Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) bantamweight champion, TJ Dillashaw, looks to defend the belt in front of his hometown fans by taking out former champ, Renan Barao, at UFC 177 this Saturday night (August 30, 2014) at Sleep Train Arena in Sacramento, California.
After losing his Octagon debut to top flyweight contender John Dodson in just his fifth professional fight, Dillashaw proved he was still a fighter to watch by mauling his next two opponents with his grappling skills. Then, his improving striking began to surface, as Dillashaw knocked out Issei Tamura and Huge Viana in his following two fights.
Next, Dillashaw traveled to Brazil and took on Raphael Assuncao, a longtime veteran, but eventually lost a split decision. Undaunted, "Viper" went on to improve dramatically in time for his next fight, a three round shellacking of Mike Easton. Afterward, Dillashaw found himself thrust into a title bout with just eleven professional fights.
Nonetheless, Dillashaw dominated Barao in a performance UFC color commentator Joe Rogan called, "... the greatest performance I've ever seen!"
Does Dillashaw have the mixed martial arts (MMA) skill to repeat his dominant win?
Let's find out.
Striking
A brown belt in the Bang Muay Thai system under the man himself, Duane Ludwig, Dillashaw's development into a skilled kickboxer has been extraordinary. Not only does his frequent switching of stances and mixing up of targets make his attacks very difficult, but Dillashaw's head movement, footwork, and evasive action have improved tremendously.
Dillashaw is very active with his lateral movement. As he moves in either direction, Dillashaw remains light of his feet, ready to explode forward or bounce away from his opponent at any time. While on the outside, Dillashaw lets his arms and shoulders relax low, but he's quick to bring them up high once he or his opponent engages.
In my opinion, Dillashaw's biggest jump in skill level occurred between the Assuncao and Easton fight. In particular, Dillashaw's boxing improved tenfold. He sharpened all of his stand up by the time he fought Barao, but his development between the Assuncao and Easton fights is the base that he built on.
An important if sometimes overlooked aspect of Dillashaw's boxing is his jab. Out of both stances, Dillashaw was able to consistently land his jab on Barao as he moved forward with his combinations. Not only did that help him gauge the distance for his followup punches, but the jab also allowed him to land such extensive combinations then get out of dodge.
After landing a jab then pair of power strikes, Dillashaw would shift directions. Often times, he would cover this movement with his jab, keeping it in Barao's face and occupying his arms. Then, he would enter back into a combination that again started with the jab, as he had to rejudge his distance due to his movement and stance switches. Additionally, Dillashaw would often fire off a hard jab as he exited the pocket, stuffing Barao's attempts to come back with punches.
The most impressive improvement to Dillashaw's game is his ability to punch while off the center line. Dillashaw can now string together four punch combinations and move his head with each punch, forcing Easton to miss frequently. Then, he finishes his combo and exits at an angle or safely ducks out.
Dillashaw is very comfortable in the pocket. He's confident in his defense, which allows him to calmly land his shots and then slip his opponent's punches or simply be off to the side. This is far more effective than the average MMA-style striking defense, which is lands punches then get far out of range. That style of striking eliminates the possibility of countering the counter, whereas Dillashaw's exchanges with Barao often followed this pattern: initiate a combination, avoid the counter punches, then land even more strikes.
In addition to his boxing, Dillashaw has a strong kicking game. He frequently uses his stance switches and feints to set up outside leg kicks, an important part of his attack (Dillashaw landed nearly 30 leg kicks against Barao in the first fight). He often sets up his low kicks with classic Muay Thai combinations, such as the left hook-right low kick. Though he chose to stay in the pocket and box with Barao more often than not, it's pretty common for Dillashaw to end his combinations with a kick.
Starting with his bout against Issei Tamura, Dillashaw has been quite devoted to the head kick. To land the strike, Dillashaw ducks his head down as he throws it, making his opponent think of a possible takedown attempt. Then, he comes in over the top with a high kick.
Making his opponent think low before attacking high and vice versa is a huge part of Dillashaw's game. Against Tamura, he used the threat of a takedown to land the head kick, which is a common technique for "The Viper." Another example came in his bout with Mike Easton, where Dillashaw landed a number of hard inside leg kicks and body kicks from the southpaw stance. Not long after, Dillashaw landed a clean head kick as Easton's hands dropped low.
Dillashaw's low-high/high-low attack does not just apply to his kicks. The Californian frequently ties together the uppercut and overhand, using one strike to lead his opponent in the other. He'll use an up jab to similar effect as well. Or, he'll throw a punch/feint to the body and come over top with his overhand, a technique that nearly knocked Barao cold.
Finally, Dillashaw has been working on his teep kick. He largely abandoned it against Barao, as his goal was to close the distance, but he forcefully jammed it into Easton's gut a few times. He'll also occasionally throw out front kicks, or even a crane kick.
As mentioned above, Dillashaw's defense is excellent. That said, leading with extensive combinations while switching stances brings the inherent risk of a counter. Dillashaw has done well to minimize that risk, but both men that beat Dillashaw have done so via counter punching.
Wrestling
A collegiate wrestler at Cal State Fullerton, Dillashaw finished his senior year just outside of All-American status. Dillashaw's wrestling -- aided by natural athleticism -- has transitioned well into MMA, and his scrambling ability is definitely aided by his years of wrestling as well.
For the most part, Dillashaw attacks with the single leg takedown, which he uses well regardless of whether his opponent defending against the fence. He usually finishes by running the pipe but has a number of finishes to the shot. If running the pipe fails, Dillashaw will attempt to lift the leg high and trip the remaining leg or dumping him. Additionally, Dillashaw transitioned to an ankle pick from the single leg against Barao.
In addition, Dillashaw has shown a strong blast double leg. It looked especially quick against Raphael Assuncao, as Dillashaw shot out of the Southpaw stance. When Dillashaw uses the double against the cage, he's excellent at forcing his opponent to raise his hands high or lose his base with strikes just before he shoots.
Finally, Dillashaw is powerful within the clinch. He doesn't do anything subtle or especially complex; Dillashaw simply gets underhooks and overpowers his opponent to the mat.
Dillashaw is nasty from top position and blends controlling his foe with doing damage extremely well. This can best be seen in Dillashaw's second UFC bout against Walel Watson. For the entire 15 minutes, Dillashaw controlled Watson as he bumped and scrambled, transitioning between mount, back mount, and side control. All the while, Dillashaw was landing violent ground and pound. In addition, Dillashaw earned his way onto The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) house by obliterating Matt Jager with elbows from half guard.
Thus far in his UFC career, Dillashaw has managed to avoid every takedown that has come his way. His sprawl is very strong, allowing him to stuff even well-timed shots. Plus, his balance and scrambling is phenomenal, allowing him to avoid ending up on his back even when caught in an awkward position, like when Assuncao caught his head kick.
Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (BJJ)
On the ground, Team Alpha Male-trained fighters are known for two things: the guillotine choke and scrambling to the back. Dillashaw has yet to really threaten with the guillotine, but his ability to jump onto his foe's back is excellent.
Dillashaw's confidence in his ability to scramble out of bad positions allows him to be incredibly aggressive in pursuit of the back mount. He'll literally lunge out at his opponent's back, latching onto any grip that he can and flinging around a hook. It doesn't matter whether his opponent is attempting to stand, turtled up, or being controlled from the back clinch, Dillashaw will hop on the back at even the slightest opportunity.
Since his decision win over Watson, Dillashaw's ability to finish the choke his improved greatly. Dillashaw failed to hide his non-choking arm in that win, which allowed "Gazelle" to repeatedly pull that arm off his head and relieve the pressure. Dillashaw didn't have that issue against Vaughan Lee, whose jaw Dillashaw crushed in his next bout. In his bout with Barao, Dillashaw had an opportunity to land a rear naked choke after rocking Barao in the first, but he seemed a bit overanxious and failed to fully secure the position before squeezing.
Dillashaw often relies on the stacking pass to get around his opponent's guard. After breaking his opponent's guard, Dillashaw will grab his ankles and push them behind his foe's ahead. From there, his opponent can either let Dillashaw pass or turtle up, which leads right to Dillashaw's back takes. Dillashaw's opponent certainly cannot stay stacked up for long, as Dillashaw lands straight shots to the chin while his foe is stacked.
Finally, Dillashaw has looked good thus far on defense. Assuncao threatened him with an anaconda choke, but Dillashaw remained calm and eventually wiggled out. Plus, he pulled a veteran move by pushing Assuncao up against the fence, which prevents him from really leaning into the choke or rolling. Against Barao, Dillashaw stopped the Brazilian's leg kick attempts before they ever got very threatening.
Best chance for success
Dillashaw knows exactly what he has to do to defeat Barao once again. His last performance was basically perfect; he just has to replicate that.
It is important that Dillashaw keeps his composure. In the second round, Dillashaw rushed a bit while looking for the finish, which allowed Barao to have his best round of the fight. Once he calmed back down, Dillashaw continued to put a beating on the former champ.
He cannot afford to have that mentality going into this fight, nor should he attempt to force a finish. There's a good chance Barao will be more patient with his counter punches or even shoot for a takedown, both attacks that will work better against an overly aggressive Dillashaw.
Will Dillashaw defend his title and prove he's the better man, or will Barao bring the belt back to Brazil?