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Usman provides the material for this installment of The Film Room.
Usman’s game is quite simple, as he is one of the most linear fighters to ever earn a title shot. Oddly, the only other fighter who would be considered more linear to earn a title shot was Demian Maia, and Woodley proved he can avoid the grappling exchanges and pick him apart on the feet. Usman will strike with opponents if he must, but his only goal in the cage is to get the fight on the ground and he does so in a variety of ways. Of course, he is proficient at your standard double- and single-leg takedowns, but most of his takedowns come against the cage after dwindling an opponent’s cardio with non-stop pressure. Usman likes to back the opponent to the cage with simple striking and the threat of his grappling before shooting at the hips. Once he is wrapped around opponents, he will hang on them to take away their cardio and eventually dump them to the ground. He likes to get a body lock and simply lift the opponent in the air and slam him down, but he will also go for double-legs, trips and throws from the body lock. Usman knows he is not the best striker and understands that setting up his takedowns with strikes in the middle of the Octagon probably will not work. This is why most of his takedowns come against the cage, where he can use the fence to limit an opponent’s movement and not have to worry about striking.
Observers have noticed the similarities between Usman’s grappling and that of Khabib Nurmagomedov, but the main difference can be found in what they do once the fight hits the ground. Usman is frustratingly patient in the most dominant positions on the ground and is far too concerned with improving position rather than posturing up and striking. Sure, he will rack up the striking numbers with pot shots on the ground, but most of his ground-and-pound is not significant enough to end a fight. In his most recent fight with Rafael dos Anjos, Usman landed a staggering 12 takedowns but only connected with 49 strikes on the ground, with most of them not qualifying as significant. If Usman would simply posture up and throw ground-and-pound with everything he had, he would have many more finishes on his record. Since joining the UFC in 2015, Usman has only finished two fights, one by submission and one by knockout, with none of them resulting from ground-and-pound despite his grappling dominance. This has caused Usman to develop the reputation as a boring fighter, which does not bode well for his fight with Woodley, who also has the reputation of an overly patient fighter. We can only hope that both men take chances in this fight, but no one should be surprised if we get a five-round stalemate.
On the feet, Usman is honestly much better than he should be for someone who spends so much time on the ground. He has one knockout since joining the UFC -- against Sergio Moraes -- and his striking looked incredibly improved in his last appearance with dos Anjos. His skills on the feet are likely no match for Woodley, but it is nice to see him develop as a striker and it should be exciting to see what new wrinkles he has added to his game.