Dominick Cruz gives an in-depth breakdown of the UFC 288 matchup between Aljamain Sterling and Henry Cejudo. #ESPN …
I’m Dominic Cruz this is Carl Gebhart he is going to be acting out so who though I am going to be acting out Sterling let’s get to it so first of all if you ever watch Sterling there’s no real Rhyme or Reason To His footwork or his movement his goal is to just not get hit his goal is to just stay out of danger which is all of our goal but he’s got a very unconventional way to do it yourself he always moves laterally this is one great thing about Sterling he’s never just moving at this person precious he doesn’t do this very often most the time if you pressure him he’ll come here here here here and notice I’m Square so I can twist and come this way and be ready to strike I can twist and come this way come with a high kick it kind of hides what he does and at the same time as he’s doing this he’s keeping his hands up he’s always trying to get you to find him and when you’re trying to find him that means you’re reaching and when you reach that’s when he can set up his shot overhand rights another thing he does is he wants to pull you into his big shot so if I Circle this way that sets up the high kick if I Circle this way that sets with the high kick here now notice I’m pulling my opponent towards me this could be the approach for algae Maine too making pyodor chase him Henry has a tendency to pressure control the center of the Octagon in a lot of his fights and also Sterling likes to use the fence to not just defend tank down but to create a boundary so that if you try to come too close he knows where he’s got to attack and where he’s keeping the range he always wants to keep you at kick range so what you see at a Henry is he’s always trying to when you go to kick his leg he pulls it back he’s always trying to keep this fake wall almost where my knees at and he keeps his hands here and he wants you to attack the hands and the legs and not get to the core and so when you’re punching you’re hitting his hands when you’re kicking everything’s up and you’re far you think you’re gonna hit but you’re now you’re hitting arms and he’s able to move out of the way lots of faint and one of the kicks you’re guaranteed to see when Sterling moves side to side and anytime he’s going to be checking that’s one of the things that we saw in the fight against DJ he heard the perennial nerve in Henry’s leg what happened there oh he’s got a problem switching up the football he’s got a problem with his left foot crazy so we’re gonna have to see Henry really defend and counter anytime that cat calf kick comes he’s Gonna Wanna not only check a couple because that’ll stop it but check and return combination after that it’s a range he dictates the range so well he keeps the space he limits the timing of the fight and he makes you fight at his pace and so in this fight it’s going to be all about Pace How Can Henry not use energy keep his hands out defend while Landing the bigger shots obviously Sterling’s always moving you side to side switching stance setting up these big shots faking and then that’s what gets you to be offensive when he’s faking and moving when you decide to throw that’s where you see Sterling is so good he’ll wait and duck get to a shot right here oh my goodness so what are the important details about Sterling is how he takes the back most people throw in a hook and then they get the the head and then they get the body triangle like third third case was Sterling with a lot of these guys they’re they’re skipping steps so he’s so good at getting the double he’ll create scenarios who you get to here finally let’s say he gets his hands locked and he gets this guy down this is what makes Sterling different notice him inside now but this guy always knows how to get away so they’ll make all the right decisions they’re here now right here is where Sterly gets ahead notice look at his hip his hip’s gonna go over and what Sterling does is he gets ahead he steps over and he just throws a body triangle in already so he’s almost in a mount scenario off the double so right off the bat after he lands the double when this guy starts to turn away he beats the legs right here to a mount position and then from here whenever this guy tries to escape the body triangle is already in huge crown and bounce strikes finding the home and now the JanSport most the time you see guys get the hooks in first then they pull him over and then they get the body triangle locked in third ly skips all those steps you go straight straight from the double ahead of the game and when they turn body triangles locked in he’s always Joe it’s over he’s going to sleep he’s gonna go to sleep he’s gonna go to sleep so one of the things about Henry’s wrestling is he can take two shots and make him look like one so the double leg if he finishes it great even easier but if he doesn’t he’s got a round two he links things together so one of the things you saw in the DJ fight is he shot a good double and he got defended well he got jacked right up and right when he got pulled up you see him grab this grab the overhook and go for a knee boom right when this knee lands it pulls the hip forward so that it can’t land again and that’s what he uses to set up side trip Devil’s knife and that’s one of the sequences of a high level wrestler and especially Henry that he uses so well in every fight to get somebody down and once he’s once he gets you there he just really wants to get the air out of your lungs elbow you beat you up on the ground keep you from getting back up to your feet