Roman Dolidze's Masterclass Against Jack Hermansson Last Night

[EndlessCritic]

For context, Ronaldo Souza fought Hermansson several years ago, and had several opportunities to grapple with Hermansson. Hermansson completely shut Jacare down.

Last night Dolidze showed that the closed guard is not dead in MMA.

In the first round, Hermansson took Doldize down, only for Dolidze to instantly sweep him with a pendulum sweep.

In round 2, Hermansson took Dolidze down again, and instead of going for the pendulum, Doldize locked up a modified triangle (no gif).

After slipping out of the triangle, Doldize continued hunting submissions off his back, ultimately catching Hermansson with a calf slicer, which he used to finish Hermansson with ground and pound.

 

[maximus__]

For context, Ronaldo Souza fought Hermansson several years ago, and had several opportunities to grapple with Hermansson. Hermansson completely shut Jacare down.

Last night Dolidze showed that the closed guard is not dead in MMA.

In the first round, Hermansson took Doldize down, only for Dolidze to instantly sweep him with a pendulum sweep.

In round 2, Hermansson took Dolidze down again, and instead of going for the pendulum, Doldize locked up a modified triangle (no gif).

After slipping out of the triangle, Doldize continued hunting submissions off his back, ultimately catching Hermansson with a calf slicer, which he used to finish Hermansson with ground and pound.

It was a great little sequence against one of the best grapplers at 185. Someone did put a gif up of the inverted triangle but the Sherdog search function is useless.

Only way it could have been better is if he went for the camel clutch from there...

 

[BJJ Coffee Drinker]

amazing. everything is at sometime considered "dead" until everyone forgets about it and they make a comeback

with BJJ and guardwork, its taking s lot longer to make a comeback since the rules favor short 5 minute rounds, frequent referee standups, and incentive to not fight on the ground

 

[RemyR]

Man wish I was better at the pendulum sweep

 

[rande028]

That calf slicer looks nasty, how did he not tap from that?

Only thing that would of the made the pendulum sweep better is if ended up in mount.

 

[Oblivian]

That calf slicer looks nasty, how did he not tap from that?

Only thing that would of the made the pendulum sweep better is if ended up in mount.

He was definitely in pain. Twice you can see him grimace very hard. Honestly, that was one of the coolest sequences that I've seen in MMA.

 

[rande028]

He was definitely in pain. Twice you can see him grimace very hard. Honestly, that was one of the coolest sequences that I've seen in MMA.

For sure. Seems like Jack should of tried to escape/stand up instead of turning into Roman and trying to keep top position. Looking forward to Roman's next fight.

 

[Long Dark Blues]

Love that fucking calf slicer!

 

[mattemate]

For sure. Seems like Jack should of tried to escape/stand up instead of turning into Roman and trying to keep top position. Looking forward to Roman's next fight.

Yeah, he wasn't getting out of that position any time soon. He was zipped up. I watched it looking for a way out. You can't pull your leg out. Dolidze never got complete wrist control, but he didn't really need to, he used gravity instead. Hermanson would have needed to get on his left side a bit and done basically a complete forward roll and come up behind Dolidze or in a better scramble position, but it's easier said than done when you have a guy like that pounding on you.

 

[maximus__]

Yeah, he wasn't getting out of that position any time soon. He was zipped up. I watched it looking for a way out. You can't pull your leg out. Dolidze never got complete wrist control, but he didn't really need to, he used gravity instead. Hermanson would have needed to get on his left side a bit and done basically a complete forward roll and come up behind Dolidze or in a better scramble position, but it's easier said than done when you have a guy like that pounding on you.

The only way I could see out at that point was to push up and completely sacrifice the knee with an attempt to get to the side.
All whilst being punched in the head and not even actually escaping anything just changing from being belly down.

 

[rande028]

Yeah, he wasn't getting out of that position any time soon. He was zipped up. I watched it looking for a way out. You can't pull your leg out. Dolidze never got complete wrist control, but he didn't really need to, he used gravity instead. Hermanson would have needed to get on his left side a bit and done basically a complete forward roll and come up behind Dolidze or in a better scramble position, but it's easier said than done when you have a guy like that pounding on you.

I was more thinking on the initial grab. It looks like Jack was trying to knee cut to get back on top/turn into him but his leg ended up being trapped. That's where I think he should of bailed and tried to get up. At lease when I'm working against people attacking the legs I always try to keep them out before they get too far ahead. Easier said after the fact. I don't think many people are going to give Roman much time to play with their legs going forward.

 

[EndlessCritic]

Easier said after the fact. I don't think many people are going to give Roman much time to play with their legs going forward.

What's even crazier is that it's his second fight in a row where his KO was caused by a leglock.

Against Hawes, he got taken down, and immediately started brutalizing Hawes with elbows, went for an armbar into a leglock, and badly injured Hawes' knee. Miragliotta then did the equivalent of saying "Finish him", and Dolidze sent Hawes to the shadow realm.

 

[mattemate]

The only way I could see out at that point was to push up and completely sacrifice the knee with an attempt to get to the side.
All whilst being punched in the head and not even actually escaping anything just changing from being belly down.

I was trying to post screenshots with an explanation, but the files were too large. The thing is, there was a chance to escape right before the calf slicer was on too deep. As Hermanson was trying to escape, he was trying to knee slide out and keep turning around in the same direction. He could have rolled in the opposite direction, gotten into a truck type position, and taken the back himself.

He came into this fight WAYYY too confident in his ground work.

 

[Kratos94]

I wish he would learn how to better defend takedowns

 

[Flower2dPeople]

I wish he would learn how to better defend takedowns

And deny the audience with those sweet transitions?

 

[kjg1672]

I scared the hell out of my dog with the yell I let out after seeing that pendulum sweep.

 

[Mikey Triangles]

For sure. Seems like Jack should of tried to escape/stand up instead of turning into Roman and trying to keep top position. Looking forward to Roman's next fight.

For sure.

 

[mattemate]

You know what's funny? I have heard of Lou Thesz for years but had never watched any footage of this. A few days before the fight we're talking about, I watched this video. I was especially interested in a position he got here (the video is timestamped) that I thought looked particularly brutal and dominant. I made a mental note of it and thought I would go back and watch it some more then try it. And Hermansson ended up being finished in a VERY similar position.

I like the entry too, straight from closed guard, dump over to one side like you're going for a Boston crab, keep turning the same direction, keep just one leg, trap their right leg, hold their left shoulder, and do whatver the hell you want. Not quite a calf slicer, and Thesz is using his left leg instead of right, and his opponent's knee goes out instead of in. Both are nasty. Just so weird that I saw and was thinking about this move right before something similar happened.

What would you call this position?

 

[EndlessCritic]

You know what's funny? I have heard of Lou Thesz for years but had never watched any footage of this. A few days before the fight we're talking about, I watched this video. I was especially interested in a position he got here (the video is timestamped) that I thought looked particularly brutal and dominant. I made a mental note of it and thought I would go back and watch it some more then try it. And Hermansson ended up being finished in a VERY similar position.

I like the entry too, straight from closed guard, dump over to one side like you're going for a Boston crab, keep turning the same direction, keep just one leg, trap their right leg, hold their left shoulder, and do whatver the hell you want. Not quite a calf slicer, and Thesz is using his left leg instead of right, and his opponent's knee goes out instead of in. Both are nasty. Just so weird that I saw and was thinking about this move right before something similar happened.

What would you call this position?

Gracies call it a single leg toehold



Also note the top rated comment on the video:

"Long time BJJ practitionner here who recently got his black belt. A few years back, this police tactic technique was shown to me by Master Royler Gracie in one of his seminars. A few minutes later, I was performing the move on a stingy/sturdy advanced student who, out of curiosity, wanted to see if he could escape using resistance before the technique was fully applied. He ended up stretching my knee sideways and tearing my LCL as I was performing the move on him. Use this move with extreme caution, guys. I personally wouldn't use this ever and even less for self-defense. Id go with a more traditional back take with hooks, triple attack, back mount (depending on how he turns) that doesn't require everyone's legs being tangled together in a way that may backfire on you if he powers out by stretching his legs, which he most likely will. I'm not doubting the technique once fully & correctly applied. It's that transition period when you're going for it that Im worried about. I guess Im what they call a scalded cat for this specific technique."

 

[rmongler]

For context, Ronaldo Souza fought Hermansson several years ago, and had several opportunities to grapple with Hermansson. Hermansson completely shut Jacare down.

Last night Dolidze showed that the closed guard is not dead in MMA.

In the first round, Hermansson took Doldize down, only for Dolidze to instantly sweep him with a pendulum sweep.

In round 2, Hermansson took Dolidze down again, and instead of going for the pendulum, Doldize locked up a modified triangle (no gif).

After slipping out of the triangle, Doldize continued hunting submissions off his back, ultimately catching Hermansson with a calf slicer, which he used to finish Hermansson with ground and pound.

Old timers would always talk about how great the stepover toe hold is. You can see why!