Natty king Babuli Tsoloev finishing double legs on the cage with a cutback, suddenly changing the angle, pulling his opponent off the cage, and redirecting his hip pressure

Strickland uses his lead uppercut to stand Fluffy up for a right hand as he changes levels

Strickland started doing more damage to Fluffy once he started standing his ground, meeting his pressure by ducking into the clinch & pushing off There's a lesson here that knowing how to close distance on your own initiative is an important skill for outfighters

Some of the best moments Fluffy found vs Strickland came by changing lvs & occupying Strickland's hands to frame, then uppercutting him Sadly he couldn't get any clean shots at Strickland's hips because he kept getting framed away He should've read my guide to takedown entries

Strickland likes to backstep into southpaw while circling when opponents press forward This is impossible to counter for Middleweights, who are contractually obligated not to attack multiple lvs in combination Kai kept doing it against Pantoja, but Pantoja just punted his body

Jacobe Smith launches other guy up for a polish throw

Ige tries to counter Melq's low side kick only to get booped by a backstepping counter

Melq softening up Ige's arms with round kicks, then sneaking a cheeky front kick up the middle when Ige goes southpaw

Melq rips Ige off balance in the clinch, suddenly creating a lot of space and changing the angle while pulling Ige into him

Muay Thai Melq gets off the cage by intercepting Ige with an elbow, grabbing on and pivoting back to the center, and landing a knee on the way out

At long last, the eagerly awaited finale to my series on takedown entries has arrived 🧵 Part one covered basics, now we're discussing advanced entries suited either for crafty strikers who can get cute with their setups, or pure wrestlers who aren't comfortable striking into them

Tomorrow

Lucas Gabriel shows off some sick grappling chops, threatening a waiter sweep, wrestling up using the space created, then rolling back under and finally using a calf slicer to come on top

Lucas Gabriel catches a kick and goes to pass it across his body, but Magomed Akaev counters with a spinning backfist

Yusup-Khadzhi Zubariev destroys Artem Reznikov with front kicks and bicycle kicks/knees Never seen someone have so much fun with jumping attacks of their lead leg before

Bibert crushes Alexander Grozin with a sick combo, jabbing him to the cage, cutting him off with the lead hook, then smashing him with the rear hand

Bibert Tumenov's aggressive boxing opens him up to reactive takedowns, but he mitigates that by keeping his hands extended and proactively changing levels. When opponents try to duck in off his entries, he can frame off and keep hitting

Ali Bagov secures front headlock to kill his opponent's scramble and takes him back down

Ali Bagov uses knees to the body from half guard to secure a cross face and pass to mount

Even as an old welterweight, Ali Bagov still has some neat takedowns

Donchenko hits a cheeky little sweep

Donchenko lands a leg kick on the clinch break

Danil Donchenko setting up his leg kicks with head movement, his back and forth weight transfers disguising the kick as he shifts weight over his lead foot

Albert Tumenov thought he found a way off the mat, but Magomedrasul Gasanov said "lol, lmao"

Farid Basharat uses a knee shield to create space and keep Matsumoto's hips from squaring up, making it easier to turn him as he pummels an underhook

Mario Bautista hitting a reactive double leg off a backstep into southpaw I covered this tactic in my recent article on takedown entries

The Brazilian lady who fought Wang Cong hits a cool Rani Yahya style roll under takedown

Wang Cong demonstrates why hitting the body is useful against wrestlers

Wiklacz tried using counter elbows and knees to stymie Gafurov's aggressive punching He's very sloppy and has a lot of technical issues, but the broad shape of a fairly sharp fighter is there

Gafurov hits a foot sweep as Wiklacz tries a knee

Flying boop

Jean Silva using a little cross body trip to get out of a rear bodylock

Jean Silva smashing Allen with a spinning elbow

Allen bounces outside Silva's lead foot and scores a clean body hook

Some neat clinch work from both Silva and Allen. Allen lands a big knee to the jaw, then Silva gets 2 on 1 wrist control, angles his shoulder in to force separation, and spins on the way out.

Jean Silva isn't a super deep offensive boxer, but his body hook and combos off it do a lot of work setting up hurting shots in closed stance engagements He feints into it well so he's not super easy to counter and you have to respect its power enough to expose yourself

Jean Silva showing off slick clinch work, taking a single leg and climbing to an underhook, establishing head position, then landing an elbow as Allen tries to apply overhook pressure On the cage he threatens a trip and lands an elbow, making it easier to trip Allen next time

Early in their fight, Jean Silva would try to control Allen's lead hand to draw out his rear so he could counter Allen messed up his timing for counters by flicking out quick straight lefts without weight transfer, shaving time off the delivery and eschewing the usual tells

Arnold Allen had success circling away from Silva early, but he would blade his stance and get behind his lead shoulder to avoid the hook Silva started catching him on the pivot, sneaking his own lead foot outside and cutting him off, then landing his rear hand

Sam Elliot checks the first kick but Jimmy kicks to his back leg too. Clearly, Jimmy traveled to the future and read @www.mixingmartialarts.com's "3 Neat Strikers You've Never Heard Of" segment on Bird Sangkhim. Clearly.

Always excited for anything Ryan puts out! This is no exception!

I made a video about something my latest article discussed - split step takedown entries Entering on a split step is a great way to get a clean route onto the hips from far away It also solves some issues with changing levels in an upright stance without visible telegraph

Dokonjonosuke Mishima does a little battering of Takanori Gomi on the ground. Those punches to the back of Gomi's are head are 100% legal. Shooto was the only MMA org that allowed that and wouldn't change those rules until 2008.

Dauren Ermekov surprises his opponent by sneaking a punch behind a front kick

Dauren Ermekov staples his opponent's calf to the mat and hits a nasty RNC with no hooks in

Fun scramble between Akopyan & Bukuev Akopyan fights grips to escape the back and circles off as Bukuev shoots in again, ending up trapping his arm inside the leg As Bukuev tries to posture up and finish the takedown, Akopyan uses a crotch lock to tilt him forward off balance

Aren Akopyan escapes the cage and goes hog wild on the break

Maharbek Karginov destroys Enrique Barzola by pairing his knee and left hand

Maharbek Karginov beats Enrique Barzola up in transition, standing him up with an uppercut, dumping him on his ass, then posting on his head and landing a knee as he stands back up

Alexander Grozin drops Felipe Froes with a body-head combo