‘No Love’ gets love: Cruz vs. Garbrant in the works for UFC 207

UFC 205 on November 12 with its three title defenses will be the greatest card in mixed martial arts history. However, UFC 207 on December 30 is shaping up to be epic as well.

The UFC traditionally puts on a huge card for New Years Eve, and putting a returning Ronda Rousey vs. women’s bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes qualifies.

But now Ariel Helwani reports for MMA Fighting that UFC men’s bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz will face Cody Garbrandt in the co-main.

Cruz sits at #2 on the UFC’s Pound-for-Pound rankings, just behind Demetrious Johnson. Garbrandt is currently the #6 contender at bantamweight, but he is a perfect 10-0, and holds three knockouts, all in the first round, all in this year, in a row.

#1 contender T.J. Dillashaw has been vocal about his desire for a rematch with Cruz, arguing that it is no longer a sport if they don’t give him a title shot. It is not known what the UFC plans to do with him. It is known that he will be upset.

Cruz may be the #1 P4P fighter in mixed martial arts. If his innovations take hold, he may end up being on its Mount Rushmore.

MMA was born from Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. At one point the state of the art was standing with your lead arm out straight in front, weight back, using an awkward stomp with the lead leg, to set up a scrambled rush to get in close. From there the aim was to the drag the opponent down, where submissions ruled.

Then proper striking was added to the play of the game. Then wrestling. At present, wrestling is the dominant influence in the sport. The wrestling is subtle though, allowing the fighter to dictate where the fight takes place. And often where the fighter wants to be is standing, and striking. So an effective striking game be the result of strong wrestling.

The most obvious style of play in MMA is Dutch Kickboxing. Kyokushin competitors in Holland and Japan combined western boxing with knockdown karate, and then fought with and borrowed from Thai boxers. Muay Thai is characterized by ferociously powerful kicks, knees, clinch work, elbows, and relatively little circling. By contrast, Dutch Kickboxing shows far more boxing, far less clinching and elbows, more striking combinations often ending with a kick, and more footwork.

Now a radically different style of play has entered the sport – Neo Footwork. At its most basic level, Neo Footwork means being able to strike effectively from anywhere, with either side forward, rather than trying to line everything up from the modified orthodox boxing stance that predominates in MMA. There are however a large and growing number of techniques and strategies to keep at an unorthodox distance, and reach unorthodox angles.

Dominick Cruz is the father of Neo Footwork. He works from a base of fundamental movements, beginning with the most fundamental.

Step Drag
Step drag in four directions
double step
in and out + forward and back

Shifting
Muay Thai base switch
Ali Shuffle
Stepping

Pivoting
90 forward
90 back (head forward and back)
pivot 180 back

Striding
Step forward
Wrong step forward
Sprint forward
Backpedal

Circling
Use lunge
Use shuffle
Fast switch

Hopping
Forward
Back
Forward and back
Open-Close
Flip – hop 90

Crouching
Level change
Philly Shell

These basic footwork movements can be combined into a flow chart of movements that are characteristically simultaneously offense and defense, when strikes are added.

Cruz’s game is built around a very simple premise. If you can keep yourself safe, and know what the other fighter is going to do, then you will win.

Everything in fighting is a set-up. Any strike, any takedown, any submission without a set up is anti-fighting – it is setting yourself up to be countered.

Cruz’s most fundamental set up is a hop forward into a crouched Philly Shell, with the head off center and out of the pocket. First time or multiple times, he immediately hops back, reading the opponent’s reaction safely. Then Cruz beats him up according to how the fighter reacts.

If you do nothing, he will hop in with a jab. If you then shell up, he will flurry. If you shell and back up, he will flurry while moving forward.

If you jab, he will come out of the shell with an uppercut. But because his head started off center, his head is doing a huge slip as he uppercuts.

If you set down and fire, he’s already changed his level, and will double leg you.

Among his most common attacks from the outside is a wrong stepping punch. After he can immediately slide into a stance, pivot to the opposite stance, or stride through and pivot, escaping your attack, and leaving you open to his.

He will also underhook instead of punching with a wrong step, and when you pummel back, he knee taps you to the mat. Knee taps don’t provide a particularly secure takedown, but they build up points, and demoralize and tire the opponent.

There is of course much more to it, but words are not the ideal means to convey how to fight. That said, Cruz’s own words offer tremendous insight.

He recently spoke with the host of the Heavy Hands podcast and Ph.D. student Patrick Wyman about what is going on when he fights. Then Wyman wrote an article on it for the sage Washington Post.

I don’t get a lot of credit for [defense] because it’s kind of nonexistent in the sport, explained Cruz. It’s something that I’ve been focused on, so that when I fought a guy with very good offense, a good defense will always beat a good offense.

When they start throwing stuff at me, I’m making certain reads, certain adjustments. I’m circling certain ways, and a lot of my defense is mistaken as running when really I’m steering. When you’re steering someone, you’re actually moving them into your offense.

I’m killing two birds with one stone because while I’m being offensive, I’m also being defensive. You put the two things together at once and it creates havoc for the person you’re fighting.

If I’m not going to have as many reads, then that allows me to circle to whatever side I need to and keep offensive, keep going, and keep landing on him.

Garbrandt’s blistering, heavy handed style will provide an interesting test for Cruz. And another of the champ’s abilities is getting in the opponent’s head, but that’s another story.