FS Transcript & Tape Study: Buakaw, Gane, and Whittaker (Patreon)

• LMA Curriculum 

Let's first talk about Buakaw Banchamek's bare-knuckle debut during BKFC Thailand 3 against another muay Thai and kickboxing specialist in Erkan Varol. Buakaw won the fight by first-round TKO.

The first noticeable thing about this short fight was Buakaw's stance. He had a longer stance than usual, and his feet positioning was what I call the L-stance, where your front foot points forward, and your rear foot is perpendicular to your front foot. Making an L. The other noticeable thing was Buakaw's guard. Rather than his wrists pointing out, his wrists were facing in, and his hands were open and high. These aren't adjustments he made because he was boxing; these are adjustments he made because there were no gloves, and it's now that much easier for you to get punched to the head.

Without worrying about kicks, it made sense to have a longer stance because he'll have to rely more on upper body movement to avoid punches. He also needed his longer stance to have his legs underneath him to throw more power into his punches and to cut off his opponent. The longer stance also increases his reach, which is important when you don't have kicks. In a shorter stance, you lose upper body mobility and power in your punches, but what you get in return is more versatility with your legs. You also lose some ability to corner your opponent in a shorter stance, but in return, you have a better ability to clinch. The long guard makes less sense if you can't kick and there are no gloves. It's all a trade-off, but if there's no more benefit to having a shorter stance, why keep it?

(Long guard)

Rodtang made the same adjustments in his mixed rules fight against Demetrious Johnson. So actual muay Thai specialists from Thailand understand you have to make these adjustments when the rules and gloves change, but Westerners with a muay Thai fetish don't always seem to understand this when they get into MMA.

Despite what you may have heard, when there are smaller gloves to no gloves, people are more likely to punch to the head because now punches to the head are that much easier to land, it's easier to rock someone, and it's easier to cut someone. Punching to the head became that much more effective. So why wouldn't people punch to the head? It wouldn't make sense not to.

This is why Buakaw went all in on defending his head. But what is the signature attack in muay Thai? A left body kick. What happens when you can't throw a left body kick? You throw a left hook to the body. Buakaw, with his longer stance, pressed Varol into the ropes. When Varol tried to escape to his right, which I constantly point out is the tendency for orthodox fighters, he circled into Buakaw's left hook. That knocked the wind out of Varol. With Varol immobilized, Buakaw finished with uppercuts to the body. With the longer stance, Buakaw had a longer reach with his punches than Varol expected.

(Dominick Cruz going to his right against Marlon Vera)

This is why, whether small gloves or no gloves, there's always a place for body shots because people will go all-in on defending their head, leaving their body exposed.

Now let's talk about UFC Fight Night: Gane vs. Tuivasa. In the main event, Ciryl Gane defeated Tai Tuivasa by third-round TKO.

Gane is a switch stance fighter, but in this fight, Gane started out orthodox, then switched early to southpaw and stayed in that stance the entirety of the fight. Gane is versatile and opportunistic, and if Gane needed to, he would have begun to switch back and forth between stances, but in this fight, I think Gane found no reason to switch. He had a clear advantage from southpaw.

(Orthodox vs. southpaw)

(Orthodox vs. southpaw is perpendicular)

Tuivasa had a hard time getting into the pocket against a southpaw. In fact, throughout the fight, it didn't seem like he was sure how he should fight a southpaw other than throwing haymakers. With Gane standing bladed and in the opposite stance, very little of Gane's body was exposed. What could still get through were the right body kick and the lead leg kick, but Tuivasa showed he is not comfortable with kicking or being kicked. This made Tuivasa a predictable headhunter. Tuivasa's habit of pulling up his pants only made him that much more predictable.

Tuivasa was trying to use feints to get in on Gane but Gane didn't respect them because Tuivasa was too far away to land them anyway. And as far as feints with his legs, Gane knew Tuivasa wasn't a comfortable kicker. So from that distance, what did Gane have to worry about?

The only kick Tuivasa had was his right low kick, but since Gane is standing southpaw, it'll automatically get checked. In round two and a few other times throughout the fight, Tuivasa would temporarily switch to southpaw to try and get flush with Gane but found his defense was even worse from this stance.

(Same stance means your feet are parallel and you can get flush with your opponent)

Tuivasa did throw a hard leg kick to Gane's lead leg, which ended up hitting Gane's knee. Tuivasa immediately hobbled and winced in pain. There weren't going to be that many more right leg kicks after that.

The most important kick, in my opinion, is the teep. This is actually the first offensive move I teach in the liberation martial arts online curriculum. I compare it to the jab, and just like the jab, there are so many variations. And that's why the best feature of Gane's fighting style is his complex teep game. Gane teeps from both sides. He mixes it up with front kick variations, the traditional push teep, inverted lead roundhouse kicks, and twist kicks with the lead leg. Even when you think you're not in an angle to get hit by a teep, Gane will still teep you.

However, there was a moment in round two where Gane got sloppy. Gane hit Tuivasa with a right hook and held onto the back of Tuivasa's head to steer him, but when Gane leaned away from Tuivasa's left hook, he brought his feet together and got caught with a right straight. This was more sloppiness on Gane's part than Tuivasa setting up a trap. In fact, Gane pushed Tuivasa into the right angle to land his right straight. Bringing your feet together and getting knocked down is pattern you'll see over and over. We saw it not too long ago with RDA against Rafael Fiziev.

(RDA steps back with the lead leg, bringing his feet together then gets rocked. Same as Gane.)

But Gane's knockdown looked a lot worse than it was because Gane had no balance. He wasn't out, which is why he recovered so quickly.

But on top of Tuivasa messing with his pants, he kept slipping to his right and ducking and rolling. This might be fine against an orthodox puncher, but it's an exploitable habit against a southpaw kicker. Which is to say, Tuivasa has a hard time with southpaws.

Yet these habits are why Tuivasa went from hammering Gane on the ground to Gane landing consecutive body kicks on him. Tuivasa's hands were out of position and he was dipping into the body kicks. This dipping and rolling will become a bigger problem later in the fight.

Gane being a southpaw and constantly circling, forced Tuivasa to constantly reset his feet and reset in general. I talked about the problems of the reset when I talked about Nong-o Gaiyanghadao vs. Liam Harrison, where Harrison kept resetting his feet to mentally reset, only to get kicked.

(Harrison bringing his feet together before Nong-O's kick)

Tuivasa has a bad habit where he touches his pants whenever he resets. It's a tick. Dustin Poirier does the same thing with his pants and hair. Kelvin Gastelum does it by waving his arms in the air. Dominick Cruz does it by hopping in place and pumping his shoulders.

(Kelvin Gastelum waving his arms to reset)

In this moment, you're vulnerable and predictable. Tuivasa, like Daniel Cormier, also showed an inability to defend body shots. Instead, they both rely on pressure as their main form of defense. But where DC had takedowns to compensate and make his opponent go on the defensive, Tuivasa had nothing other than toughness.

(Cormier with no answers for Miocic's body shots)

Being the shorter fighter means you're closer to your opponent's legs. If you're the shorter striker with no takedowns, if all other things are equal, you're at a disadvantage. If you're hitting me and I can't hit you, how can I get you to stop hitting me? I can take you down. Tuivasa's commitment to his style is his strength and disadvantage. He's built like a wrestler who only punches and won't wrestle.

When Tuivasa slowed down, Gane stopped circling and went on the attack. In a linear fight against a slower opponent, Gane had the reach and kicking advantage. I can hit you, but you can't hit me, and you no longer have the legs to rush in.

In round three, Tuivasa tried to throw a right body kick, but ended up losing his balance and running onto the cage. This is why he doesn't kick. Tuivasa is known as a striker, but many aspects of his striking game haven't been developed. He seems like a fighter who only trains what is comfortable. This was a fight where he could have and should have shown other aspects of his game, but he showed he didn't have them.

By round three, Gane was targeting the body, and Tuivasa had no answers other than to drop his hands, which is when Gane's left high kick came through.

Tuivasa tried to rally, only to eat a front kick to the face.

Tuivasa is very good in a certain type of fight: fighting another orthodox slugger with no wrestling. That's not Gane. 

It got to the point where Gane was throwing front kicks from both sides, and Tuivasa was just eating them. He didn't have the footwork to back away from them. He didn't parry, he didn't catch, he didn't lean back, he didn't block. He just ate them.

A desperate Tuivasa mustered up the energy to rush in with punches, but unlike before where Gane leaned back, this time Gane pivoted and hit Tuivasa with a right check hook. Tuivasa was hurt, and when Tuivasa's hurt, he bends over and rolls. Gane hit him with an uppercut to finally drop Tuivasa. Then a hammer-first on the ground followed, and the referee had seen enough.

(Tuivasa constantly ducked throughout the fight, which is dangerous against a versatile striker like Gane)

Now let's talk about Robert Whittaker's one-sided decision victory over Marvin Vettori. Vettori's a tough out for anyone, but Whittaker is pound-for-pound one of the best fighters in MMA. Whittaker, unlike Tuivasa, does even better against southpaws because it opens up his lead sidekick, right straight, and right high kick.

Whittaker fights a bit like Valentina Shevchenko, only more aggressive. He drops back and waits for you to chase, then he hits you first. He gives you a chance to throw, then he either hits you again, clinches, or hooks and escapes. 

(Shevchenko dropping back to hit Eye first)

Rafael Cordeiro is such an experienced coach because he recognized this right away. He told Vettori he had to jab first because once you let Whittaker go first, he'll hit you twice before he escapes. Cordeiro was right. The problem wasn't the coaching. The problem wasn't even Vettori because Vettori is very good. The problem was Whittaker.

In round two, Vettori listened to his corner and tried to do what Whittaker was doing. Which was to drop back and allow Whittaker to come to him, to get off first. The problem was when Whittaker was coming forward, he would jam Vettori's offense before he could get anything off. When Vettori was loading up his offense, Whittaker hit him.

Whittaker knew every time Vettori was going to attack. He just watched his shoulders. There's a way Vettori bounces his shoulders that gives away when he's going to attack. When it looks like Vettori's not at a club anymore, he's going to hit you. Once Whittaker had Vettori's timing, which really means knowing Vettori's tells, he had Vettori. Because with Vettori, you don't have to worry about variety. You just have to worry about punches to the head. And if that's all you need to worry about, then all you need to know is when. Once you know that, dodge and intercept.

(Vettori bouncing at the club)

This was when Whittaker's head kicks began to come through. Hit him when he wasn't ready.

Something I talk a lot about in the liberation martial arts curriculum is the decision tree. It's the road map for a fighter; it's all the moves they'll use in a fight. Whittaker's decision tree is quite simple. Jabs, right straight, left hook, right high kick, blast double. But the simplicity of his decision tree frees him to dictate the when and how.

There are only so many things a person can do in a fight because they have four limbs, generally four directions they can go, and they can either attack or not attack. Do you need five ways to address all these decisions your opponent can make, or do you need just one or two at the right times? 

Some fighters say they don't care what you do; they only think about what they will do. Whittaker is a fighter who doesn't worry at all about what he's going to do because he already knows. He's going to look at what you're doing, then counter you. It's much easier to win at poker when you can see everyone's cards, not just your own.

Vettori's lack of variety made Whittaker unhittable because, unlike Tuivasa against Gane, Whittaker can slip, duck, and roll without having to worry about shots coming from below. It's all going to be headshots flying over his head.

A hard right head kick came through in round three for Whittaker because Vettori flares his elbows before he throws a punch. So Whittaker caught him as he was loading up, with his arms out of position.

Vettori's shoulders are way too tense. Some people believe your shoulders should be shrugged and tense, making your punches slow and easy to see. It also hurts your neck and tires your shoulders, which defeats the purpose of defense.

I talked about the importance of relaxed shoulders in a tape study for liberation martial arts. That's Whittaker. His shoulders are so relaxed, which makes it harder to know when he's throwing a punch. It also means he doesn't need much space to generate power. 

Vettori then got cracked again with a head kick when he dropped his head to avoid the straight, like how Leon Edwards caught Kamaru Usman.

(Usman avoids rear straight to get kicked in the head by Edwards)

What kept Vettori in the fight was his chin and Whittaker being aware of his own chin. Whittaker doesn't have a bad chin, but he also doesn't have an iron chin. And middleweight is a division that's so physical; it really helps to have an iron chin.

When Whittaker finally went for the blast double, Vettori had no idea what was coming and just shelled up. This is why the normally hard-to-take-down Vettori got taken down so easily.

In the last 10 seconds, Whittaker lands his best punch, and I don't know how Vettori stayed standing. But he caught him with a left hook as Vettori was flaring his elbows to throw straight punches. His defense was completely out of position, he didn't see the punch coming, Whittaker landed clean on his chin, but Vettori stayed standing.

(Notice how the power of Whittaker's hook isn't coming from the pivot of the lead foot but from turning his hips and pushing off the back foot.)

Vettori doesn't lose often, but this was one of the rare times even Vettori knew he lost. It was lopsided, even more so than Vettori's loss to Adesanya.

What would make Vettori better would be the same thing that would make Whittaker better: body shots. It's MMA with MMA gloves, everyone's going to throw to the head, and everyone's going to expect punches to the head. That leaves the body to be exploited, as Buakaw showed in his bare-knuckle fight. But for Whittaker, it doesn't just have to be punches to the body; it could also be body kicks. He has some of the best kicks at middleweight, then use them to hit to the body. Also, he's at a height disadvantage in nearly every fight. That means he's closer to the body. He's begun to mix in takedowns because he's close to the legs, but how about some punches to the body?

(Varol goes all-in on defending his head, and eats a left hook to the body from Buakaw)

Tell your comrades about Liberation Martial Arts Online. 

– Sam