Fighter on Fighter: Breaking down UFC Fight Night 90’s Rafael dos Anjos and Eddie Alvarez

MMAmania.com resident fighter analyst — and aspiring professional fighter — Andrew Richardson breaks down the mixed martial arts (MMA) game of UFC Fight Night 90’s Rafael dos Anjos and Eddie Alvarez, who will battle for the strap this Thursday (July 7, 2016) inside MGM Grand Garden Arean in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Lightweight kingpin, Rafael dos Anjos, is set to defend his crown opposite boxing specialist, Eddie Alvarez, this Thursday (July 7, 2016) at UFC Fight Night 90 inside MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Dos Anjos has been fighting like an absolute killer. In his last four fights, he’s absolutely mauled four of the division’s long-time contenders or champions. In this bout, he’ll look to defend his title for the second time, tying the Lightweight record.

Meanwhile, Alvarez has managed to grit his teeth and scrape past a pair of the division’s most elite fighters. After years of being a champion and fighting with some of the best outside UFC, Alvarez is ready to contend for the position of best in the world.

Let’s take a look at the abilities of these two elite fighters:

Striking

Dos Anjos entered UFC as a grappler with iffy striking and decent takedowns, but he’s since evolved into one of the most dangerous kickboxers in the organization. Trained under the legendary Rafael Cordeiro as well as the Muay Thai masters at Evolve MMA, dos Anjos has developed a vicious pressure-based attack.

Working from the Southpaw stance, dos Anjos is very effective at range while closing in on his opponent. Against opponents fighting Orthodox — such as Anthony Pettis, who generally chooses to stand in the opposite stance as his opponent — dos Anjos is quick to fire out hard kicks to the mid-section and head, as the difference in stance makes roundhouse kicks easier to land. Against fellow Southpaws like Benson Henderson and Nate Diaz, dos Anjos instead attacked with switch kicks or chopping low kicks (GIF).

Either way, these kicks generally serve the purpose of preventing his opponent from circling away. As dos Anjos’ foe seeks to move away from the fence and back into open distance, dos Anjos will stop him in his tracks with a kick. Furthermore, these kicks break down his circling foe, as repeatedly absorbing kicks to the legs, mid-section or forearms will cause a fighter to deteriorate over time.

Once dos Anjos has worked into the boxing range or simply trapped his opponent along the fence, he is a very difficult man to deal with. Dos Anjos forces combinations and breaks his opponent’s stance against the fence, allowing him to take over with his tight punches, raw physicality, and excellent defense.

Dos Anjos’ left cross/overhand has become remarkably strong in the last couple years (GIF). Against Pettis, dos Anjos repeatedly capitalized on his opponent’s habit of backing away from punches by trapping him along the fence, where he could no longer step back. Once Pettis was stuck, dos Anjos had little trouble repeatedly connecting with his left.

In addition, dos Anjos chooses his combinations from this range well (GIF). For example, if his foe remains stationary or moves towards dos Anjos’ power, the left hand was surely coming his way. However, is his opponent instead moved to the Brazilian’s right, he’d attack with right hooks and jabs instead.

Alvarez is a far different striker from his opponent, but he’s also a very effective knockout artist. The Philadelphia-native comes from a boxing background, and he really very heavily on his movement to pick his opponent apart at range.

While Alvarez is a solid combination boxer and can punch well from the pocket, he really does his best work while moving on the outside. From that distance, Alvarez looks to string his opponent with long range punches.

In particular, Alvarez relies heavily on the drive by or darting right hand. After shooting out the right hand, Alvarez will keep pushing past his opponent into a reasonably safe angle. From there, Alvarez can retreat — meaning he touched his opponent with a right and then got away without eating any counter — or return and strike from that angle.

The best example of Alvarez following up on his darting right hand came in his Bellator bout with Patricky Freire. After noticing that Freire was slipping and dropping his hand to avoid the dart, Alvarez simply feinted with the strike and instead threw up a hard high kick (GIF).

Another of Alvarez’s favorite techniques is the uppercut. After backing his opponent into the fence with punches, Alvarez looks for his opponent to duck down or level change for a takedown. If he notices either of those habits, it won’t be long before Alvarez fires an uppercut up the middle (GIF).

Wrestling

Since joining UFC, Alvarez has been forced to rely on his wrestling far more often than he did in Bellator. A successful wrestler in high school, Alvarez has adapted well to use his wrestling based on who he’s facing.

For the most part, Alvarez’s wrestling attack is pretty simple. Rather than really rely on picking up angles and shooting from their as one would expect of a fighter with his striking style, Alvarez instead switches up his style and relies on physicality and determination.

This was most obvious against Anthony Pettis. Rather than try to dance outside and eat kicks — a strategy that cost him dearly against Donald Cerrone — Alvarez planted his feet, threw punches, and walked down his opponent.

Between overhands and hooks, Alvarez would change levels and drive his opponent into the fence with a double leg takedown. From that position, he wasn’t always able to finish the shot, but he controlled Pettis in the clinch and repeatedly tried to drop back down and finish the takedown.

Eventually, Pettis began to tire from struggling against the shot so often. While Alvarez was also fatigued, he managed to gut through it and finish multiple double legs against the fence in the final round. It wasn’t pretty, but Alvarez has always been a tough fighter willing to grind for the victory.

His opponent is similar, as dos Anjos relies heavily on the double leg takedown (GIF). He rarely looks for much else, using single leg takedowns only to transition into the double. In fact, he rarely looks for takedowns other than double legs against the fence, where he’s become fluid with the finish and his physical strength is a large advantage.

While the double leg against the cage is perhaps the most high-percentage takedown in the sport, it’s also not that complicated. In order to work that shot on elite opponents like Pettis or Donald Cerrone, dos Anjos has to force his opponents’ defenses up high.

Luckily, that’s a common byproduct of the Brazilian’s habit of trying to take his opponent’s head off with big punches.

Usually, dos Anjos will spring towards his opponent’s hips after forcing them to cover up under a sea of punches or by slipping a counter shot. Similarly, dos Anjos will drop down into the shot from the double-collar tie, as his opponent has to stand tall to avoid potential knees. In another cool example, dos Anjos used one particularly slick setup: forcing Pettis upright with a reverse elbow before level changing into the shot.

Defensively, both men are pretty strong wrestlers. Whereas Alvarez generally relies on his movement and range control to keep his opponent off him, dos Anjos is a bit more reliant on a powerful sprawl. Plus, his jiu-jitsu background helps him scramble back to his feet quickly.

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu

Dos Anjos has been a Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt for about 10 years now, and he’s perhaps the best grappler in UFC’s 155-pound division. Prior to focusing on MMA, “RDA” also found success in jiu-jitsu competition.

While dangerous from his back, his top game is even better. Utilizing a pressure passing game, dos Anjos likes to cut his knee through his opponent’s guard. While maintaining heavy top pressure, dos Anjos will land small strikes as he slices through the guard.

However, dos Anjos also does spectacular work from inside the guard. He does an excellent job keeping hip pressure on his opponents, which makes throwing up submissions difficult. Since his opponent cannot easily adjust his hips on the bottom, dos Anjos is able to pick his shots around their defense with sharp punches and slicing elbows. If his opponent gets a bit more desperate to open up the guard and create space, dos Anjos will stack his foe and batter him before passing.

Despite being a talented grappler in his own right, Pettis learned about the strength of dos Anjos’ top game the hard way. Dos Anjos never gave him any real opportunities to throw up a submission, and he smashed him with strikes each time Pettis tried to force one.

The Brazilian’s go-to submission is his kimura. Whether he’s on top or bottom, dos Anjos is looking to isolate an arm and secure it. Once he secures the grip, he’ll look to move into north-south and finish the hold, trapping his opponent’s head with his knees. If he cannot break the grip and crank on his opponent’s shoulder, he’ll instead sit back into an armbar (GIF).

Dos Anjos will also look for the rear-naked choke whenever his opponent turtles up. He’s is quick to hop onto the back and will aggressively pursue his opponent’s neck from there (GIF). That’s a description true of most jiu-jitsu fighters, but dos Anjos’ game is a bit deeper, as he also very nearly secured a calf slicer from back mount on Tyson Griffin back in 2009.

From his back, dos Anjos is a very skilled grappler. He utilizes a number of guards, such as the open guard, deep half, and De la Riva guard. Dos Anjos transitions between these positions very well, using them to create distance and keep his opponent off-balance, meaning that it’s hard to land effective strikes from the top. In addition, “RDA” is constantly looking for an opportunity to kick off his opponent during his transitions, allowing him to return to his feet.

While on his back, dos Anjos will hunt for his kimura, while also throwing up triangle and armbar attempts. Since he’s so active with submissions, sweeps, and stand-up attempts, it’s rather difficult to control dos Anjos for an extended period of time.

Outside of a two year period from 2009-2010, Alvarez has never been much of an offensive grappler. During that time, Alvarez scored all five of his career submission victories, choking out his foes to secure the Bellator Lightweight title.

For the most part, Alvarez is looking for the rear naked choke. After taking his foe to the mat, Alvarez is waiting for his moment to jump on the back during a scramble. From there, he’s proven skilled at sliding under the chin and finishing the submission.

Not complicated, but quite effective.

Conclusion

This is a very important bout for the legacies of both athletes. As mentioned, this is dos Anjos’ chance to tie to record for Lightweight title defenses and solidify his grasp on the title even further. On the other hand, Alvarez has the chance to become the first man to hold titles in Bellator and UFC, proving himself a Lightweight great.

*****

Andrew Richardson, a Brazilian jiu-jitsu purple belt, is an undefeated amateur fighter who trains at Team Alpha Male in Sacramento, California. In addition to learning alongside world-class talent, Andrew has scouted opponents and developed winning strategies for several of the sport’s most elite fighters.

MMAmania.com resident fighter analyst — and aspiring professional fighter — Andrew Richardson breaks down the mixed martial arts (MMA) game of UFC Fight Night 90’s Rafael dos Anjos and Eddie Alvarez, who will battle for the strap this Thursday (July 7, 2016) inside MGM Grand Garden Arean in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Lightweight kingpin, Rafael dos Anjos, is set to defend his crown opposite boxing specialist, Eddie Alvarez, this Thursday (July 7, 2016) at UFC Fight Night 90 inside MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Dos Anjos has been fighting like an absolute killer. In his last four fights, he’s absolutely mauled four of the division’s long-time contenders or champions. In this bout, he’ll look to defend his title for the second time, tying the Lightweight record.

Meanwhile, Alvarez has managed to grit his teeth and scrape past a pair of the division’s most elite fighters. After years of being a champion and fighting with some of the best outside UFC, Alvarez is ready to contend for the position of best in the world.

Let’s take a look at the abilities of these two elite fighters:

Striking

Dos Anjos entered UFC as a grappler with iffy striking and decent takedowns, but he’s since evolved into one of the most dangerous kickboxers in the organization. Trained under the legendary Rafael Cordeiro as well as the Muay Thai masters at Evolve MMA, dos Anjos has developed a vicious pressure-based attack.

Working from the Southpaw stance, dos Anjos is very effective at range while closing in on his opponent. Against opponents fighting Orthodox — such as Anthony Pettis, who generally chooses to stand in the opposite stance as his opponent — dos Anjos is quick to fire out hard kicks to the mid-section and head, as the difference in stance makes roundhouse kicks easier to land. Against fellow Southpaws like Benson Henderson and Nate Diaz, dos Anjos instead attacked with switch kicks or chopping low kicks (GIF).

Either way, these kicks generally serve the purpose of preventing his opponent from circling away. As dos Anjos’ foe seeks to move away from the fence and back into open distance, dos Anjos will stop him in his tracks with a kick. Furthermore, these kicks break down his circling foe, as repeatedly absorbing kicks to the legs, mid-section or forearms will cause a fighter to deteriorate over time.

Once dos Anjos has worked into the boxing range or simply trapped his opponent along the fence, he is a very difficult man to deal with. Dos Anjos forces combinations and breaks his opponent’s stance against the fence, allowing him to take over with his tight punches, raw physicality, and excellent defense.

Dos Anjos’ left cross/overhand has become remarkably strong in the last couple years (GIF). Against Pettis, dos Anjos repeatedly capitalized on his opponent’s habit of backing away from punches by trapping him along the fence, where he could no longer step back. Once Pettis was stuck, dos Anjos had little trouble repeatedly connecting with his left.

In addition, dos Anjos chooses his combinations from this range well (GIF). For example, if his foe remains stationary or moves towards dos Anjos’ power, the left hand was surely coming his way. However, is his opponent instead moved to the Brazilian’s right, he’d attack with right hooks and jabs instead.

Alvarez is a far different striker from his opponent, but he’s also a very effective knockout artist. The Philadelphia-native comes from a boxing background, and he really very heavily on his movement to pick his opponent apart at range.

While Alvarez is a solid combination boxer and can punch well from the pocket, he really does his best work while moving on the outside. From that distance, Alvarez looks to string his opponent with long range punches.

In particular, Alvarez relies heavily on the drive by or darting right hand. After shooting out the right hand, Alvarez will keep pushing past his opponent into a reasonably safe angle. From there, Alvarez can retreat — meaning he touched his opponent with a right and then got away without eating any counter — or return and strike from that angle.

The best example of Alvarez following up on his darting right hand came in his Bellator bout with Patricky Freire. After noticing that Freire was slipping and dropping his hand to avoid the dart, Alvarez simply feinted with the strike and instead threw up a hard high kick (GIF).

Another of Alvarez’s favorite techniques is the uppercut. After backing his opponent into the fence with punches, Alvarez looks for his opponent to duck down or level change for a takedown. If he notices either of those habits, it won’t be long before Alvarez fires an uppercut up the middle (GIF).

Wrestling

Since joining UFC, Alvarez has been forced to rely on his wrestling far more often than he did in Bellator. A successful wrestler in high school, Alvarez has adapted well to use his wrestling based on who he’s facing.

For the most part, Alvarez’s wrestling attack is pretty simple. Rather than really rely on picking up angles and shooting from their as one would expect of a fighter with his striking style, Alvarez instead switches up his style and relies on physicality and determination.

This was most obvious against Anthony Pettis. Rather than try to dance outside and eat kicks — a strategy that cost him dearly against Donald Cerrone — Alvarez planted his feet, threw punches, and walked down his opponent.

Between overhands and hooks, Alvarez would change levels and drive his opponent into the fence with a double leg takedown. From that position, he wasn’t always able to finish the shot, but he controlled Pettis in the clinch and repeatedly tried to drop back down and finish the takedown.

Eventually, Pettis began to tire from struggling against the shot so often. While Alvarez was also fatigued, he managed to gut through it and finish multiple double legs against the fence in the final round. It wasn’t pretty, but Alvarez has always been a tough fighter willing to grind for the victory.

His opponent is similar, as dos Anjos relies heavily on the double leg takedown (GIF). He rarely looks for much else, using single leg takedowns only to transition into the double. In fact, he rarely looks for takedowns other than double legs against the fence, where he’s become fluid with the finish and his physical strength is a large advantage.

While the double leg against the cage is perhaps the most high-percentage takedown in the sport, it’s also not that complicated. In order to work that shot on elite opponents like Pettis or Donald Cerrone, dos Anjos has to force his opponents’ defenses up high.

Luckily, that’s a common byproduct of the Brazilian’s habit of trying to take his opponent’s head off with big punches.

Usually, dos Anjos will spring towards his opponent’s hips after forcing them to cover up under a sea of punches or by slipping a counter shot. Similarly, dos Anjos will drop down into the shot from the double-collar tie, as his opponent has to stand tall to avoid potential knees. In another cool example, dos Anjos used one particularly slick setup: forcing Pettis upright with a reverse elbow before level changing into the shot.

Defensively, both men are pretty strong wrestlers. Whereas Alvarez generally relies on his movement and range control to keep his opponent off him, dos Anjos is a bit more reliant on a powerful sprawl. Plus, his jiu-jitsu background helps him scramble back to his feet quickly.

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu

Dos Anjos has been a Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt for about 10 years now, and he’s perhaps the best grappler in UFC’s 155-pound division. Prior to focusing on MMA, “RDA” also found success in jiu-jitsu competition.

While dangerous from his back, his top game is even better. Utilizing a pressure passing game, dos Anjos likes to cut his knee through his opponent’s guard. While maintaining heavy top pressure, dos Anjos will land small strikes as he slices through the guard.

However, dos Anjos also does spectacular work from inside the guard. He does an excellent job keeping hip pressure on his opponents, which makes throwing up submissions difficult. Since his opponent cannot easily adjust his hips on the bottom, dos Anjos is able to pick his shots around their defense with sharp punches and slicing elbows. If his opponent gets a bit more desperate to open up the guard and create space, dos Anjos will stack his foe and batter him before passing.

Despite being a talented grappler in his own right, Pettis learned about the strength of dos Anjos’ top game the hard way. Dos Anjos never gave him any real opportunities to throw up a submission, and he smashed him with strikes each time Pettis tried to force one.

The Brazilian’s go-to submission is his kimura. Whether he’s on top or bottom, dos Anjos is looking to isolate an arm and secure it. Once he secures the grip, he’ll look to move into north-south and finish the hold, trapping his opponent’s head with his knees. If he cannot break the grip and crank on his opponent’s shoulder, he’ll instead sit back into an armbar (GIF).

Dos Anjos will also look for the rear-naked choke whenever his opponent turtles up. He’s is quick to hop onto the back and will aggressively pursue his opponent’s neck from there (GIF). That’s a description true of most jiu-jitsu fighters, but dos Anjos’ game is a bit deeper, as he also very nearly secured a calf slicer from back mount on Tyson Griffin back in 2009.

From his back, dos Anjos is a very skilled grappler. He utilizes a number of guards, such as the open guard, deep half, and De la Riva guard. Dos Anjos transitions between these positions very well, using them to create distance and keep his opponent off-balance, meaning that it’s hard to land effective strikes from the top. In addition, “RDA” is constantly looking for an opportunity to kick off his opponent during his transitions, allowing him to return to his feet.

While on his back, dos Anjos will hunt for his kimura, while also throwing up triangle and armbar attempts. Since he’s so active with submissions, sweeps, and stand-up attempts, it’s rather difficult to control dos Anjos for an extended period of time.

Outside of a two year period from 2009-2010, Alvarez has never been much of an offensive grappler. During that time, Alvarez scored all five of his career submission victories, choking out his foes to secure the Bellator Lightweight title.

For the most part, Alvarez is looking for the rear naked choke. After taking his foe to the mat, Alvarez is waiting for his moment to jump on the back during a scramble. From there, he’s proven skilled at sliding under the chin and finishing the submission.

Not complicated, but quite effective.

Conclusion

This is a very important bout for the legacies of both athletes. As mentioned, this is dos Anjos’ chance to tie to record for Lightweight title defenses and solidify his grasp on the title even further. On the other hand, Alvarez has the chance to become the first man to hold titles in Bellator and UFC, proving himself a Lightweight great.

*****

Andrew Richardson, a Brazilian jiu-jitsu purple belt, is an undefeated amateur fighter who trains at Team Alpha Male in Sacramento, California. In addition to learning alongside world-class talent, Andrew has scouted opponents and developed winning strategies for several of the sport’s most elite fighters.