Tag: Strawweight

UFC 212 Breakdown: Claudia Gadelha Looks To Conquer The Swarming Karolina Kowalkiewicz

After Sunday’s fights and Alexander Gustafsson’s brilliant performance against Glover Teixeira, the UFC is back with more action with a robust card in Rio de Janiero. While the main event features two of the top featherweights in the world, the co-main event offers up some strawweight action as two former title challengers square off. Claudia Gadelha versus Karoline Kowalkiewicz has all the makings of fight of the night written all over it. Both women fight at a high pace with their own individual strengths and weaknesses. It’s a nice style clash that should offer up some interesting results.

The post UFC 212 Breakdown: Claudia Gadelha Looks To Conquer The Swarming Karolina Kowalkiewicz appeared first on Cagepotato.

After Sunday’s fights and Alexander Gustafsson’s brilliant performance against Glover Teixeira, the UFC is back with more action with a robust card in Rio de Janiero. While the main event features two of the top featherweights in the world, the co-main event offers up some strawweight action as two former title challengers square off. Claudia Gadelha versus Karoline Kowalkiewicz has all the makings of fight of the night written all over it. Both women fight at a high pace with their own individual strengths and weaknesses. It’s a nice style clash that should offer up some interesting results.

Claudia Gadelha missed her opportunity to become the third strawweight champion as she lost her grudge match to Joanna Jedrzejczyk last July at the TUF 23 finale. Since then she’s made a few changes to her training, the biggest of which was a shift in camps. She left Nova Uniao and relocated to Albuquerque, New Mexico at the Jackson-Winklejohn gym. There, she has hoped to improve upon her style which is a nice mash up of hard nosed Muay Thai, wrestling, and Brazilian jiu-jitsu. Gadelha has always excelled in grappling and did well in her rematch against Jedrzejczyk in the early goings before fatigue set in.

She’ll once again want to rely on her grappling skills in this match up as Kowalkiewicz is a fighter who thrives on battling things out on the feet. Gadelha’s striking is sound and is arguably on par if not more technical than her opponent’s approach, yet she does have a tendency to brawl and remain stationary when throwing strikes. Instead, Gadelha should want to entice her opponent into a brawl then surprise her with a reactive double leg takedown. From there, Gadelha should look to ride things out in half guard, defend the underhook, and land ground and pound to her hearts content. Playing around in full guard and mount is certainly an option, but Kowalkiewicz is savvy and isn’t afraid to throw up submission. Softening her up should be Gadelha’s priority before hunting for submissions.

On the flip side of things we have Karolina Kowalkiewicz who could be one of my favorite female fighters in the game today. While Joanna Jedrzejczyk may be the queen of technical skill, Jessica Andrade the queen of ferociousness, and Claudia Gadelha the queen of grappling, Karolina Kowalkiewicz is the queen dirty fighting in strawweight division. That is neither a reference to her cleanliness or an allegation of cheating, but rather her ability to take fights where she wants them and excel in close in combat, particularly the clinch.

While she came up short against the champion at UFC 205 due to being picked apart from the outside, Karolina Kowalkiewicz proved that she won’t stop moving forward. But she’ll want to control her aggression in this bout as Claudia Gadelha is likely looking for an opportunity to put Kowalkiewicz on her back. Rather than resorting to her blitzing style of attack, Karolina should look to throw jabs, straights, and front kicks to keep Gadelha at bay. She also needs to keep her feet moving laterally in hopes of avoiding the takedown. If she is taken to mat however she should look to get the cage, wall walk, then use the opportunity to battle inside the clinch. Barring that, the occasional 2-1 blitz could be a nice way to close the distance and get into clinch territory.

Who wins this battle of strawweight contenders?

Jonathan Salmon is a writer, martial arts instructor, and geek culture enthusiast. Check out his Twitter and Facebook to keep up with his antics.

The post UFC 212 Breakdown: Claudia Gadelha Looks To Conquer The Swarming Karolina Kowalkiewicz appeared first on Cagepotato.

UFC 211: Joanna Jedrzejczyk Versus Jessica Andrade Will Be A Total Slugfest

The co-main event spot belongs to two of the fiercest female fighters in the UFC today as strawweight champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk is set to mix it up with fellow striker and all around beast Jessica Andrade. The two women are known for the ferocity and willingness to mix things up on the feet. Both are warriors in the truest sense of the word with the kind of never say die mindset that makes for epic battles, not to mention brutal beat downs.

The post UFC 211: Joanna Jedrzejczyk Versus Jessica Andrade Will Be A Total Slugfest appeared first on Cagepotato.

The co-main event spot belongs to two of the fiercest female fighters in the UFC today as strawweight champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk is set to mix it up with fellow striker and all around beast Jessica Andrade. The two women are known for the ferocity and willingness to mix things up on the feet. Both are warriors in the truest sense of the word with the kind of never say die mindset that makes for epic battles, not to mention brutal beat downs.

For Joanna Jendrzejczyk battling things out on the feet is a foregone conclusion. Her style consists of sharp jabs, front kicks and leg kicks to start things off. While she is willing to mix things up, her preferred method is to get reads on her opponent before throwing herself into the thick of things. Once she understands the range she’s sure to start following up her jab with a strong cross, a hook off of a rear kick, and variety of different punching combinations. While she does fight in the pocket from
time to time, she much rather land her strikes, pivot out and regain distance before engaging again.

In this bout with Andrade, Joanna Jedrzejczyk has a truly tough test. Andrade is likely to be the bigger woman come fight time and is likely to have a power advantage. Nevertheless, the challenger is at a reach disadvantage, which means Joanna is going to want to stick that jab, land the front kick up the center, and counter off of Andrade’s pressure when she comes forward. Joanna must be diligent with how far she pushes forward. Andrade being the smaller party will go to the body consistently. It’s a bigger target than the head and harder to miss. But since Andrade likes to bulldoze forward, lateral movement as well as pivoting will be key to Joanna landing hard counter punches. While Andrade may not have an insane wrestling pedigree, she’s more than willing to tie up and dump a girl on her back. That means Joanna can’t over commit on anything unless she’s on a deep outside or inside angle with her hips off the center line.

It’s hard to believe that Jessica Andrade was once competitive as a bantamweight, but that nasty power really made up for her size disadvantage. She is one of those fighters that is reminiscent of the old school, aggressive Chute Boxe style. Andrade fights like a hybrid of Wanderlei Silva and John Lineker. She’ll throw powerful kicks and come down throwing hooks like Silva. She’ll punch her way into range and work the body with consistent body hooks reminiscent of Lineker. But against the champion Jessica Andrade will need to bring all her tools to the table. In fact, those body shots in particular are going to be a major factor in this fight (more on that later). Takedowns should also be on the menu as she’s proficient in a number of different techniques.

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Andrade’s height disadvantage means playing the outside game is highly unlikely. She needs to close the distance on Joanna Jedrzejczyk right out of the gate. But she can’t afford to just bull rush forward and get clipped. A distance jab into a low calf kick will unbalance the champ long enough for Andrade to close distance where should immediately work the body. It will be hard to divorce herself from her hooking punches, but she’ll want to mix things up with jabs, straights and feints throughout. Some low kicks into front kicks to the straight cross to the body could push the champ to the cage. Then and only then should a lunging hook be unleashed. If the champ’s back is against the cage then there will be nowhere for Jedrzejczyk to go except either left or right. That means Andrade’s right or left hooks will be awaiting her on the exit. The cage is super important in this fight. If Andrade can get Jedrzejczyk to the cage early and often, stay diligent with body and leg work, it’s only a matter of time until she walks into something devastating.

Does Joanna Jedrzejczyk keep her belt or can Jessica Andrade become the next champion?

Jonathan Salmon is a writer, martial arts instructor, and geek culture enthusiast. Check out his Twitter and Facebook to keep up with his antics.

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UFC on Fox 24: Will Rose Namajunas Crush Michelle Waterson’s Title Hopes?

The co-main event of UFC on Fox 24 features a battle between two top contenders in the strawweight division as Rose Namajunas looks to get back on track with the well rounded Michelle Waterson. Both of these women are the elite in the division and both possess a tremendous amount of athleticism.

The post UFC on Fox 24: Will Rose Namajunas Crush Michelle Waterson’s Title Hopes? appeared first on Cagepotato.

The co-main event of UFC on Fox 24 features a battle between two top contenders in the strawweight division as Rose Namajunas looks to get back on track with the well rounded Michelle Waterson. Both of these women are the elite in the division and both possess a tremendous amount of athleticism.

Rose Namajunas has a style all her own. She’s an aggressive fighter with the ability to thrive in chaos, yet it’s her fundamentals that have carried her far in her career. She uses great lateral movement with an in and out jab that causes opponents to either succumb to the snapping punch and attempt to push forward or slip the punch and counter back. Both instances is what Namajunas appears to want as she likes to play counter fighter as much as she enjoys playing aggressor.

When she’s at her most disciplined she doesn’t load up on her punches and frustrates the opposition with her rangy jab and variety of kicks. Her wrestling game has also improved immensely forcing her opponents to either stand and trade or taking them down herself. What she’ll want to do in this match is use her length against Waterson. If she does end up in the clinch, she has to let her elbows do the talking and time her knees just right. Waterson is a takedown threat and if Rose miscalculates her timing she can end up on her back. Jabbing to get her distance and waiting to throw her right hand as a counter should be her M.O. while on the feet.

On the other end of the equation we have Michelle Waterson who has established herself as a major strawweight threat. Her karate ability already makes me a fan, but it’s how she utilizes her skills that makes her so enjoyable to watch. It seems that Waterson has two modes of attack on the feet. In the orthodox position she has a mix of Muay Thai, kickboxing, and karate in her arsenal. In her southpaw stance she’s far more traditional in her approach, standing in a side stance and throwing powerful front leg side kicks following up with a straight right afterwards.

With Namajunas loving to use her jab, that southpaw stance is going to come in handy for Waterson. She has great timing on those side kicks and they’ll help her to both keep range and land good damage on her opponent. The funny thing is that if the two do tie up in a clinch or wrestling position, Waterson may have the advantage as she is w supremely underrated grappler. She’s submission hungry from top and bottom position but understands that while on the ground, position is key. Waterson should establish boxing combinations in her orthodox stance and, right when Namajunas feels comfortable, switch into southpaw stance to give her opponent a different look with her side kicking game.

It’s a toss up between these two women, but one thing is certain. As a traditional martial arts fan, I’m sure to get my money’s worth.

Who wins at UFC on Fox 24, Rose Namajunas or Michelle Waterson?

Jonathan Salmon is a writer, martial arts instructor, and geek culture enthusiast. Check out his Twitter and Facebook to keep up with his antics.

The post UFC on Fox 24: Will Rose Namajunas Crush Michelle Waterson’s Title Hopes? appeared first on Cagepotato.

UFC Strawweight Champ Joanna Jedrzejczyk Gets Thumb Surgery, Expects 2015 Return

Joanna Jedrzejczyk, the UFC women’s strawweight champion and maybe the most exciting fighter to break onto the big stage this year, underwent thumb surgery on Friday. The news came early on Friday in a post published to Jedrzejczyk‘s official Instagram account (h/t MMA Junkie): The bad news: This will keep Jedrzejczyk out of action longer than was […]

Joanna Jedrzejczyk, the UFC women’s strawweight champion and maybe the most exciting fighter to break onto the big stage this year, underwent thumb surgery on Friday. The news came early on Friday in a post published to Jedrzejczyk‘s official Instagram account (h/t MMA Junkie): The bad news: This will keep Jedrzejczyk out of action longer than was […]

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Joanna Jedrzejczyk: ‘I’m Going to Be a Ronda Rousey in the Strawweight Division’

UFC strawweight champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk envisions all-time greatness.  As a lifelong devotee to combat sports, Jedrzejczyk feels her time spent cracking shins, fists, elbows and knees to pads is now beginning to pay off inside the UFC Octagon. She found muay thai as a teenager, first taking up the sport as a hobby but quickly realizing it was […]

UFC strawweight champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk envisions all-time greatness.  As a lifelong devotee to combat sports, Jedrzejczyk feels her time spent cracking shins, fists, elbows and knees to pads is now beginning to pay off inside the UFC Octagon. She found muay thai as a teenager, first taking up the sport as a hobby but quickly realizing it was […]

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Rose Namajunas: Can She Climb Back into the Strawweight Title Picture?

Before “Thug” Rose Namajunas, she was considered to be the next Ronda Rousey, even by the women’s bantamweight champion herself. According to MMAFighting.com’s Guilherme Cruz, Rousey stated, “I really think she has all the tools to be the next influential champion.”   However, those dreams of being the first women’s strawweight champion were dashed at […]

Before “Thug” Rose Namajunas, she was considered to be the next Ronda Rousey, even by the women’s bantamweight champion herself. According to MMAFighting.com’s Guilherme Cruz, Rousey stated, “I really think she has all the tools to be the next influential champion.”   However, those dreams of being the first women’s strawweight champion were dashed at […]

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