I thought he looked good off his back, most impressive was that arm bar sweep and the damage he was able to do from the bottom against a very skilled grappler. He defiantly got out wrestled but overall I'd like to see more of him.
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I thought he looked good off his back, most impressive was that arm bar sweep and the damage he was able to do from the bottom against a very skilled grappler. He defiantly got out wrestled but overall I'd like to see more of him.
One of the best jiu jitsu displays in a while in an MMA fight.
Fuck wrestling!
I hope i dont get in trouble for swearing..
Oh and i forgot to say, i was so happy that brian won. He did an awesome job!
BUT some rubber guard would could have stopped the fight MUCH earlier!! but nice blocking and elbows from the bottom :)
Love it when someone uses good jiu-jitsu in the UFC especially if they bring the heat also from the bottom!!
I'm a fan of brian! since his first UFC appearance
and he defently looked comfortable standing up too :)
Awesome that he used straight up GJJ fundamentals from their curriculum. He landed some sick elbows from the bottom, too. Great fight card all around.
He's like a featherweight Nog :)
I was a big fan. It was beautiful jiu jitsu!
If i can add any respectful criticism, I do think he could have implemented a slightly better strategy at times. He seemed to settle for the bottom in the first two rounds, and I i were his coach/teammate I would have liked to see him sprawl a bit more and take top position. There were plenty of times when he should have swept and ended up on top. Dont get me wrong, in a jiu jitsu match his strategy would be absolutely fantastic.
Being said, this is MMA and I also feel like he absorbed some shots that a better strategy would have saved him from. If he wants to be super exciting for now, its all good. But for the longevity of his career he should also look to end up on top more and then use that same exciting jiu jitsu on top to finish the fights sooner, all while absorbing less damage whenever possible. He did move a lot and didnt seem to take a lot of direct punches or elbows while on the bottom, but there were definitely a few that landed clean.
Awesome fight but I'm not sure Ortega won because of his Jiu Jitsu although he did have some nice sweeps / reversals. I believe he won because he had better striking and stamina I suppose you could argue that Ortega did a better job of managing his energy which would be Jiu Jitsu related. There is a good chance that Ortega would have lost the fight if it had gone to a decision and in that case he would have lost due to his Jiu Jitsu style.
Tavares played the role of a wrestler who was hell bent on top control ground and pound and it nearly won him the fight. - I still believe in Rubber Guard in this scenario and I think Tavares would have been much less effective and Ortega would have had a better chance of finishing him with elbows from Rubber Guard.
Ortega's guard was open the majority of the time and Tavares could have stood up and walked away anytime he wanted to; if Tavares was the superior striker this fight could have looked very bad for Gracie Jiu Jitsu.
I have not watched Ortega enough to know if this is his primary guard strategy or if it was based on Tavares's style but I don't think it would have been effective against Aldo, Mendes, McGregor, Edgar, etc. as they would have just kept it on the feet.
Either way, I am excited to see him fight again, just my two cents.
Just saw this fight. That has to be some of the best BJJ I have ever seen in the cage.
When he got mounted I was wondering if he would use that "hail mary" leg lock escape, and he did. That was dope haha
I'd almost say that with his style, as developed as he's become at Gracie JJ guard, he could probably craft a nice career without adding rubber guard. Very, very, very few guys I've watched in mma lately that work off their back like Ortega. Not to say one style is superior to another, but just shows that there are levels to every type of strategy. Tavares is a solid wrestler and a black belt with great ground and pound, but he took a ton of damage while in Ortega's guard and only slipped outta the triangle attempts cuz of all the blood. Ortega's heart is what won it in the end. He's improved his striking for sure. But my opinion, I think he could bring back the idea of winning fights off your back. He looked pretty damn comfortable there and was super fun to watch.