UFC 115 Preview: The Prelims

Mike Pyle vs. Jesse Lennox

My normal compulsion would be to pick Pyle because he is hands down the most underrated grappler in the division and has a fight IQ several evolutionary cycles ahead of Lennox’s. However, after nearly 11 years in the game, Pyle’s entire body still turns into petrified wood whenever an opponent throws more than one strike at him. Right at the end of the second round in his fight against Chris Wilson, Pyle ate a knee and immediately went into panic/turtle mode against the cage instead of merely circling away.

The flip-side of Pyle is that when he can control the tempo of his fights, his commitment to proper strategy and technique is simply too much for most to deal with. This is where the fight starts to get away from Lennox, as he certainly has the edge in raw physical ability but doesn’t grasp the more nuanced aspects of fighting. No better example of this exists than his fight with Rick Story, where he let Story land one-twos, repeatedly circled in the wrong direction and waited until the third round to go for a takedown.

Granted, Pyle isn’t going to out-strike Lennox for 15 minutes, but he does throw a sharp one-two and has the leg kicks to make Lennox pay for using a hunched-over stance that keeps him heavy on the lead leg. Given Lennox’s habit of staying outside the pocket and randomly circling before stepping in with arm-punch combinations, Pyle will have plenty of opportunity to time a level change. The prevailing opinion is that Lennox is the better wrestler, but Pyle has tremendous timing on his level changes and makes up for his lack of physical dynamism with solid fundamentals.

Even if Lennox decides to shoot for the takedown first, he won’t much enjoy Pyle’s vice-like guard game. Adept at controlling posture while framing up submissions, Pyle’s whole game is the perfect counter to Lennox, who wants nothing more than to posture up and drop ground strikes. Lennox infamously tried the same approach in his IFL bout against Emyr Bussade, and it ended with him stuck in a kneebar.

Clearly a grappling match with Pyle is not a good look for Lennox. Further complicating matters for him is the fact that he doesn’t have the defensive wrestling to make a sprawl-and-brawl game plan sing. While there’s always the chance Lennox hits Pyle with a few good punches and turns him into a robot programmed to quit, the smart money says Pyle soundly grapple-bombs him.