This weekend, the
Ultimate Fighting Championship returns to the Apex arena for
“UFC Vegas 81.” On top of the bill, we have a ranked featherweight
matchup between
Sodiq
Yusuff and
Edson
Barboza. The fight is a proving ground for both fighters. Does
Yusuff have what it takes to beat the battle-tested veterans that
populate the featherweight elite? Is Barboza still a contender at
37 years of age? In Beforemath, we aim to provide specialized
analysis for the main event of the UFC card for the week. Today is
a look at the Yusuff vs. Barboza matchup.
Yusuff: A chance at the Top
After losing to
Arnold
Allen, Yusuff managed to rebound well with two straight wins to
Alex Cacares and
Don Shainis.
Barboza is a different challenge all together. The biggest
difference between Barboza and Yusuff is the explosiveness. Barboza
is fast and hits quite hard. The author of so many highlight
knockouts, Barboza is a threat for “Super” Sodiq. The question of
the fight will be how does Yusuff take away that explosive style of
Barboza?
The proven method to beating
Edson
Barboza has been, without a doubt, wrestling. But it’s not as
simple as shooting your shot. When you look at fighters that have
beaten Barboza, you’ll see a varied attack and multiple ways to
beat him. While
Bryce
Mitchell,
Khabib
Nurmagomedov and
Kevin Lee all
wrestled him into oblivion, there’s also
Justin
Gaethje and
Giga
Chikadze who simply outfought him on the feet. Yusuff is not
Chikadze or Gaethje as a striker, so the path to victory has to be
in the wrestling.
Against
Alex
Caceres, a dynamic striker in his own right, we got to see how
Yusuff handled slick and savvy strikers. Granted Caceres is nowhere
near the fighter Barboza is when it comes to speed and his varied
strikes. Yusuff started the attack with a barrage of low kicks.
via GIPHY
Against Caceres, The Team
Lloyd Irvin
talent landed 34 of 37 low kicks and had Caceres stumbling about
the place. Low kicking Barboza would be a bit riskier with the
potential of a low kick coming back his way. But to slow Barboza
down, Yusuff will want to land some damage to the legs to slow down
his swift opponent.
via GIPHY
But with the low kick-heavy approach Barboza employs, Yusuff will
need to be sure to check the kicks to minimize his own damage and
not get in a kick-for-kick contest with Barboza, one which he
loses. When it comes to reaping the benefits of his work on the
legs, the 30-year-old will have to have the best wrestling
performance of his life. Yusuff manages to get in the clinch well
but has completed a total of one takedown in the UFC.
To get to the clinch, (1) Yusuff will march forward and draw out an
attack from Caceres. (2) After a lead hook, Yusuff shoots on the
hips and gets his head to the left side of Caceres. Then he (3)
goes behind Caceres and keeps his hands locked.
It’s from this position that Yusuff begins to struggle to get
takedowns. With a 12% takedown accuracy, Yusuff will have to
execute. While that percentage isn’t the end all be all, and
doesn’t necessarily reflect actual takedown attempts instead of
changing levels to open up other things, Yusuff has made it a point
to try to wrestle and couldn’t quite get the job done. That doesn’t
mean he doesn’t do things well in the clinch.
(1) Yusuff managed to get Caceres to the fence in a similar way as
above. He ducked under and pushed his shoulder through and drove
him to the fence. Caceres managed to pummel through to the
underhook, but Yusuff sussed this out and (2) stepped around to the
side and (3) to the back clinch. Notice how Yusuff kept the
underhooking arm pinned. This opens up a weak spot in Caceres’
takedown defense that Yusuff cannot capitalize on. He should have,
instead, pulled him from the fence so he couldn’t lean on it before
the arm was freed and reap that side’s leg to get to the
ground.
These clinch situations will be crucial in the game plan for Yusuff
at “UFC Vegas 81.” Finishing when he’s got Barboza in a clinch,
where he can’t be quicker with his hands, will make or break the
fight. To see a way Yusuff can win this fight, we toss it over to
Olympic gold medalist and the former UFC flyweight and bantamweight
champion,
Henry
Cejudo.
Demetrious
Johnson was a faster and more athletic fighter than Cejudo. To
slow the squirrelly opponent, Cejudo managed to (1) clinch up with
Johnson. He grabbed the over hook and will (2) pull up on Johnson
to raise his center of gravity all while stepping through between
the legs of Johnson as deep as he can and he reaps the right leg of
his opponent. He will bring Johnson over that leg and (3) complete
the takedown.
Yusuff is keen on the leg reap against the fence but hasn’t been
able to complete them with regularity. This inside leg trip will
help Yusuff if executed properly and can get Barboza on the ground
in the middle of the cage where he cannot wall walk up; his go to
escape. The task is tall for Yusuff: Barboza is faster, he hits
harder and he’s vastly more experienced. But when the moment calls,
a fighter will have to step up and rise to the occasion to prove
that they’re the best in the world. Yusuff will have to do that to
win this fight to continue his chase for the title, but Barboza is
dangerous for everyone.
Barboza: New Life, New Challenges
Barboza’s new life as a featherweight has been a mixed bag but
overall positive. He is 3-3 in the division with some good wins and
close losses. Barboza proved that despite his physique, the weight
cut from 155 to 145 is not going to hinder him. Yusuff is the
latest contender to face off against the vet as a young name trying
to prove his name.
Billy
Quarantillo,
Shane
Burgos and others have tried to use his name as a breakout
performance to launch to the top of the division. Yusuff is just
the next challenger for the 37-year-old. Knowing that Yusuff is
going to employ the low kick, Barboza will have to address that by
crowding the kicker, checking the kicks, or staying out of range.
The method of this depends on how he reacts. When he lost to Allen,
Yusuff’s output was much less than his fight with Caceres.
via GIPHY
Another counter to the low kick for Barboza will be stepping in on
the low kick and landing the straight right. Animated above, the
right cross is a good way to punish an opponent who throws too many
low kicks too predictably. With his speed, Barboza may let Yusuff
come out with a few leg kicks, punish him with the cross, and
Yusuff could become hesitant to throw any more.
With how Yusuff likes to come forward and exchange, Barboza’s work
in the pocket will be another key to victory. While he’s known for
his spectacular knockouts like that of
Terry Etim,
Beneil
Dariush and most recently,
Billy
Quarantillo, Barboza’s pocket work has been superb. He works
the body, throwing a mean left hook that crumbles opponents.
Dan
Hooker and
Evan Dunham
are two fighters that directly were finished by Barboza’s body
work, though most others went through that same trial.
Burgos is a similar style to Yusuff in the fact that he’s a
pressure fighter and has a good striking game, if not better. In
their fight, the American Top Team contender worked the body to
incredible effect with hooks, a roundhouse, and spinning back kick,
but his work in the pocket really lent itself well to Barboza.
(1) We start off in a bladed stance (orthodox versus orthodox) and
(2) arbors throws the jab followed by (3) the right. Normally
fighters here would take their points and exit the exchange, but
not Barboza. On throwing the right, he leans to his left, lining up
his next punch. Knowing where his opponent can strike from against
Yusuff will be Barboza’s biggest X-factor. If he can let Yusuff
come forward but stay in the pocket moving his head and landing the
bigger blows at a higher volume, Barboza can come out of this fight
victorious.
Returning to the previous sequence, that next punch loaded up by
Barboza was (4) a left hook to the body. Right to the solar plexus,
this shot is crippling in itself. (5) Barboza doubles up on the
left again with a left hook up top, changing levels again, (6) jabs
again to frame off of Burgos, and (7) lands one more right before
exiting the exchange. Where a fighter may be content with landing
two or three punches to nil for their opponent, Barboza loads up
and collects six. These exchanges drive up the strike differential
for Barboza giving him the edge on adversaries who opt to strike
with him. Lastly, as Yusuff comes forward, he throws out a push
kick, or teep, to push his opponent back. Barboza will want to deal
with this and has the skills to do so.
via GIPHY
There’s scooping up the kick with your arm and kicking out the leg
of your opponent for easy points, elevating the leg for a takedown
and others that Barboza can do. My preference for “Junior” would be
to catch the kick and pull Yusuff into a right cross as Thai boxing
legend
Rodtang
Jitmuangnon does. Pulling an opponent is something he does well
as a pressure fighter who sees his share of push kicks in a failed
attempt to slow his march. Barboza could do this to really make
Sodiq
Yusuff second-guess his game plan and have a crisis
midfight.
Much of what has been suggested is based around Barboza’s
veteranship. He has more than double the fight experience of his
opponent on Saturday. This has gotten him through some fights and
against Yusuff, it can be enough, but Barboza lays an egg every now
and then and seems to just implode on himself. That won’t work and
he will need to live up to his status of crafty old vet.
This article first appeared on Sherdog and was syndicated with permission.