to draw a striker with a double jab of her own, the circle and clinch (usually for a headlock)
McMann uses more of a ‘step-forwards’ jab, cross, before clinching with double underhooks against the cage:
Credit to BJJ Scout for the amazing breakdown videos.
Another pointer on the striking – when covering up and then trying to return punches, a hook will rarely land, as it’s the shortest punch after the uppercut.
A kick is the best counter, in my opinion, especially if you are not worried about getting taken down.
Having said that, after being hit in the face with several concussive blows, I think Meisha was just on auto-pilot.
Hope Meisha comes back with a strong victory…
