With Dustin Poirier, a fan-favorite here at Undercard, fighting this Saturday on UFC on Fuel: Barao vs. McDonald, our Trey Castle looks at how “The Diamond” submitted Brookins in their December encounter.
In the first three minutes of the match Jonathan Brookins surprises many fans by bullying Poirier into the cage and giving him the business with an improved striking arsenal. However a quick knockdown is all Poirier needs to shift momentum in his favor.
Following the knock down at 1:25 in the first round Poirier quickly puts Brookins on the defensive by backing him into the cage all while firing a pair of uppercuts. Once Poirier has Brookins against the cage he overhooks Brookins’ left arm in a very transparent attempt to lock on a D’arce Choke. Brookins defends this submission adequately by snaking his left arm across the back of Poirier’s shorts. Reaching for the underhook with his left arm creates space between Brookins’ left should and his carotid artery, though he would have more leverage if he positioned his arm higher near the tramp stamp area of the back rather than lower on the leg. Never the less, Poirier seems to believe that Brookins is no longer in danger and pummels for an underhook.
After taking a couple knees to the body a clearly scrambled Brookins “shoots” a feeble and ill-advised double leg which Poirier sprawls through. The next gif picks up here with Poirier on top of Brookins in the front headlock position.
Just as before, Poirier overhooks Brookins left arm but this time he is able to secure the D’arce Choke by punching his arm through far enough to secure his right arm to his left bicep on the right side of Brookins’ neck. Brookins responds the same way he did before, by securing his trapped left arm underneath of Poirier’s left glute in order to relieve the pressure on his carotid. This time that response is not sufficient for two reasons that Brookins should have been able to predict:
- Porier’s fully locked D’arce Choke a more stable assembly. While Brookins’ left arm position relieves pressure, it does not break Poirier’s grip.
- From the front headlock position Poirier is able to counter that defense quite easily as seen below.
As soon as Jonathan reaches for the underhook with his trapped left arm Poirer reacts by sliding into side control on the right side of Jonathan’s body. One may find it advantageous to grab half guard in this position in order to lock down their opponent as they finish the submission; Poirier locks Brookins’ free arm between his legs. While this isn’t as secure as the aforementioned half guard set up, Poirier addresses any threat of Jonathan using his free arm to weaken or break Poirier’s palm to bicep grip necessary to finish the submission. In particular, pushing upward on Poirier’s right elbow could have potentially removed Poirier’s bicep hold from the equation, thus defending the submission. With no further options Jonathan Brookins taps to the D’arce choke with forty six seconds left in the first round.
-Trey can be reached at [email protected]
Note: If the gifs are loading slow, click to see the animated sequences.
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