A Bangkok ready guide to Roman Dolidze and wicked jiu jitsu

 Roman Dolidze is a fighter who has a very limited game in mma. After grappling his whole life he decided to become an mma fighter at the ripe old age of 28. His striking and wrestling leave a lot to be desired, relying a lot more on his physical gifts, as expected from someone who joined the sport so late. Aside from his power, his career has been carried by his very impressive grappling. Qualifying for ADCC, Roman Dolidze’s credentials are very stellar, and he has translated his grappling very well to mma. While the days of Royce Gracie tapping everyone from closed guard are long gone, Roman Dolidze uses his jiu jitsu to turn the guard into an incredibly aggressive position, often putting his opponent in more danger than he is in himself.

The closed guard can be a bad position in grappling and a terrible position in mma. No matter how much the Gracie family have worshipped it there is a very real chance that you end up with both shoulders pinned and both legs shelved while you’re playing it. When Roman Dolidze’s opponents try to pin him from closed guard they are met with an intricate series of dilemmas. When put into closed guard roman Dolidze will immediately look to make an angle, under hooking the leg and using it to pivot his body to a perpendicular angle under his opponent. Once the opponent has lowered their base, Dolidze looks for the pendulum sweep, loading his opponent’s weight onto himself in an armbar like motion while holding the leg and creating momentum with his hamstrings to roll the opponent over, ending up in a mounted position. If the opponent tries to shut down the sweep Dolidze can chain into submission attempts. Any posting with the arm can give up armbars and triangles, with Dolidze always in a good position to attack the submission due to the angle he takes onto his opponent. The safest way for an opponent to deal with the pendulum sweep/submission dilemma is to posture up, a typical response to any closed guard positions. While this is an effective way to deal with closed guard attacks, it gives up the legs of the man on top, allowing Dolidze to work his dangerous leg lock game.

Leg locks are a contentious topic in mma, with some believing they have tremendous untapped potential and some believing that they simply do not work in the sport of mma. The truth is that leg locks are not magic, they have the same flaws as any other submission in the sport. Leg locks become more difficult with punches involved just like any other submission off bottom. Dolidze deals with this issue by keeping the position as dynamic as possible. Once an opponent postures up in guard Dolidze will look to move to K guard, creating an angle and slotting his shin into his opponent’s hip pocket and bringing his knee underneath them. He will then spin around the leg into the kneebar. If Dolidze gets into a leglock position and he cannot finish it, he will look to abandon the position and move into a new one. If he cannot get the kneebar he will attempt to reap the knee and move to an outside heel hook. From the outside heel hook he can choose from a cornucopia of transitions, from inside heel hooks to sambo leg knots to even going back to the kneebar. Since the opponent has to move with the leglock to prevent their knee from exploding, they usually move their hips to release some of the tension on their tendons. Since their hips are not in line with the direction they wish to punch in, this limits the damage they can do to Dolidze as he attacks the submissions, as they are trying to create force in the opposite direction to where their bodies are more athletically inclined. There is a high likelihood that the opponent will try and flee the leglock exchange, where Dolidze can try and chase the calf slicer, which he got on the talented grappler Jack Hermansson. If he cannot get the calf slicer he can then wrestle up, one of Dolidze’s lowest percentage options due to his lack in wrestling proficiency despite the wrestle up being normally a very high percentage option. Dolidze is able to effectively chain his attacks from bottom, turning a defensive position into an overwhelmingly offensive one, giving him a massive extra dimension to his game which can carry him through matchups where he is at a disadvantage in both wrestling and striking.

Another negative position that Roman Dolidze is able to turn into an advantageous one is the back body lock position. The back body lock is avoided like the plague by many a grappler. Back exposure is seen by some as a cardinal sin in the jiu jitsu world. Even in mma, where giving your back and building up is common, you run the risk of being caught in an endless cycle of mat returns. Roman Dolidze uses his jiu jitsu scrambling to avoid being trapped into this negative position. When an opponent has a back body lock Dolidze will look to grab a reverse grip on their leg, switching to the other leg if they pull it back. From here he will roll into a kneebar, from which position he can work his leg lock attack chaining series. Sometimes he will even transition from the kneebar back to the turtle in order to stand up. If he would prefer to go to closed guard, Dolidze can use a granby like roll in order to roll over his shoulders and wheel his legs into closed guard, a guard retention trick used by Marcelo Garcia. If he cannot roll into the legs he will look for the kimura, looking to use the kimura trap to transition to back control, meaning that when the opponent has his back they have to deal with a submission threat on their upper and lower body. Roman Dolidze’s grappling not only makes normally dominant positions threatening to hold, but also gives him control over where the fight takes place. If Dolidze wants to be on his back he can take it there and attack submissions. If he wants to go to closed guard or a leg entanglement he can transition there. If he wants to turtle and stand up he can do that as well. His grappling is not a crutch, laying in closed guard and hoping to catch submissions, but an incredible asset.

Roman Dolidze has managed to quickly go from a complete mma novice to being top ten in the whole world. He has used his grappling skills extensively to not only submit his opponents, but to also impose his will during the fight. His ability to transition and threaten submission dilemmas makes him dangerous but more importantly gives him a lot of control in such a large dimension in the fight as grappling. Dolidze’s techniques and tactics are something that can be used by any fighter and are an excellent way to add an extra dynamic to your game.