Dominick Cruz’s Middleweight Copycat

Middleweight veteran, Jack Hermansson, returns to action against rising knockout artist, Joe Pyfer, this Saturday (Feb. 10, 2024) at UFC Vegas 86 inside UFC Apex in Las Vegas, Nevada.

I have a lot of respect for “The Joker.” He’s become the perfect litmus test for rising Middleweights, turning away those unworthy of the Top 10 (Chris Curtis, Edmen Shahbazyan, Kelvin Gastelum) while letting the cream of the crop (Sean Strickland, Jared Cannonier, Marvin Vettori) into the title picture. He’s also one of the handful of Middleweights who doesn’t gas out eight minutes into the fight, so that’s a big plus.

Yet, Hermansson has now lost two of three, and I’m not so sure that Roman Dolidze should’ve been able to pass the “Joker” exam (watch highlights). At 35 years of age, his established position is now at risk against a ferocious young puncher.

Let’s take a closer look at his skill set (and explain the Dominick Cruz comparison):

Striking

Few big men strike like Hermansson. He may not shift stances or do the Michael Jackson lean quite like “The Dominator,” but in terms of strategy on the feet, his usage of feints, false starts, and charges to set up his connections and land takedowns does resemble the Bantamweight great.

It’s important to note that Cruz’s style requires a lot of prerequisites to work. First and foremost, that awkward, movement-heavy style assumes the fighter dancing around is the better wrestler — otherwise he’s in big trouble when a foe times his shot or catches one of those running kicks. Hermansson is a pretty strong defensive wrestler, but he’s not ironclad, and getting taken down off kicks or lunges has been a problem in the past.

Secondly, Cruz-type kickboxing largely assumes the user is the better athlete: faster, stronger and better conditioned — it’s very physically demanding. Luckily, Hermansson fulfills this demand quite well: the Swede is quick, strong in the clinch, and has seriously excellent conditioning. However, against notably fast-twitch athletes like Thiago Santos and Jared Cannonier, everything fell apart. Neither of these men were particularly afraid of Hermansson’s punches, and as a result, they did not react to his feints. Instead, they actively chased him down, and Hermansson’s wrestling was unable to compensate.

Hermansson’s bout versus Edmen Shahbazyan initially resulted in a similar dynamic, as Shahbazyan walked him down and ripped big power punches early. To adjust, Hermansson was far more planted than normal, willing to cover up and fire back in combination or advance more solidly behind a jab. He also countered the boxer’s jab with several nice calf kicks.

Ultimately, however, he still had to count upon his wrestling to win the day.

Finally, stance-switches and dancing is all pretty useless without at least some solid fundamental boxing in place. Again, Hermansson lives up to the need fairly well. Hermansson has a sharp jab that he’ll occasionally double up on, mix to the body, and follow with the cross. Hermansson is generally not one to sit in the pocket for long, but when attacking he does a nice job of mixing up his straight shots to find a hole, either by going body-head or alternating the angle on his right a touch.

A big part of Hermansson’s game is using his speed and false starts to land kicks at range. Hermansson is constantly pretending to run at his opponent, only to pull back at the last second and escape back to a safe distance. Hermansson doesn’t wait long to instead began unloading leg kicks — inside and out — from these entrances, running into the kick and trying to blast his opponent’s legs from beneath him. Another little trick Hermansson will use is to take a big step into Southpaw, suddenly allowing him to kick the inside leg or liver from a new angle. When combined with a false rush forward, this can prove very effective.

These false starts are intended to either freeze his opponent — in which case a kick or maybe double jab-cross is heading towards his foe next — or create a big reaction. If Hermansson’s foe is frustrated by his movement and getting his thigh/calf chopped, he’s more likely to drop his weight down and try to land an obvious counter punch. Usually, this is how Hermansson sets up his takedown (as he recently did quite easily opposite Dolidze).

Sometimes, movement alone is enough to win fights. Chris Curtis is an excellent boxer by most MMA standards, capable of throwing extended combos in the pocket at different targets and slipping shots very well. However, he also tends to stand still while throwing his strikes, which are mostly punches.

Hermansson won pretty easily by staying on his back and circling outside the Southpaw’s lead leg. He threw a lot of kicks and a fair few jabs too, simultaneously scoring while raising Curtis’ guard and giving him an option to drift away. To help gain that outside angle, Hermansson often threw an outside low kick to the calf, either knocking Curtis’ lead leg out of position or forcing him to raise and check. Either way, Hermansson had an escape avenue!

Defensively, Hermansson isn’t much of a pocket boxer. He’ll try to time opponents coming in — like his uppercut that stunned “Jacare” Souza, probably the best win of his pro career — but if that shot misses, he tends to be in poor position to absorb strikes. Confident and skilled straight hitters like Strickland and Vettori have backed him towards the cage, denied his shots and movement, then forced him to box with good results.

Expect a similar game plan from Pyfer.

Wrestling

Hermansson began his combat sports training as a wrestler in his youth, and that skill set has transitioned well into the cage.

The reactionary shot has proven a very effective weapon for Hermansson. There’s no easier time to blast an opponent off his feet than as he’s mid-punch, and his false start is a very effective tool for drawing power punches. If timed right, a quick double leg on a fighter in a kickboxing stance is easily finished and takes little energy.

Against Shahbazyan, Hermansson was forced to wrestle along the fence, and he found great success there too! “The Joker” really did well to methodically work from bad positions into strong takedowns. At one point, Hermansson was only able to initiate a clinch by giving up double underhooks, but he was still able to dig into the over-under then drop onto an inside single leg. Pulling Shahbazyan off the cage, Hermansson then landed a slick Barzegar finish to the shot, which is essentially a transition into a double leg position.

Hermansson tends to land many takedowns from the clinch, showing off his Greco-Roman wrestling experience. Against David Branch, Hermansson hit a very slick foot sweep, twisting Branch with his torso as his foot blocked Branch’s own leg from resetting. In the fight prior with Gerald Meerschaert, Hermansson attempted that same foot sweep, but Meerschaert was hip to the throw and stepped over the blocking foot. In the attempt, however, Hermansson dug his arms deeper to secure a body lock, powering “GM3” to the mat moments later.

In his back-and-forth battle with Thales Leites, Hermansson showed the value of wrestling fundamentals. Leites is very much a jiu-jitsu fighter, willing to put himself in risky positions to finish the shot or wrestle from his knees (never ideal). Hermansson countered these traits well, either utilizing the whizzer to apply hard pressure towards the weak side or simply clubbing Leites’ head down as he wrestled from poor posture.

Finally, we arrive at Hermansson’s top game, which is pretty brutal. Like most great ground strikers nowadays, Hermansson’s general strategy is to secure the two-on-one hold on his opponent’s wrist as his foe goes to stand. That position is dominant in itself, but Hermansson really focuses on the follow up: maintaining that hold as he climbs into mount, forcing his foe to give up the back from an already somewhat flattened posture.

Flattened out back mount is the worst position in mixed martial arts (MMA). It’s even more deadly when the wrist is trapped, as Hermansson can let go with one of his arms to punch without losing position. So long as hip pressure is maintained and one hand controls the wrist, the trapped fighter is still pretty stuck.

From a less technical standpoint, Hermansson is just damn good at doing damage from top position. He picks his shots well, mixing elbows and hooks around or under the guard to land cleanly on the chin and stun his opponents. All the while, Hermansson maintains heavy hip pressure, which is quite difficult.

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu

Aside from the devastating ground striking, slick submissions make up the other half of Hermansson’s top game. He has finished six foes via tapout, including his three most recent stoppage wins.

Hermansson’s submissions over Gerald Meerschaert and David Branch — both black belts! — came via arm-across guillotine, a front choke variation that squeezes the neck in similar fashion to the d’arce choke. Hermansson isolates his opponent’s neck and one arm in a front headlock before cutting around towards the back mount. In the process, this puts both the trapped head and arm on one side of his body. Often, Hermansson will use his hip to help push the trapped arm further into the neck. Once he’s confident in his grip, Hermansson will pull guard and squeeze, cutting off one side of the neck directly and the other with his opponent’s own arm.

Hermansson was crazy enough to attempt the choke against “Jacare,” and he nearly landed the submission, a testament to both his skill and confidence.

Against Kelvin Gastelum, Hermansson pulled a win out of nowhere via heel hook. Gastelum caught a kick and took him down — as mentioned, a somewhat reoccurring problem for the Swede — but Hermansson was unbothered. As Gastelum stood over him, Hermansson reaped the knee with his outside leg, meaning he drove his leg across Gastelum’s thigh and forced the knee to buckle.

Often in MMA, the top fighter is then able to pull away, which can still result in a sweep or stand up. However, Hermansson managed to use his left leg to hook behind Gastelum’s far knee, granting him better control over the lower body. In fact, that leg tripped Gastelum as the former title challenger tried to pull away, which makes Gastelum less able to pull away. All the while, Hermansson was cranking on the heel — and by extension, the knee — which soon forced his foe to submit.

Aside from those finishes, the other standout aspect of Hermansson’s grappling is his guard passing. When faced with full guard, Hermansson often advances by looking to throw his hips over his opponent’s defense, trusting his strong hips and balance to float over any butterfly hooks.

Hermansson pursues the mount more aggressively than most. A common path to mount for the Swede is the reverse side control, in which the top grappler faces his opponent’s feet while keeping his weight on the opponent’s chest. From this position, Hermansson can either grab his foot with his hand and pull his leg across to mount or simply take a wide step into the dominant position. Once landing in mount, Hermansson will immediately drop his hips to avoid being rolled.

It is worth-mentioning that Hermansson does not historically like being put on his back. Gastelum finish aside, Cezar Ferreira submitted him with an arm triangle fairly quickly after taking him down, and Leites nearly locked up several submissions, too. Dolidze finishing Hermansson on the mat was a rare case of Hermansson getting outworked while in a good position, but then, “The Caucasian” seems like a truly special fighter in the single area of working from his guard in MMA.

Conclusion

Hermansson has fought a “Who’s Who” of the Middleweight division in the last seven years or so. He’s a well-rounded veteran with grit and cardio in spades, the perfect test for a young knockout artist who is trying to sprint his way into title contention.

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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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