Shaping a Fight: Topuria, Cannonier, and Tsarukyan
How Positions, Poses, and Shapes Shape the Outcome of a Fight
Emmett vs. Topuria
Ilia Topuria is undefeated and 6-0 in the UFC in one of the most competitive divisions: featherweight. Topuria also has a victory at lightweight against Jai Herbert, whom he beat by knockout. On UFC on ABC: Emmett vs. Topuria, Topuria beat the long-time featherweight contender Josh Emmett by unanimous decision (50-44, 50-42, 49-45). This fight was anticipated to be a significant test for Topuria and an opportunity for Emmett to regain his footing in the race for the featherweight title.
In most cases, the challenge proves overwhelming for rising talents; otherwise, there would be frequent power shifts across divisions. However, in this fight, Topuria showcased superior polish and patience, while the veteran Emmett relied on his speed and power.
Since Topuria's entrance into the UFC, Fight Study cohost Coach Jason Sargus has said he's a future title contender. On his recent performance, Jason said:
Topuria does so much of what I feel MMA should be and how it should look. His managing of distance, leverage, and timing for mixed martial arts are truly impressive for such a young fighter.
To overcome power and athleticism, you need positional dominance, and that's precisely what Topuria demonstrated right from the beginning of the fight.
Topuria's hands are in Position Zero, and his feet are in L-stance, while Emmett stands more sideways and leans forward. Based on Emmett's positioning and weight distribution, his head is in front of his knee, his weight is on his lead leg, and his lead foot is turned inward. This makes it harder to avoid both jabs and low kicks. Throughout the fight, Topuria successfully utilized both jabs and low kicks, employing feints to further disorient Emmett in the process.
Emmett's long sideways stance enables him to generate power for his right overhand and to draw out Topuria's attacks, creating opportunities for counters. However, this stance poses a drawback: it hinders his ability to throw combinations effectively and instead leads him to rely on individual power shots.
This stylistic match-up proved unfavorable for Emmett, as both are boxer-wrestler athletes, except Topuria is the better boxer, wrestler, and positional fighter who also throws kicks and body shots.
Emmett's primary stance is sideways with his feet far apart, but when he defends, he brings his feet together, gets tall, and covers his eyes with his hands. This made it easy for Topuria to punch a blind fighter who was out of position.
One of the first impactful shots to buzz Emmett occurred when he was standing tall, with his hands flailing, his feet close together, and hopping into the air. He got so tall he got vertical. Emmett has a habit of stepping back and out of position, and Topuria made him pay for it.
During an exchange of hooks towards the end of round 2, Emmett got tall to throw a left hook, while Topuria threw a right hook while remaining in stance. In terms of mechanics, a left hook should typically land before a right hook due to its proximity to the opponent. But since Emmett was so tall, his hook sailed over Topuria's head, whereas Topuria's right hook came second but landed on an exposed Emmett.
Jason said Topuria and his team "game planned for Emmett and his power shots almost perfectly. It was as good of boxing for MMA as I have ever seen. Giving ground to find jabs and right hands. Feints, doubling up jabs and right hands, shoulder and hand position. People call these 'the little things,' but they really aren't. They're just called that because so many in mixed martial arts miss them."
To avoid Topuria's power, Emmett was constantly told by his team to circle right. However, since Topuria kept closing time-space, Emmett found himself circling right—right into the cage. Backing up to the fence makes you an immobile target because you're pinned. And despite this being Emmett's plan, he is not adept at attacking while moving to the right. He is most effective approach circling to the left or moving straight forward. As Jason pointed out, Topuria would give ground to create openings for counterattacks.
Due to Emmett's long stance and his weight leaning forward, stepping back is a long trip, leaving him vulnerable to kicks during the transition while his lead leg is still extended. In addition to being out of position to defend against kicks, Emmett frequently found himself obstructing his own vision, making it difficult to see the kicks coming. These difficulties for Emmett highlight the importance of Position Zero, your starting pose.
According to Jason, Topuria was masterful at drawing out Emmett's most dangerous shots and "picking him off with the jabs and follow-up combos. Never staying in the pocket for a random slugfest. Always in the pocket with vision and purpose."
By vision and purpose, Jason means:
Shorter, faster, straighter shots in exchanges. Drawing out and anticipating big swings, then countering with speed and precision and stiff power as opposed to loading up. His knockdown with a left hook came from an upward trajectory and a shortened arm position, but he still managed to get great torque and not over-rotate.
Once again, the issue can be traced back to the difference in positions. Topuria maintained an L-stance with balanced weight distribution, whereas Emmett's long stance had him leaning backward and completely out of position to effectively take or deliver a punch. This precarious situation arose because Emmett was instructed to attack by circling to his right, a direction in which he struggled to effectively attack.
Since Topuria's feet are underneath him, it was easy for him to land his punch and duck the left hook. Rather than throwing a different technique, Topuria adapted his left hook based on the context. Having one move you can adapt to various situations is much more applicable to a live fight than having a separate move for each specific situation.
In the final round, Emmett found himself in need of a knockout. But instead, Topuria's shut him down with a double-leg tackle. Jason explained:
He baited the big swing and timed it perfectly and took away Emmett's last and only hope. Made it look so pretty that even the haters couldn't say shit.
Emmett's defensive response of stepping back, covering his eyes, and bringing his feet together created the opening for Topuria's takedown.
Topuria finished the fight on top, pounding Emmett out. Despite going to a decision, Topuria came close to finishing the fight on several occasions.
Vettori vs. Cannonier
In the UFC on ESPN: Vettori vs. Cannonier event, middleweight contenders Marvin Vettori and Jared Cannonier faced off. In the first round, Vettori had Cannonier in trouble, mainly because Cannonier fought from southpaw. Their parallel stances allowed Vettori to effectively use jabs, one-twos, and anticipate low kicks. However, Vettori misjudged Cannonier's defense, which proved to be stronger from the orthodox stance. Despite this, Vettori continued to perform well in the second round, landing his shots, but failing to give enough respect to Cannonier. While Vettori had almost finished Cannonier in round 1 and attempted to do so in round 2 with his left straight, Cannonier started slipping Vettori's jabs and countering with low kicks. Vettori struggled with adjusting, particularly as Cannonier switched to the orthodox stance, preventing Vettori from setting up his left straight with his right jab and failing to consider outside foot positioning.
Despite Cannonier having the outside foot position, Vettori threw a left straight without a setup.
Cannonier slipped and came back with a right overhand counter and spun Vettori's head around. While Vettori showed an iron chin by continuing to fight, he struggled to recover from the blow. Sometimes you can get rocked, and though you don't go down, you can't see straight from then on. That's what looked like happened, and Vettorri couldn't see or defend against Cannonier's subsequent strikes. The cumulative damage and Cannonier's varied offense further hindered Vettori's ability to predict or react to his opponent's attacks, including takedowns.
Cannonier won a unanimous decision (49–45, 49–45, 48–46).
Tsarukyan vs. Silva
In the co-main event, Arman Tsarukyan faced Joaquim Silva. Tsarukyan was dominating the fight with his mix of kickboxing and wrestling, but his striking success stemmed from the threat of his wrestling. Tsarukyan was finding his shots because he didn't care about maintaining his stance since Silva was constantly on the retreat.
In round 2, Silva decided to stop retreating and counter Tsarukyan's attacks. Eventually, Silva caught Tsarukyan completely out of position as he marched into strikes. Silva was in L-stance, and Tsarukyan was standing tall with his feet horizontal while throwing an off-balanced shot.
Tsarukyan, luckily was not completely out and was able to use his wrestling to recover. From then on, Tsarukyan returned to his wrestling and finished Silva in the third round.
Along with speed, power, and athleticism is positioning. Better positioning can overcome athleticism.
Despite Silva being in a better position for his left hook, when he had Tsarukyan rocked, Silva's aggression to secure a finish caused him to compromise his own positioning. Tsarukyan needed to grapple to recover, and when he sought the clinch, it was Silva who found himself standing tall with his feet close together (I-block), inviting the clinch, while Tsarukyan maintained a better overall position, enabling him to capitalize on the situation.
The fight between Tsarukyan and Silva was not a clash between a superior positional fighter and a superior athlete; it was a battle between two athletes who predominantly relied on their physical attributes rather than positioning. It just so happened that Tsarukyan found more favorable positions due to being a superior wrestler and athlete.
In MMA, fight-changing moments frequently unfold when one fighter gets out of position and the other fighter capitalizes on the situation. Positions, poses, and shapes not only unlock the mystery of martial arts, they also shape the outcome of a fight.
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