Brendan Fitzgerald and Alan Jouban preview the UFC 288 main event between UFC Bantamweight Champion Aljamain Sterling …
foreign [Applause] [Music] title is on the line at UFC 288 in Newark New Jersey the reigning Champion is Al Jermaine Sterling he wants to keep his belt when he takes on Henry sahuto the former two division champ who’s making his highly anticipated return here for the preview as UFC analyst Alan joban Sterling has risen Above the Rest in a loaded phantomweight division but Henry sahuto never lost that title and he wants it back he wants it back and not only is he known for the Olympic caliber wrestling but he’s a guy that since he’s been in MMA has really leaned on that striking and a lot of big Power and that striking had a lot of success in this one and I think he saw something in this division that made him want to come back and get that belt back meanwhile on the other side algerman Sterling has been perfecting that crafty style of his this scramble to taking the backs the finishes that he has had in all of these matches he’s really been able to level up his game in the years that Henry suhood has been away all right Alan hit that fight Focus you might think we start with the champion Al Jermaine Sterling we’re gonna dive into the game of Henry sahuto since he’s been off for three years and also we’re not starting with wrestling where he won an Olympic gold medal we’re starting with his striking because he’s great there too I I’m so excited about this sport because as you mentioned he’s so good at wrestling and grappling he’s been doing it he was at the Olympic Training Center when he was still a teenager in high school right people were looking at him he’s taking that same type of passionate mindset and competitiveness and he’s coupled it into a striking game and it is shown in Leaps and Bounds that he uses Striker first now that likes to put their wrestling in his back pocket he’s fallen in love with his power and ability to knock people out and it’s what happens with people they’re very good you can see he’s got very good hand speed he’s able to punch and counter he’s got tremendous kicks right there a lot of wrestlers in their career they just want to be grounded heavy throwing boxing and grappling but he’s somebody with elusive movements has the offensive defense he will be competitive enough to stay on the inside and show you that he is the better their speed and power but what I really want to dig into right here is this he’s a very smart Striker I I speak about his IQ and how much he prepares for Fighters now this is a fight right here that lends itself to the Alger main Sterling fight a lot because Dominic Cruz a lot of movement switching stances and a tremendous amount of lateral movement so how do you take away the wheels on a lateral moving fighter you chop the legs out a lot and so that’s what he’s doing to begin this fight right away against um Dominic Cruz he starts chomping the leg and one thing that I picked up on when he’s chopping the legs of Dom look we’re down to Fedor he likes to do it in between stances when Dom is squared up or in between switching stances because your defenses aren’t as sharp when you’re making these type of moves so when these happen you could see Henry suhuru beaming these powerful leg kicks he throws everything in these kicks these aren’t like feelers or distance finders these are shopping kicks trying to do damage where then he can now close the distance later on when he stops some of that movement so you see again great kicks right here against Dominic Cruz on this one right here it was when he’s switching stance he’s waiting for him to switch takes the leg out again on this next one Dominic’s trying to close the distance anyway takes the leg out off balances is him as well he’s a little bit of wrestling to stay in a good position and lets it go you notice right there as well he had an opportunity to wrestle and I believe if you really wanted to stay with his takedown he probably could have shut them down and taken them back he’s confident he’s confident in his striking wear in a 50 50 position like right here he chose to let him up and continue to strike rather than grapple and as we’re about to see it paid off because he knew what he was doing he had this in his head already he had studied Dominic Cruz so well that he knew that every in and out of dominant Cruz’s movement and one of those is after he throws a strike like we just saw that uppercut he likes to dip his head Dominic has a rolling movement that he’s kind of creative and mastered and when he throws his strike he immediately rolls and that’s his reset Henry sirhuda was very aware of this he knew it was coming what he wants is he wants to hit him with his knee he has his foot planted he wants to shoot this knee up the middle he just has to time to roll right so he saw one of them now it’s like how can I get him to commit so he’s going to stay with it right here he’s waiting for the opportunity dominant crew he throws a little faint there Dominic’s chambering up on this side now he’s going right uppercut so sahuda was hoping that this right uppercut goes all the way commits to it because you know that after he throws a punch he’s hoping the the role will be right there Then opportunities to throw the knee so dominant Cruz is thinking about it but he’s too hesitant he doesn’t throw it he doesn’t commit to it he doesn’t commit to the punch so he doesn’t commit to the head roll both guys are still in the same position Henry Mr huto now on his third try how can I force Dominic to show his hand to show his cards to commit to this punch I know what I’ll do I’ll tour with him I’m gonna give him a hittable Target he’s been moving out of the way now watch you see who does you see the distance right here he’s ready to go with this knee but he needs Dominic to commit to a punch so that he’ll commit to a role so hudu is going to give him his chin watch this look at his chin right here I mean he literally extends his chin out to give him a Target because he knows all he has to do is pull it back and chamber that right knee up the middle Dominic sees it man Dominic took the bait look at him looking right there he’s already in his movement he’s already in his role now watch her comes Dominic’s now going to commit to this punch because he has a closer Target Dominic commits to this we know what’s coming right the punch is now all the way done he’s now got all his pressure planted on his foot which is going to chamber that knee and we know now Dominic committed Dominic’s head’s about to roll it’s going to be in the perfect position for the trajectory of this knee I’m going to let it roll I mean he not only timed this knee but he set it up he forced it to happen he baited Dominic into throwing that punch and ducking his head and it was even better executed I mean you could think that you’re going to throw a knee and hit it on the chin but he literally throws the knee at the perfect time while Dominus going down hits it on the target puts him away drops them and then this is what he does as well that heavy wrestling bass if he hurts you he’s gonna drop you if he drops you he’s looking to finish you to keep that pressure at all times the Striking Henry sahuto let’s go into the clinch now as uh he’s not just good at distance he’s decorated in the wrestling but when it’s time to clinch he has skills there as well and what I love about his clinch game is it’s not just a wrestler’s clinch as you’re gonna see it’s also a Muay Thai clinch as well he is somebody that has learned every area this is a great way to tell this story as well right here so this is Demetrius Johnson this was Henry sherhuto’s first ever lost in MMA and you know how that loss came do you remember no it came by clinch he got need in the belly in this one he got out clinched his Muay Thai clinch game wasn’t there yet it was still an over under it was a humbling wrestling game right so he was lost right here DJ is very comfortable in a clinch this is something that DJ has always worked a lot very well with his coaches getting in here look at this knee to the liver puts them out didn’t like that sojudo taste the first time losing in his entire career and it came by clinch it came by Body Shots it’s a feeling he’s not going to forget we fast forward into this fight right here I take suhutu as a guy that he he loses and he learns right he doesn’t lose and he goes and cries and what did I do wrong he goes back and watches the footage and says I made a mistake I need to correct that how can I get better at it let me work it he takes the way that he lost and adds that into his game now you see fast forward into his fights now anytime somebody’s head is dipping look where he’s at he’s in that clinch he’s in that tight plump position with great form right here he’s got his elbows in he’s Landing if he has opportunity you dip your head low enough knees to the face but he’s got shorter legs right so it’s probably going to be more knees to the body that’s just the the easier Target to hit while you’re kneeing but I love the fact that this was a move that cost him his first ever loss and he took it and put it a part of his game and now not only is it a part of a game it’s a strong part of his game I mean he’s dominating in this knees to the face knees to the body he’s got nice Plum right here if you want to see a great Plum grip you got your hands clasped around the head but not the neck because if it’s around the neck they can still lean back right so if you got to go to the small of the head then they can’t pull their head back he’s guided about the the lower part of the head and he’s got his elbows in tight right here if your elbows are wide they’ll just swim through you know that swimming position but he’s got his elbows pinched in so it’s harder for somebody to get uh from Marlin to get his arms in there so he’s got a nice tight grip and you know his grip’s going to be strong from wrestling his whole life using these knees and again it was just something that he added to his game after a loss now we talk about the clinch there’s so much good stuff right here but the Inside Out clinch the Inside Out trip is by far his number one go-to in in the clinch game if he’s if he’s not able to get it he’ll go to that Ty clinch but if he’s able to get an overhook Brennan this is what he is thinking all the time so you see right here in the match against DJ these guys are in close and as soon as they Collide we’ve got an overhook so pay attention to this if sohudo gets an overhook he likes to go inside our trip that same side so just to show you guys he has a right overhook that means he’s looking to do a right inside out trip he that’s his his preference some guys like to go under hook some guys like to grab the back Henry loves this overhook and he presses down on it and he’s a master at it he’s really really perfected it and we’re gonna even see he gets better at it during the course of this fight so what he wants to do he wants to get that over hook and he wants to swing his opponent this way forcing them to take a step forward right here allowing an easier Target for him to get that inside trip and you can see already his hips are already shifting they’re not Square they’re shifting at an easier angle for him to slide his knee in he’s already prepared for it but as soon as you see an overhook that’s probably what’s coming so as I roll it forward you see swings them in inside trip inside outside trip gets to take down on DJ he’s looking for this again later on in his fight so as the fight goes these guys are going back and forth with these moves and sahuto is not the only smart fighter in here obviously DJ’s a master at what he does DJ is picking up on what’s Happening here so we’re going to see the same thing now we’re in the opposite side right as I told you he can go both sides he the last one was the right side this is the left side outside trip so you know that the trip is probably coming from here DJ is picking up on this he knows if he’s in this outside hook he needs to be cautious of it so the only way to really get out of an inside out trip is to step over it to backstep because it’s essentially I’m putting something right here that you can no longer back up he can no longer back up because he’s going to hit this leg the only way to get around it is if DJ High steps if DJ could High step over it he’s free he left a small opening for DJ step out of it and you see that’s what he does look at that inside trip he’s able to avoid that one immediately though this is the level of wrestling of sahuto he’s staying with it he’s chain wrestling he’s already got he’s got the overhook here he’s knee tapping right there and he’s got the hand on the lat right there pulling down the force and it’s not just the chain wrestling that’s allowing this but it’s the constant pressure right because a lot of guys are going to train and wrestle but there’s going to be an opening a gap in between each maneuver so Judo goes effortlessly seamlessly from one to the next one and he’s probably gonna have to do this against somebody with a scramble ability of algerman Sterling but again in this one inside out trip DJ was good about getting out of it suhuto was even better about chain wrestling and finishing the takedown with that knee tap right there at this point in the fight Demetrius is getting a little more aggressive in the wrestling in the grappling Department he’s not wanting his back to be against the fence so he’s starting to initiate these takedowns and so hudo could feel that so Demetrius right now is moving sahuto forward and he feels it’s giving him almost a false sense of security that he’s winning the grappling exchanges because I’m backing you up I feel like I’m winning sojudo is aware of this and so he’s looking for the right moment to get the takedown so again right overhook we know it’s coming inside out trip on the right side he just needs a weight until Demetrius foot is closer right normally I would swing him like we talked about earlier normally it’s a swinging position but in this case Demetrius is being the aggressor Demetrius is walking him backwards so it creates almost the easier takedown he’s going to wait until Demetrius steps forward with this leg and then he could plan his foot and get this Inside Out trip it’s going to be on the right side because it’s a right overhook so watch him plant his foot right there you see that he lets me just walk forward feeling confident plants his foot right over hook right inside trip now this is where this becomes a real thing of beauty that I could appreciate this so much the last one you remember what happened he was a little bit low on an inside trip Demetrius Johnson High stepped out of it Henry sehudo he’s not going to make the same mistake twice okay on this inside trip look how high is he goes in a lot higher making sure that he can’t step out but watch the hole that he does he does a leg curl essentially all the way down look at this all the way down you can see there’s only a couple inches of space right here between his heel in in his butt his leg is almost touching his butt right here not giving any window of opportunity for Demetrius to escape a second time so he made another adjustment on the Fly this is the type of wrestling the type of clinch game that sehudo possesses and this is why he’s been so good and so dangerous in all of his fights because you you you ample that with powerful striking educated striking but if you collide with him one of these factors might happen and of course one of the reasons why he shot up the ranks and was known as a decorated Combat Sports athlete not just an MMA athlete is because of what he did in the wrestling Department he won a gold medal then he transitioned to MMA but his wrestling base has obviously stayed top-notch and how funny is it that wrestling is number three on the list because that’s how good he’s gotten right we could list it later on because he does everything else so well that we don’t have to just always talk about how good his wrestling is because you just said it he puts it in his back pocket he makes it something that is not needed all the time Henry is a very powerfully built guy right he’s a shorter stockier frame very big large back so a lot of his movements are going to be powerful moves and in this situation this is a head on inside single like a lot of guys would run the pipe and what that means is you take a small step forward a big step back and you drag him down you you push your hips down Henry’s such a strong guy watch how he just rips it he’s got the power to just rip it he doesn’t need to run the pipe if he can take you off your feet same thing in this one high crotch you see Daniel Cormier loves this one hi crotch Elevate he’s going to pick up a guy at 135 pounds all day long he’ll do that to the heavyweights as well this sequence right here really speaks about the the level of wrestling that he has because this is an area right here that 99 of the guys in the UFC if you were here to be suhudo would have been on your back he was off position he was just in a tough spot because it was a good defense by DJ but I want to show you in detail the small adjustment that Henry Cavuto makes that makes him the highest level wrestler we have seen inside of the octagon and so you see right here Demetrius is coming in nice level change right there Demetrius is aware of this and he’s gonna go and he’s going to take this overhook right here and he’s going to use his wizard and he’s essentially shucking Henry off he’s using this and bringing it real high and you can kind of already see the momentum of Henry off balance his foot’s off he’s about to fall on his back kind of in this direction he’s getting shucked in this direction off balance it’s a tough place to be in even though he initially had a good shot but Demetrius was aware of it and and was able to use that wizard now look at the reset Henry takes a small step out let me try to back this up a little bit Henry’s going to take a little reset instead of falling on his butt he’s going to step and catch an angle and replant his foot meanwhile what that does Demetrius is essentially leaning on him leaning his weight against him right here right all his weight see his hips into it now if I’m if if I’m leaning on you Brandon and you move out of the way I’m gonna fall on my face right and so that’s what he does in this move he’s resetting his shot with this this movement and he’s given Demetrius nothing to lean on anymore which makes him off balance now watch when I pause it look at where demetrius’s base is now he’s got this huge gap meanwhile already reset and if I back it up even before I just want to show you the athleticism as well look at where he’s at I mean suhuru can you imagine one of our bodies trying to do this it’s not happening right to be on your knees in this split type stance while he took a quarter turn reset shot and he’s able from his knees to jump back onto his feet get the higher hips in this one win the exchange and then he’s back into that same position a lot of times in scrambles his second course of action in The Chain wrestling is the knee tap we saw that a while ago right the failed Inside Out trip he’ll go to the knee tap right here adjustment on the restart you see him right away tapping the knee overhand pushing you over one side goes left one side goes right and and it’ll finish it so high level exchanges right here high level wrestling chain wrestling I remember listening to this here hearing Daniel Cormier losing his mind because he recognized he was like this is some stuff that not everybody could do well Henry cejudo has done that to the way of winning not just the Flyway title over Demetrius Johnson and defending it but moving up to 135 pounds now he wants this bantamweight belt back we shift to the champion Al Jermaine Sterling the Funk Master and everybody knows what he wants to do and that’s get on the back and ride that backpack but he ends up doing it a lot of times anyways he’s gotten so good at doing this that that’s what we know him for the backpack that’s why that’s why it’s listed first this is what he gets to he’s not only gotten very good at taking them back but he’s gotten very good at staying on the back finding that control you see right here in this fight algeman Sterling very good at disguising his takedown so if I back it up a little bit you saw that punch punch to take down very um khabib Daniel Cormier that whole era of striking lands a nice little punch and immediately he’s looking for the takedown as well and look it’s a punch lands it’s just icing on the cake right he’s not really concerned about knocking you out as far as putting something to make you bring your guard up making the takedown a lot easier so he’s disguising his takedowns very well algerman Sterling now when he gets the penetration step he’s looking right here for a single leg he’s not necessarily he was going right there for a bit of a knee tap try to throw him down but this is where the mistake happens if you’re pure to yawn or you’re an opponent aljo shows to spin this way right and what he’s going to do is spin this way try to run this way and rip this leg out he’s trying to rip his leg out it’s kind of a Turn and Burn turn and run the problem with that is it works in MMA because there’s no there’s no wrestling shoes guys get slippery this is early in the fight this may be later in a fight fourth fifth round Turn and Burn run out you usually see Chael Sonnen have done this before and you have to gone early in the fight when these guys are still sticky and they’ve got a good grip you’re exposing your back you’re exposing your back and that’s all aljo does he’s looking for an opportunity look at this he’s not thinking stay with the single leg look at him his eyes are lit up right now if we could see another another camera angle his eyes are probably wide open because he sees the opportunity to take the back and that’s essentially all he’s looking for his wrestling is setting up looking for the takedowns and then he does very good at this he kind of serves on top he’ll base his arms he has pretty good arms the other arm is probably on the other side of him right about there and he’s just gonna surf with his hips he’s just waiting for the opportunity not to get shook if this if this base arm was in here he’d fall over right and so he’s just going to kind of keep his arms base and ride the waves ride it let you make a mistake to where he could finally take the back and lock up that body lock right here and you’re gonna see watch how smoothly he puts this in he’s got this left leg locks it in perfect position and so this is called the body lock you guys are probably educated on this already but it’s just a couple of things you have the body you have the leg wrapped right here behind the crook of the knee and then what he does really well is he takes his other foot his right leg and he puts it behind the knee right here and that just forces it kicks them over and keeping them on their hips because they’re trying to get on their back and turn back into you it’s forcing them to stay away from you the body lock is already restricting the breathing putting pressure on their back but really it’s affording him time if he had the hooks in and in my and by Hooks just a leg in each side this is more for an active guard you have the rear naked show but you’re also thinking maybe I want to throw an umbrella maybe I want to get to the Mount because this is too dangerous when you put the body lock in I’m 100 committing to the back and so aljo now has the option I have three minutes and 30 seconds to win this round beat them up or I’m going for the choke either way you’re probably not getting out of this position he’s gotten became a master at getting into this and this is how he either wins rounds or wins fights as we see in this one right here you can’t make a mistake and kick off balance and let him push you against the fence in this one a big mistake was made in this matchup by sanhagen if I back it up a small bit Brennan you’ll see the only thing allowing aljo not to take the back is this wizard right here it’s this right here you have to keep that in at all cool so at all costs if Henry suhuru finds out you’re taking it back he will not let go of this wizard he knows it but aljo keeps enough pressure on this one and he’s able to kind of shuck that whizzer off he’s going to kind of throw his arm this way and unfortunately San Hagan he gave up the back in this one and you’ll see right here a little bit of uncomfortable and he takes his arm out he didn’t like the way that felt you can’t take your arm out you see immediately aljo jumps on the back that’s what he wants he wants you to make a mistake immediately as you give him the bad keys on it he’s lacing in the body lock right here look how he adjust it look where he goes back to we talked about it a while ago he’s got the body lock in he’s got the foot he’s keeping you on your side and now he’s committed to this this is 30 seconds into this fight Sam Higgins in a world of trouble right now Al Jermaine Sterling trust his squeeze though he didn’t have it right there but he’s got the body lock in so he knows I’ve got all round I can soften them up I’m waiting for the opportune moment make him make a mistake make him pop his chin up in the air but he knows the Finish is inevitable and he has a tremendous squeeze right here his Corners are yelling put him to sleep put him to sleep they know aljo puts guys to sleep all the time in this if he gets the body lock on you it’s the beginning of the end he’s either going to put you to sleep or he’s going to ride you for the entirety of the realm and that of course was a huge win on his way to getting the title now he also likes to strike at range not in the way that Henry sahuto does he’s not explosive and may be powerful like that but it’s effective in his own unorthodox style that’s tough to track down very tough and he’s become very good at it right and if I had to talk about a speed thing I think aljo is faster in terms of lighter on his feet he’s just more fluid inside the Octagon he was more of an explosive 0-60 type Striker so the fluidity the light on their feet it plays itself and lends itself very well to being a ranging Striker because then you can dance around the octagon and do different things and keep guys at Bay but while we’re watching this piece I just want you to pay attention on how many things he’s throwing out there how many pokes and props and faints and hips and watch how many times he switches stances it’s giving you so much to to download to think about that it makes this opponents very uncomfortable look at look how uncomfortable periodontics every time he gets ready look how he kind of throws something now watch it watch the switch dances he’s gonna Circle this way you see switch dance left right left right switch again switch again now watch the lateral movement right here left right left right left right you get too close long kick comes up the middle he he’s he’s gotten so good at this that he makes his opponents very uncomfortable and he frustrates them and if he’s not frustrating them then he’s getting them to back off where he can then close the distance he’s got a seven inch reach advantage on suhuru when he gets into this range he’s able to unleash some more of his Arsenal so we I’ve been speaking a lot about suhudo’s fight IQ and I don’t want to downplay uh Al Jeremy Sterling’s fight IQ to me it’s just more more visible so what’s doing it’s not as visible to see with aljo because he’s got such a funky style right it’s so different but you see him making the reads he’s frustrated his opponents with that long range and then once he gets comfortable and he’s able to close that distance because now that nervous energy is gone now he’s making reads look how to make this read right here on Purity on he’s going to kind of dip a little bit pure to bites on it pewter immediately is defending the takedown algeman knows now I’m in range I’m closer he’s biting now is an opportunity for me to go do do a big move try to look for that finished knockout you see a little dip and he’s able to throw that knee that was set up just that faints that poked that prod getting close to inching my way in then it can explode this is the fight right here against Pedro Munoz though that that really leveled up this was kind of a coming out party in terms of striking for algerman Sterling because before this it was really a lot of kicking from distance a lot of kicking in him using his wrestling in this fight he was able to stay long frustrate Pedro have Pedro get more aggressive and this is where you saw Alger realize I’ve got that reach advantage and I could use this Pedro by the way somewhat comparable to enemies on top in terms of body type much shorter and and lesser Reach In The Arms algemin Again seven inch feature advantage and this is the fight he realized I could stay at my arm’s length and I could win these boxing exchanges and instead of doing so and having the confidence you should have seen a very confident boxing algebra starting look at this returning fire in evading this in and out movement works very very good against shorter guys if you can stay at your Arms Reach and be able to land consistently he’s going to have a lot of success here and you see even when Pedro was trying to fire back the shots were missing they were they weren’t Landing for him but they were Landing for aljo and so I like that he has added this to his game as well along with the movement and the pokes and the props and the long chicks up the middle he’s got that boxing range when he decides to sit down on it and that’s the type of fight that we haven’t seen Al Jermaine Sterling engage in very often certainly a confidence booster when that happens all right sometimes when it comes to grappling it takes a connoisseur of wrestling or Jiu Jitsu to appreciate the scrambles I don’t think this is that type of fight I think when they get to scrambling it’s going to be crazy to see how it ends up going and for algerman certainly if you think he’ll figure to need that scrambling ability against the huto yeah so the interesting thing about this one Brendan is that Sterling only has a 41 takedown defense now the UFC average is 56 so that’s below average you would think a guy that is so good in the grappling Department why is he getting taken down so much but the key to that is is because he sometimes is almost inviting these scrambles in because that creates opportunities for him to get the backpack for him to take the back so he’s not worried so much about the statistic of getting taken down because he’s never really held down for long he’s very good at keeping fluidity and movement going and looking for exchanges to sweep you or to possibly take the baggage you see here look this would be a takedown for a lot of people but he’s able to really fight out of it he doesn’t stay on his back for very long and you see with his leg right here he’s got this hook in he’s on his back but he’s not staying flat he’s working he’s using this little butterfly hook being very crafty and shifting his opponent’s weight this direction right so he’s off balancing his opponent all the time and as he’s doing this is one piece right here where his opponent was trying to regain his base if his opponent’s able to kind of kickstand his leg out right here that’s his base he’s not gonna roll forward alderman hyper aware of this immediately hooks that leg not allowing his opponent to base so in the midst of all this chaos and scrambles he’s The Thinker he’s very knowledgeable he knows just about body weight where it should go where it should be what I need to take away to complete something and he’s mastered this so even though he got taken down it was almost like he invited it he hooks that leg takes the bass away now he’s gonna just lean back and off balance his opponent because his opponent has no more Bass with his left leg trap aljamin stays with the scramble right here ends up on top another exchange is back and forth his opponent goes to the guillotine he’s not worried about it jumps over the hip frees his head all this happened in a matter of seconds right but this is Al Jermaine’s style because at the end of the day he ended up on top so he doesn’t worry that was maybe two or three takedowns counted against algerman Sterling but he finished in a dominant position so that’s what he’s worried about so we can’t look at the numbers so much in this matchup which aljo because he invites these takedowns he’s not worried about it you see right here he’s going to go for a throw it’s not there he’s going to look for this little scissor sweep a very dangerous one ends up on his back he’s not worried about it though look look at how uncomfortable he makes his opponent even though you would think he’s in a bad position he’s on his side he’s on his back he’s looking to off balance his opponent right here pulling the leg he’s got his head right here trapped he’s almost um kind of crushing down on the neck right here he’s always keeping it funky staying in this kind of world of you think you have me but this is playing into my hand this is playing in my chords because I’m looking for the opening that’s his style that’s his style create scrambles create havoc and hopefully somebody makes a mistake trying to escape or thinking that they’re in a dominant position when really he’s setting this all up because he’s very comfortable being uncomfortable well you mentioned the funky style of algeman Sterling no more fitting nickname for a fighter perhaps in the UFC The X Factor might just be that funk master style that he brings you said he’s tough to break down he’s also got to be very tough to prepare for a hundred percent how do you get guys like algerman Sterling you need to tell him yo man do a bunch of funky stuff but be excellent at it no no nobody could do that you could have guys that can move laterally guys that get out of wrestlers but he’s excellent at all of these things and I really think that when algerman is fighting at his best his creativity and his confidence gets him where he wants to be when he’s switching stances he’s he’s head rolling he’s throwing kicks and he’s throwing spinning moves you know that he’s feeling it and this is that funky style that as we just said how do you prepare for someone like this somebody that moves so wildly so athletic so strong now we’ve been hyping up the backpack and a lot of the reason is he’s so good at finding the bag because he’s so good at creating scrambles and he’s so good at finishing the backpack right body lock is what he likes to do but to finish the rear naked choke you’ve got to have a tremendous squeeze right you got to be good at it you can go this Gable grip Superman a lot of guys go traditional buying the head she has mastered the squeeze right and he trusts in his squeeze and so he finds himself in a position right here where he could trust in his squeeze and be creative because this is a head and armstroke right here and traditionally these are done from the top the top guy has the head and arm he’s putting his body pressure down his shoulder into the artery and and the downward pressure of gravity somebody’s weight on top of you coupled with the squeeze is what gets his choke algeman is on the bottom right here but he’s laced in in his hand and arm choke he believes in a squeeze right here and look at this you see the grip that he goes to it’s the same grip as his backpack it’s a rear naked choke some guys like to go Gable down on his head and arm choke he believes in it right now he’s got the power and the squeeze right here and he’s going to finish his stroke from the bottom which I believe this is one of the first times we’ve ever seen this done inside of the UFC but he’s got the capability to finish fights from any area as I said he didn’t even need the back right there he was able to just finish it from a bottom position because his squeeze is so strong when he finds himself in the more traditional position like this this is his go-to but everyone makes mistakes and algo made a mistake right there because he’s too far you see this distance right here he should be hip over hip right here his head’s on the foreground he’s way too far but as I said alge is a guy that his creativity That Funk Master style look at this that’s got to be so uncomfortable right now I mean I mean this double is Full Nelson right here just cranking on the arms looking to make his opponents make mistakes and then he’s got awareness right here he’s high again but he’s off to the side and you can see the vision of aljo he’s looking to the left and he notices that this leg is out there it’s out in the open so now Al Jermain is going to look to grab the knee grab the foot right there and use his shin that body lock as a fulcrum point right now he’s just and he’s just going to try to take this leg and he’s just going to try to bring it to his chest as hard as he can like an arm bar like when you see guys with the armor he’s going to squeeze it putting a tremendous amount of pain on his opponent and he’s either going to tap from the pain of it or he’s going to blow his knee out which in this one I think he really injured his knee but it shows the creativity that algebra Sterling has when he’s flowing man anything is possible with him he’ll take anything and everything if it’s available there’s a lot of different story lines here for Henry sahuto of course three years away now coming back from retirement he’s a decorated wrestler and Olympic champion but what is his X Factor for a combat sports athlete that’s so gifted in a lot of different departments you would think what you just said that we’re going to go right into some type of big double like slam right the power of His wrestling but it’s the other thing it’s a power of His striking he believes in himself because he learned early on once he got his first knockout probably when he first started hitting mitts his coach probably told him man you’ve got good power they’re right hands like a piston and he kept working it and being the obsessive type of learner that he is he perfected it and you see this is early on in his UFC career but I just want to show you this piston right hand notice the distance that he has to cover right here right we think about the algerman Sterling fight it’s going to be a long distance it’s going to be a far away he has to get past that long striking that elusive movement Henry suudo can cover distance double jab piston of her right hand on the chin knocks him down the majority of his opponents that he touches they go down he’s not a touch touch guy he’s a powerful explosive guy this one right here Brandon I mean I almost feel bad for showing this highlight because this is in terms of basketball when you break somebody’s ankle a juke move and they fall down Henry sahuto just shook him out of his boots on this one and he picked up on it and he’s going to capitalize on it later you see right here Henry has that right hand chamber watch him toy with his left hand right here he just kind of kind of toy with it kind of show some faints let him know that he’s in danger some invisible pressure and watched the reaction that he gets out of his opponent right here with that pumps that now watch the dip move oh my goodness oh he had to be embarrassed right there he’s looking at him in the eye he knows he bid on it hard Henry being a thinker he factored that in oh my goodness he just bit on my jab so bad I’m gonna have to capitalize on this throughout every fight Henry makes adjustments he comes back to it boom he couldn’t leave that one alone did the same thing showed that jab a little bit watch his lead hand he’s going to show this jab just faintly just ever so slightly because he’s trying to set up that right hand because he saw that Big Bite earlier here it goes boom show the jab there’s that piston right hand right down the middle sits you down tremendous power disguises it well and he set that one up on his own he didn’t wait for his opponent to make a mistake he did it on his own the power right here TJ gets a little bit off balance he’s able to push him off balance this one I think is going to be something that we have to watch out for and the AL Jermaine Sterling fight as well because in this one TJ’s a little off balance right and now he has two options he could either Circle this way but now he’s circling into the power hand coaches always say don’t circle into the power so you want to do the right thing you want to get away from the power where you can recover circling out this direction sometimes you should be safe you should think I can move out of the way if I start moving you’re not gonna be able to catch me with your punch but suhudo even moving laterally watch how he catches his opponent and this is even a flush shot remember it was a grazing shot but when you couple a grazing shot with speed and power the back of the temple like that the back of the head rather boom equilibriums knocked off TJ thought he was escaping really there was nowhere to go the powerful explosive Henry sahuro with this striking that has become his more dominant weapon with a wrestling in his back pocket this is the guy who’s very very confident in Striking and he has the ability to close the distance against somebody like algerman Sterling and that is of course when he cemented his status as a powerful flyweight Champion that defended a belt against CJ Dillashaw his power carried also up to 135 pounds which is of course now where he calls home now we’ll go into keys to Victory but we will start with the champion Al Jermaine Sterling what does he need to do to keep that belt I’ve showed you already guys he needs to stay long and Elusive stay at that range moving the entire time fainting keeping me so little guessing throwing those kicks up the middle and they find themselves in boxing range just like Pedro Munoz use a seven inch reach advantage in and out and then get back to Circle he needs to stay long sudo’s definitely the shorter man trying to cover the distance so he can’t just let him do that also find the back we talked about the backpack position in this one find a way to get to the back I’ll tell you this if if aljo shoots a takedown on Henry I think Henry is going to sprawl so hard he’s going to be flat on their mat right those are the opportunities to test testing wrestling capability of sahuto not in a chance of thinking I’m going to beat him but the pride of sahuto will do everything possible enough to get taken down by aljo and I think that’s going to open up an opportunity for him to find the back lastly keep him guessing that funk master style stay busy stay elusive do all these things we’re talking about but use that confidence that got you to this fight right he was a guy that some people thought might be retiring four or five fights ago now he’s a champion fighting in one of the biggest fights of his life right now keep them guessing keep that funky style throughout it let’s scroll over to Henry sahuto the former two division champ he wants the bantamweight belt back I think he has bigger plans and more belts in mind in his future but what has he got to do first to get the 135 pound strap he’s got to cut off the Octagon aljo is going to be moving side to side laterally the entire time it’s going to be a moving Target he has to cut off Falcon taking that step and following him to shut that off the entire time that way he could land those strikes but he doesn’t want to be being walk the dog to say like the boxing coaches say walk the dog he doesn’t want to be following he wants to be leading this dance against algerman Sterling next and this one close the distance with explosive strikes we’ve we’ve showed you he’s got a piston of a right hand and even if your opponent’s moving laterally he can hit you right there so cut off this octagon and find those opportunities to use what we said is his X Factor his striking world-class wrestler his striking can get the job done in his matchup makes Smart adjustments and capitalize on him with that striking and lastly control the grappling exchanges he’s the better wrestler but again we feel like there are opportunities there for aljo to take his back or he’s going to be trying to take his back and that’s the secret weapon getting that body lock in so whenever he sprawls be cautious about it whenever he makes a gets into the clinch be cautious about it because I think he will take algerman Sterling down but as we showed algerman is comfortable being taken down because he’s looking to create a scramble be smart control this exchanges and he’s very dominant when he gets on top if you can hold aljo down it might be an opening or a possibility to finish the fight there as well quick follow-up question on Henry sehudo three years away what will you look for early in the fight to let us know that Henry sahuto is indeed back and at his best oh that’s a very interesting question three years away and so when that happens with a lot of Fighters we wonder how will they look I’m going to honestly his walk out when he’s walking out how is he looking how the focus there is kind of tells me a little bit about how they’re acting and then right away when the fight starts I want to see if he’s making these reads because Henry’s a guy that you could see him studying Fighters and if I see him studying aljo and then making that adjustment right there I see he’s in the zone if if he’s kind of a deer in headlights and sweating then I think that something off he’s going to take him a minute to get his timing in these fights well the oddsmakers basically have this fight as a coin flip to remind you when Henry sahuto was last in action it was UFC 249 when much of the world was still stopped in May of 2020 and the UFC return to Jacksonville Florida now after three years he wants that bantamweight belt back of but of course A lot has happened since then in Al Jermaine Sterling is the champion who looks to defend again for Alan joban I’m Brenda Fitzgerald thanks for watching UFC breakdown enjoy the main event at UFC 288.