How To Smoothly Beat Scrambling And Get Submissions

Smoothly Solving Scrambling

The UFC made it’s way to Austin this past weekend. The card was more than exciting and ended up being a great showcase for a few prospects.

UFC Austin had great finishes on the feet and floor from fighters like Arman Tsarukyan, Jalin Turner, and Sean Brady. These wins came at the expense of veterans Beneil Dariush, Bobby Green, and Kelvin Gastelum. Unfortunately, Turner’s win was overshadowed by the abysmal referee job from Kerry Hatley.

I’ve judged and refereed for the grappling promotion WNO in the past. I know from personal experience that being a judge and referee is super stressful. I’m not the first person to bash the officials, but Hately deserves to be investigated for the (lack of) care he showed for Green’s safety. Today we’re going to spend some time talking about the fight that took place immediately before Hatley’s terrible work, Brady vs Gastelum.

Brady’s fight against Gastelum was his return to action after suffering his first professional loss. Brady’s UFC career has been full of dominant, controlling grappling. Brady seemed to present problems that Gastelum had routinely solved.

Gastelum is a big welterweight that has struggled with the scale. After some difficulties making welterweight, Gastelum went to middleweight and earned a title shot against Israel Adesanya. At both weight classes Gastelum was a well-rounded action fighter that hits hard on the feet, and is nearly impossible to hold down. This fight against Brady was Gastelum’s attempt to return to welterweight after not being contracted at 170 in seven years.

The basic question of the fight seemed to be, could Brady control someone that scrambled as well as Gastelum? The answer was an emphatic yes.

Brady worked Gastelum all over the mat for two rounds before nearly ripping his arm off in the third. He used smooth pressure to cycle between half guard and the back to sustain deliberate pressure, and prevent Gastelum from ever getting going. Let's take a look at exactly how he did it.

Staying Static Doesn't Stop Scrambling

Historically Kelvin Gastelum has been notoriously hard to hold down. Whenever he's in a disadvantageous position, he rolls, turns, builds a base, and gets back to his feet.

I have had the misfortune of grappling with Kennedy. It was like trying to squirm under a technical silverback. It sucked. Gastelum's ability to move with weight on him is shockingly impressive.

Sean Brady completely took Gastelum’s ability to move away from him by first committing to a pressuring and methodical half guard.

By keeping a hard cross face from half guard, Brady was free to hit Gastelum while pinning his hip to the floor with his own body weight. We’ve talked about the merits of using half guard to hurt your opponent in the past, and you can read about it here. If you’re interested in a full dissection of how to beat someone up from half guard check this article out.

Brady did more than just ride out half guard though. Brady took intelligent opportunities to maintain advantageous angles with Gastelum so he couldn't wrestle up into him.

When Brady was behind Gastelum, he took his hooks out so he could move quickly and pull Gastelum backwards. Here are the key points of control.

Here is another example from earlier in the fight of how Brady’s lack of hooks allowed him to stay active and throw Gastelum around.

Contrast these exchanges with Gastelum’s fight against Kennedy. Kennedy committed to being tight and strong with his body lock and locked feet, but that left Gastelum free to move away from him, get back to his feet, and walk to the fence so he could turn into Kennedy and escape. It's counterintuitive, but sometimes you need to sacrifice a bit of control so you can move appropriately and win the scramble. Lose the small battle to win the war.

After two rounds of smooth smothering, Brady went for the finish. He started by attacking the arm triangle, but was unable to get the tap due to the position of the cage. Ultimately, Gastelum's defense gave Brady the space he needed to secure a finish.

Deliberate Movement And Sustained Pressure Solves Scrambling

The overarching idea here is that you can't beat a scrambler by being static. Every time they move, they've changed the problem that your static position was solving. You need to smoothly and methodically adjust to continue to put pressure on your opponent and wear them out over time. Over enough time and pressure the submission will present itself.

With the loss Kelvin Gastelum is forced to regroup and rethink his approach. Overall, I think he has better chances at welterweight than middleweight. He'd be better served moving forward and proactively striking to seize the initiative in his fights.

With Sean Brady's win, he's back on track at the top of the welterweight division. He used his post-fight speech to call out fellow welterweight prospect Ian Garry. Fights against Garry, Geoff Neal, and Gilbert Burns all seem to make sense now for Brady now.

Where do you think the two welterweights should go next?