? | Isaac Schubert
NCAA All-American Mo Miller put away the betting favorite Mando Gutierrez to cement his status as one of the most promising bantamweight rookies in the world.
Ohio bantamweight Mo Miller continued the streak of Notre Dame College wrestlers in MMA this past weekend. At LFA 90, he took on the highly touted Mando Gutierrez – an undefeated submission specialist and former walk-on wrestler at the University of Iowa.
Perhaps dazzled by Gutierrez’s four first-round submission wins, bettors saw the Michigan native as the favorite in this matchup.
Miller’s development as an athlete has been incredible. He was recruited to Division 2 powerhouse Notre Dame College without ever having attended the state tournament in high school. He wasn’t projected to start. After one redshirt season, Miller not only made the lineup, he placed 4th at the club national tournament. Miller improved upon his debut season with a 4th place finish at the NCAA Division 2 Championship, entering his junior year as the #1 ranked wrestler in the country. Unfortunately, at nationals, Miller dropped his first two matches and did not place.
When I first interviewed Mo Miller when he was still an amateur MMA fighter, he validated his frustrations.
“I looked at the podium that year, and I had beat every person up there. All eight All-Americans, even the national champ.”
While Miller wasn’t entirely satisfied with his senior year, a 3rd place finish made him a two-time NCAA Division II All-American and a three-time collegiate All-American. Not bad for a wrestler who didn’t qualify for high school states.
After graduating, Miller joined his former teammates and training partners and began his MMA career. Notre Dame’s four-time undefeated NCAA champion Joey Davis and Ohio University wrestler Tywan Claxton, a summer training partner of Miller, led the way with quick starts to their runs in Bellator. Other prospects from Notre Dame include All-Americans Jeffrey Pelton and Cobey Fehr, as well as two-time national champion Garrett Lineberger, who recently signed with ONE Championship.
Fighters like Cody Garbrandt, AJ McKee and Jarred Brooks briefly attended Notre Dame College, but were not long-term roster members.
With his pedigree, growth trajectory, and training at Strong Style, the gym of UFC heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic, Mo Miller should have been on every fan’s radar. If they didn’t know then, they know now.
Mo Show: How Miller Mauled Mando
Beyond individual techniques, Miller’s biggest strength is his ability control distance, specifically linear space. Using his lengthy frame, Miller is able to cover ground with speed and coordination, giving him the edge when fights are contested at mid or long range.
The threat of reactive takedowns typically discourages opponents from rushing straight in, but Mo Miller has also taken to the lead leg side kick as a range management tool.
Miller was free to retreat in short bursts while taking hard step-feints in to close in toward the cage.
Gutierrez became frustrated with this tactic fairly quickly, walking straight in on Miller once the space was available. After drawing him in, Miller exploded back forward with a rear straight and absolutely floored Gutierrez.
Mando Gutierrez utilized his dangerous guard to threaten Miller with several submission attempts throughout the fight – including a near gogoplata, but ultimately Miller’s posture, size and awareness kept him safe.
In a matchup between two wrestlers, the fighter who can control which positions they wrestle in, and when, has a major advantage. Gutierrez could not safely pressure Miller to the cage, and Miller’s feinting and variety made it difficult to anticipate attacks to shoot under. Any wrestling attempts would be forced.
Miller, on the other hand, didn’t need clean opportunities. His comfort in upper body positions meant he could turn a seemingly messy collision into a takedown with only a few adjustments.
Once Gutierrez gave up enough ground to position himself near the cage, Miller let his hands go. A short jab and long rear straight allowed Miller to step through and catch underhooks as Gutierrez level changed in an attempt to intercept. Gutierrez was basically only looking to wrestle when pushed hard on the backfoot, meaning all Miller had to do was press in and Gutierrez would give him counter grappling opportunities.
Miller simultaneously stood tall and jacked up the underhooks to stand up Gutierrez while connecting his hands to settle into the bodylock closer to the waistline. Typically to defend a bodylock, the defending fighter would get their hips straight back to create space to pummel and make it more difficult for the attacking fighter to manipulate their posture.
In this case, Gutierrez was stuck against the fence. and his attempts to counter guillotine only made it easier for Miller to pull in to collapse his posture while scooping out his vulnerable leg with a right leg hook. Because Miller collapsed Gutierrez to the left, he only needed a stable planting point on that side, and could afford to use his free leg to further compromise Gutierrez’s balance.
This was great work, but Miller’s most effective looks were off of Gutierrez’s attempted entries, just like that first-round knockdown.
On subsequent attempts to pressure, Gutierrez lowered his level and attempted to wade in and land something heavy. On his first attempt, he walked himself right into a rear snap kick to the gut. Showing off his ability to quickly transition between striking and grappling, Miller retracted the kick and swung his hips back. This gave him space to pummel in and grab a controlling double collar tie before Gutierrez pushed him into the cage.
Gutierrez had trouble stopping his own momentum, and Miller easily redirected him to the left by pivoting off and shucking him with the double collar tie.
As Gutierrez turned back in, Miller found space for a strong right-side underhook. Gutierrez attempted to counter with an uchi mata off the whizzer but his hips were high, the whizzer was loose and Miller was already bearing down on him, breaking his posture. Gutierrez sold out on a leg entanglement, which was ultimately unsuccessful.
Later on, Gutierrez committed even harder to a pressuring blitz, squatting to load up on something fight-changing. Beating him to the punch, Miller intercepted his level change with a swinging rear uppercut and clearly hurt the still-charging Gutierrez. Gutierrez shot an outside double to recover, but Miller easily pulled him back up from over-unders and circled away from the cage, punching up his underhook to pull Gutierrez off balance. The circling motion disrupted Gutierrez’s feet, and the height and punch from the underhook took away his base, allowing Miller to toss him aside.
It’s important to note that Miller likely would not have been able to simply march forward and grab Gutierrez, manhandling him any way he saw fit. These situations went so well for him because he pulled the trigger during moments of advantage. He used his outside feints to put Gutierrez near the cage before punching his way into the clinch. He forced Gutierrez to take risky entries and capitalized once he was out of position.
Mo Miller, still fairly early in his MMA career, has demonstrated a deliberate game. He employs striking tactics that directly lead to favorable wrestling situations. This is an enormous positive when evaluating a prospect wrestler in MMA.
Even more impressively, after these moments of success, Gutierrez fatigued, and Miller began to dominate on the mat as well.
From “referee’s position” or turtle, Miller snatched up the seatbelt grip and began to obviously favor putting his hooks in on the near-side. Feeling this, Gutierrez attempted to roll through to his back on the open side.
As soon as Gutierrez began that motion, Miller walked himself behind Gutierrez and used the seatbelt grip to pull his opponent into his lap, putting in the right side hook as Gutierrez put his left hip on the mat.
Miller was clearly well-prepared for this position, and used his pressure and ground and pound to force Gutierrez into it repeatedly. Stacking from guard, Miller rained down strikes, encouraging Gutierrez to turn away to base and stand up. When Gutierrez didn’t look to roll through and remained in the turtle position, Miller put in one hook and sat on the leg, similar to an Iowa ride. This kept Gutierrez relatively static, and allowed Miller to begin to tee off with hooks and reverse hammerfists from back control.
Down the stretch, Miller absolutely dominated Gutierrez with that single hook and seatbelt position. He was able to anticipate Gutierrez’s motion, always to the open side, and crack him back to the mat with his grip. Eventually, Gutierrez got sloppy and attempted to punch back at Miller with what should have been a defending hand, and Miller instantly released his grip and sunk in the fight-ending rear naked choke.
After coming in as the betting underdog, Mo Miller introduced the LFA audience to the “Mo Show.”
The team and coaches at Strong Style are obviously doing an incredible job developing Miller’s game, and it’s fair to anticipate seeing him in a major promotion within a year or two. Keep your eyes peeled for this fantastic bantamweight prospect’s next fight!