Alexander Volkanovski's Pins, Punches, And Power Rides

UFC 290: A Grappling Case Study

UFC 290 is already being regarded as one of the the best UFC events of all time. I know I know, recency bias is real and I’m falling for it. I don’t care - the main card had insane action and interesting technical performances that will give us reason to rewatch as fans and students for years.

At the end of the card two fighters put their name in the record books for their wins that came from drastically different means. Alexandre Pantoja fought like a dog and grappled through blood and guts to take a split decision win over the younger, favored champion Brandon Moreno. Alexander Volkanovski continued his sublime featherweight run by dominating the dangerous Yair Rodriguez. Both men leaned on grappling to seal their wins, but the control demonstrated by them was worlds apart. To be blunt, the more effective Brazilian jiu-jitsu practitioner that night was not the lauded Brazilian black belt Pantoja. We’re going to look at a few sequences that show key technical and tactical differences between these two fighters, and discuss why they employed their techniques the way they did.

Submissions, Threats, and Over Eagerness

Both Pantoja and Volkanovski attempted arm triangle chokes midway through the fight. The name was about the only thing that connected these two sequences.

I’m a sucker for a good arm triangle choke. When applied correctly the technique is low risk with high upside. You either win by submission, advance position, or threaten your opponent to keep them reactive as Volkanovski did.

Pantoja’s failed arm triangle attempt reinforced one Brazilian jiu-jitsu cliche we’ve all heard before, position before submission. He didn’t have the position and ultimately lost both.

Volkanovski’s arm triangle exemplified this position before submission idea perfectly. His implementation also showed us the limitations of the cliche and why it needs to be updated for MMA.

Position > Punches > Submissions

The position before submission cliche is supposed to reinforce the idea that to reduce the risk of losing a submission you should only try for submissions after you’ve passed guard and solidified a dominant position. For instance, in the gif above, Pantoja dove into a submission without a stable position first and lost top control. Pantoja did not abide by the position before submission principle and lost both. On the other hand, Volkanovski was tight in top half and able to go for the submission safely.

MMA has different rules than submission grappling. You can, and need to, hit when you get on top. Groundbreaking stuff, I know; but for whatever reason we still routinely see Brazilian jiu-jitsu practitioners in MMA focus on passing and holding instead of hitting and hurting.

What these grapplers might be missing is that when you do hit on top, your likelihood of passing guard and securing a submission finish increases, let alone your favor in the eyes of the judges. It makes sense then that even if you’re a Brazilian jiu-jitsu player you should prioritize positions that allow you to hit because your opponents’ defenses maneuvers will likely give you openings for submissions, guard passes, and positions that make submissions easier to come by. Conversely if you go somewhere where submissions are available but hitting is relatively hard to do you might miss both. Again, we saw this theme play out in the two title fights from UFC 290.

The scoring system of Brazilian jiu-jitsu gives you points for getting past your opponent’s legs. It reinforces the idea that the best positions in a fight are side control, mount, north south, and back mount. It just isn’t that cut and dry in MMA.

Mount and back mount can be devastating positions in MMA. These positions give you the ability to hit and submit your opponent with your arms while your own legs and hips control your opponents’. Contrast that with side control and north south. To hold side control and north south you need to actively frame or hold onto your opponent’s midsection and hips, meaning you can’t punch them.

This line of thinking really makes you take another look at half guard and realize the position is a lot more valuable than previously thought.

At the beginning of this article we saw Volkanovski use half guard to hit Rodrgiuez and set up an arm triangle choke. What did he lose by patiently attacking from half guard after hitting? Not much - Rodriguez was forced to frame, move, and dig for under hooks while Volkanovski was free to sit on Rodriguez’s leg and sap his energy. Pretty high return on investment for a position that’s relatively simple to achieve and doesn’t score in submission grappling events. Let’s look at one more Volkanovski clip.

Volkanovski’s ground game has advanced light years since he began working with fellow Australian Craig Jones. He’s escaped fight ending submissions, wrestled intelligently and relentlessly, and now he’s showing advanced tactics for hitting and pressuring opponents without relying on getting all the way past their guards. This no gi grappling philosophy is explained in detail by Jones’s instructional Power Ride.

We must give credit where credit is due. Decades ago Randy Couture was advocating for staying in half guard to ground and pound opponents instead of passing to side control. Jones has expanded on these ideas to introduce new pinning positions that incorporate the best of wrestling and submission grappling, making his star student Volkanovski the standout he is today.

Watching Volkanovski’s development gives me hope for the future of grappling in MMA. There are so many talented and creative submission oriented no gi grapplers competing right now. It’ll be fascinating to watch them stop competing, start coaching, and see how it continues to push the boundaries of MMA forward.