A UFC title fight examined in depth like you’ve never seen before

Jon Jones feels the pressure from Vitor Belfort’s armbar. UFC publicity photo.

The moment a UFC event ends, that’s when the television debates, forum chatter and speculation on future winners and losers begin.

Now GRACIEMAG has been keeping up with the UFC ever since some of the earliest events, and has opted to take a more technical and analytical approach to the fights. Predominantly composed of Jiu-Jitsu practitioners (to the tune of 95%), the team at our news outlet understands that what goes on in the octagon comes down to minor technical details and absurd amounts of physical and mental prowess.

That’s why we respect the fighters and like analyzing the bouts from within—which is what we endeavored to demonstrate in GRACIEMAG #188, coming up in this next month’s, by putting the late-September fight between Jon Jones and Vitor Belfort under the microscope.

There, at Toronto’s Air Canada Centre, the Carlson Gracie black belt nearly rattled the MMA world’s foundations with an unexpected armbar from guard in the first round. For the first time ever, the dreaded light heavyweight champ looked human, leaving the ring injured, his arm in a sling.

So what could Jones have done to escape the hold safely? What could Vitor have done to win?

We spoke with Gilbert “Durinho” Burns, Vitor’s Jiu-Jitsu coach, who was there, and he relayed to us everything that went on before, during and after the showdown.

And Durinho goes one further in teaching us in the article: “One of my favorite ways of getting out of an armbar is by using the ‘Marcio Feitosa brace’, as we call it. Remember how he defended against Cobrinha at the 2006 Worlds? When you stick your arm in there behind your triceps, the pressure on the elbow magically goes away. Your arm doesn’t stretch anymore,” he explained.

Durinho also teaches how to defend against the keylock, and block Jon Jones’s signature elbows. Better tune in, Chael Sonnen and Anderson Silva; it would behoove you to read it.

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