Bantamweight’s Low Kick Machine

Kickboxing specialist, Chris Gutierrez, will throw down opposite knockout artist, Song Yadong, this Saturday (Dec. 9, 2023) at UFC Vegas 83 inside UFC Apex in Las Vegas, Nevada.

A World Series of Fighting (WSOF) and Legacy Fighting Alliance (LFA) veteran, Gutierrez joined UFC’s roster in 2018, suffering a debut loss to Raoni Barcelos. Since then, however, Gutierrez has slowly climbed the Bantamweight ranks with good consistency, tasting defeat just once in 10 trips to the Octagon. Knocking out a 41-year-old Frankie Edgar is his most high-profile win (watch it), but … it still leaves something to be desired for a would-be elite contender. As such, stepping up to replace the injured Petr Yan opposite Yadong is a great opportunity for Gutierrez, a chance to pick up a Top 10 win and inject himself into title mix.

Let’s take a closer look at his skill set:

Striking

Gutierrez — a long-time member of the Factory X fight team — is likely Bantamweight’s nastiest kicker. If he has competition, it’s the excellent Southpaw Jonathan Martinez … his teammate and frequent training partner!

More than most, Gutierrez relies almost entirely on his kicks. His boxing mostly consists of some decent jabbing (which sets up the outside calf kick nicely against an opponent in his same stance) and the occasional spinning backfist, which is a good weapon for a shift-stancing kicker accustomed to being pressured. Still, he seldom throws more than a couple punches at a time.

Fortunately, Gutierrez footwork, feints, and volume of kicks make up for it. Gutierrez is rigorous in maintaining his range. He will fight at kicking range, and he fully expects his opponent to attempt to pressure forward and throw combinations. Gutierrez doesn’t take that bait, always opting to land one kick or jab then reset, forcing his opponent to stop punching and first move towards him.

To facilitate this lateral movement, Gutierrez moves freely between Orthodox and Southpaw. He’ll kick and land in the opposite stance, allowing for a quick pivot or side step in the direction of the new lead leg. He’ll feint a kick, use that feint to step forward into a new stance, actually kick, then disappear off at an angle.

Of course, all this movement means that Gutierrez hits the fence fairly often. Fortunately Gutierrez is pretty dang hard to hit with his back to the cage! He plays it smart, often taking a step one direction before suddenly shifting directions the other way. Sometimes, he does so with a nice roll. He’ll also mix it up by clinching, pushing his foe back a step, then shoving away and circling to open space.

That’s defensively responsible and smart footwork. He’ll also sometimes explode off the fence with a jump knee, which has to be respected.

Feints are the next important part of Gutierrez’s attack. He is constantly showing little feints. These feints can be a hip twitch, shoulder pump, half-hearted oblique kick/tap, an upper body spin threat. Between the frequent feints and stance switching, Gutierrez is giving his opponent a lot to think about.

A common reaction to all the information is a brief moment of pause. Freeze against Gutierrez for even the smallest bit of time? CALF KICK! It’s commonly understood that throwing naked low kicks isn’t the best idea — there’s at least one right-hand-counter-to-the-low-kick KO on every Apex undercard. All these feints and movement serve as the setup, however, and they allowed Gutierrez to blast the lead leg relatively safely.

Another factor that separates Gutierrez from the average low kicker is that the closed/open stance dynamic does not matter to “El Guapo.” Typically, we see the calf kick landing effectively in closed stance encounters, meaning when both men are in the same stance, regardless of whether that stance is Southpaw or Orthodox. If a right-handed calf kicker is facing a Southpaw opponent, the usual chopping outside low kick isn’t there, and it tends to become less of a factor.

Gutierrez doesn’t have this issue. He can kick hard to the inside and outside of the lead leg regardless of the stance dynamic. Outside calf kicks from the power side are still the most effective, but he can rip into the inner calf Jan Blachowicz-style or throw a switch kick to the outside effectively as well … from both stances!

Gutierrez does, of course, kick to other targets as well. He does a nice job of using his stance shifting to line up the Southpaw liver kick on an orthodox opponent — always a punishing technique. He can take his kick upstairs quickly, and he’ll occasionally do so with a bit of a question mark kick flourish. Gutierrez will use a stabbing push kick to keep his opponent off him, as well as help sell his knee raise feints that serve to set up more low kicks.

Wrestling

Gutierrez has landed a handful of takedowns inside the Octagon, but offensive wrestling is not a huge aspect of his game. On the whole, Gutierrez’s takedown defense is quite solid, but it hasn’t been totally impenetrable.

Defensively, there are pros and cons to Gutierrez’s kickboxing style. All that movement and stance-switching does provide a good layer of takedown defense, as it can be hard to track down his legs and time takedowns. In addition, catching his kicks is difficult, because of Gutierrez’s shot selection and the amount of snap on his kicks.

The downside of all that movement is that Gutierrez does land along the fence at times. Most wrestlers in MMA prefer to work along the fence, because the cage slows everything down. Gutierrez’s quick feet are no longer helpful, and all it takes is his opponent connecting their hands under the butt to complete a shot.

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu

Gutierrez hasn’t spent a ton of time on the floor in his UFC career. He’s attempted just one submission, a quick armbar attempt from closed guard against Cody Durden. He managed to secure a good pinch of the elbow, but Durden rolled and tangled him up with his own legs to prevent Gutierrez from hipping in to finish.

Gutierrez lost his UFC debut via rear naked choke, and he also spent the entire first round with Durden on his back. In both cases, Gutierrez tried to scramble without controlling his opponent’s hands, and they were able to throw hooks in. It’s a difficult balance to force movement without letting an opponent advance position, but it’s definitely a trait to keep an eye on.

Conclusion

Gutierrez is definitely a specialist, a man who pretty much wins fights in a single manner at a single distance. He poses an interesting challenge to Song Yadong, and with the right match ups, could trouble even the elite of the Bantamweight rank. Nobody fights well on one working leg!

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Andrew Richardson, a Brazilian jiu-jitsu brown belt, is a professional 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.

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