Contributor: Ben Kohn
In the co-main event of Wednesday night’s UFN 28, UFC Middleweight perennial contender and former title challenger Yushin Okami will take on the surging BJJ world champion and former Strikeforce Middleweight champion Ronaldo Souza. Yushin Okami is one of the best Middlweight MMA fighters around today and has been among the top ten for years. With wins over Nate Marquart, Alan Belcher 2x, and Mark Munoz, and Hector Lombard it’s not hard to see why. He has the type of style that may not be the most fan-friendly but he is an absolute nightmare to be facing across the cage. His massive frame for Middleweight allows him to jab the hell out of you and if he pushes you against the cage, you’re likely either getting taken down, or getting Couture’d (being Couture’d means being pushed against the fence, dirty boxed, and feeling violated and helpless for as many rounds as the fight goes on. His grinding style is just absolutely hell to go up against and while he can be outgrappled (Sonnen) and his chin can be cracked (Boetsch, Silva), he is a tough out for every and any fighter not named Anderson Silva.
Ronaldo Souza is one the premier and elite BJJ competitors in the world. He can now claim to be among the better MMA Middleweights in the world with victories over Robbie Lawler, Tim Kennedy, Ed Herman, and Chris Camozzi. While this list is not incredibly impressive, his current 4 fight win streak since losing the Strikeforce title have all been by finish with 3 by submission and 1 by brutal KO. Souza is looking to cement himself as one of the top Middleweights and get into Dana’s “mix” by beating a man who has shut down the title hopes and dreams of many a fighter. With Souza’s combination of unbelievable grappling, his surprisingly good wresting, and powerful striking, it’s hard to see how Yushin can stop a man who is running through opponents like a runaway freight train. Jacare’s striking has improved leaps and bounds as evidenced by his tooling of Ed Herman and Chris Camozzi on the feet in his recent bouts. His wrestling has always been really good for a BJJ guy and his grappling…well do not let him grab a hold of your limbs or neck because it won’t end well for you. Let’s move along now and see exactly how these two stack up in the individual areas of fighting and who will win in these phases of combat.
Yushin Okami’s striking is really really simple to break down. Jab Jab Jab, Straight, rinse and repeat. Seriously, Yushin has been incredibly effective against many fighters using his southpaw jab over and over with straights mixed in here and there. His massive frame allows him to jab guys from range and when he can’t do that, he will move forward with 1-2’s and clinch up with his opponents. The fact that this strategy has worked many times is a testament to a few things. One is that striking in MMA has not caught up with the skill level of the grappling. The second is that Okami is a very smart fighter. The fact that he 
has learned to use such a limited set of moves on the feet so effectively is a testament to how good of a fighter he is. Despite his long-term success, in recent bouts he has struggled on the feet. Buddy Roberts, Alan Belcher, and Hector Lombard have all either hurt him, or gave him lots of trouble on the feet. This has been attributed to a few things but one is his suspect chin. Ever since the Anderson and Boetsch fights, Yushin has seemed reluctant to take shots on the feet. Against Buddy Roberts, someone who Yushin ranked far above and should have easily dispatched, he was hurt on the feet and desperately took him down where he ended up dominating but it definitely was worrisome to see Yushin react so badly to getting hit. Against Belcher, he seemed ok on the feet but definitely did not want to fight Belcher on the feet, winning by using his smothering clinch game and top control. His fight with Lombard seemed to be shaping up in a similar fashion to his fight with Boetsch, winning the first two rounds with top control and getting hurt badly on the feet. However, he survived the onslaught and took a decision. Despite this, Yushin is a top of the food chain Middlweight who will usually beat anyone not ranked in the top 5. His striking, while limited, is effective in getting him the win and that is what really matters.
Ronaldo Souza’s striking has really developed nicely since he began fighting. His signature weapon is his overhand/counter right hand which he packs a lot of power into, albeit he does throw it a bit stiffly sometimes. His striking arsenal is complimented nicely by his really hard front kicks, which he generally throws in the snapping variety. He loves to throw those front snap kicks to both, the face and the body and they really hurt his opponents, opening them up to repeated strikes from his powerful right hand. He will actually double, and even triple up on strikes from his right hand to great effect. Ed Herman was completely stunned by the same side strikes and it led to the fight finishing takedown and submission. Souza also has a pretty decent left hook that he will throw to lead into the right hand. Overall, Souza’s offensive striking has come along really well. Notice how I said offensive striking specifically. The reason for this is because when put on the defensive, Souza’s striking output falls to nearly zero. When forced to back up, Souza just doesn’t have any weapons to attack with. Look at his fight with Rockhold to see what I mean. Whenever Rockhold pressed forward, Souza just sort of threw single strikes occasionally and really just tried to not get hit. Souza has really shown he can hurt you standing but when fighting off his back foot, even fighters like Bristol Marunde found success against him. Hopefully Souza has worked on this flaw in his standup because it is something that the forward pressing Okami can really capitalize on.
Bottom line when it comes to striking is that neither of them have a large edge over the other. When Okami is pressing forward, Souza will be at a completely disadvantage over the huge Okami who will be able to lower Souza’s offensive output while putting him against the cage to work his incredible clinch game. When Souza is pressing forward, he will be able to land hard shots that may crack Okami’s already suspect chin. Personally, I feel Souza’s confidence in his hands in recent fights will help him out so very slight edge to Souza here. Slight edge in striking goes to Souza.
The clinch/takedowns are where this fight will truly be decided. Okami will want to press Souza there, work some dirty boxing, and wear Souza out. Souza on the other hand will look to try and work his excellent trip takedowns to get Okami on his back and work his amazing grappling. The problem is that Okami is one of the biggest Middlweights in the division and has excellent clinch control and takedowns from there. Souza is a Judo blackbelt who has some awesome trip takedowns as well that he uses to great effect. While Okami is limited though to his clinch as his primary takedown tool, Souza has very good shoot takedowns, 
both double and single legs and actually combines them really well with his trip takedowns. Against Marunde, he hit a nice outside leg sweep off of a failed double in which he had Marunde’s right leg in the air but couldn’t drive through. Instead, he just wrapped the leg and tripped him. It was really beautiful to watch. The problem is, other than Chael Sonnen and Nate Marquart, no one has really had any serious success taking down Okami, who has a takedown defense average of 84% which is among the highest in the UFC today. This does not bode well for Souza who has a 50% takedown average. The match I look at the most to see how this fight will play out in the clinch is by looking at Souza’s fight with Rockhold. Rockhold is of a similar size to Okami and he was able to very effectively stop Souza’s takedowns and executed great control in the clinch overall. Due to Okami’s massive size and strength, his general ability to control the pace of the fight, and excellent clinch control, I give the edge to him. Edge in clinch/takedowns goes to Okami.
Alright, I know we all love to watch Souza on the ground. He is an absolute beast when on top and passes through the guards of his opponents like butter. His passes and transitions from side control to mount, his ability to snatch up submissions and put you out are just awe-inspiring. The thing is, he needs to contend with the fact that Yushin Okami has never been submitted in 36 fights. Couple that with the fact that if he gets on top of you, you’re most likely not getting up, and it is very hard to really decide who has the edge in grappling. Souza’s dynamic and incredibly dangerous submission game is complimented nicely by his really hard and steady ground and pound striking. He can really hurt you on the ground which would only serve to open up even more submission opportunities. On the other hand, putting Yushin on his back over and over has really only been accomplished by Sonnen, who is among the top MMA wrestlers of all time. I really don’t know what to think about this because Okami is just a bitch to have to fight. Souza definitely has the pure grappling edge but Okami is just insanely hard to get out 
from under once he’s on top of you. Because of his grappling pedigree, I do give the edge to Souza but this fight will be hard for me, a BJJ lover, to watch. Edge goes to Souza in grappling.
Overall, Okami is just a winner plain and simple. He finds ways to win in fights where is at disadvantages in the grappling or striking because he has developed a style that wears on his opponents and allows him to generally take very little damage or risks. He has already faced a strong Judo player in Lombard and he easily manhandled him in the clinch and on top. While I doubt Okami will take Souza down unless he’s hurt, I do think he will grind away on Souza, who is known to have a bit of a cardio issue, and take an ugly grinding decision.
Final Verdict: Yushin Okami by Unanimous Decision.
-Ben can be reached at [email protected] or @agentbenten.
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