A guide to UFC White House

 A guide to UFC White House

The UFC White House card is a historical event. Two of the biggest stars of the era, Ilia Topuria and Alex Pereira, will both be fighting for world championships in front of the leader of the free world. Regardless of how you feel about the President, it is needless to say that there are a lot of eyes on this card, so thankfully, I am here to provide a breakdown of the biggest fights on there. Hopefully, the event will go through despite the corruption lawsuit being brought up against it.

Ilia Topuria vs Justin Gaethje

Topuria vs Gaethje is a highly anticipated fight. Ilia Topuria has murdered the two best featherweights of our era and is now looking to run rampant over the lightweight division. The excitement for this fight doesn’t come from Justin Gaethje being a massive threat to Topuria, as many fans have written him off. The hype is derived from the fact that these are two power punches who are known for swinging for the bleachers. Topuria has been shown to be the slicker striker, knocking out two men who have previously bested Gaethje in Max Holloway and Charles Oliveira, but Justin “The Highlight” Gaethje is perfectly capable of causing an upset. 

Ilia is known for his brutal knockouts, but what really sets him apart is his ability to pressure opponents. He can put power behind his punches because he is essentially able to nonchalantly saunter into range and then start dropping bombs. Ilia’s ability to close the distance between him and his opponent comes from his control over the jab battle. Topuria is able to constantly edge forward, using his lead hand to cover his forward steps. Ilia’s jab allows him to step into range for his right hand, with single and double jabs putting him in prime distance to land.

He mixes up these jab targets. Often going to the head, then the body, in succession. This makes Ilia’s jab harder to counter, as an opponent is unable to discern whether they need to block to the body or the head. Another benefit of using the body jab is that it lowers Topuria’s head. This is beneficial because it will keep Topuria out of the way of a potential counter, and it lowers his level, meaning that if a takedown is attempted on him, Ilia will be low enough to stuff it. Feints are also very useful, as they halt an opponent in their tracks, stopping them from advancing and allowing Topuria to get on the front foot once again. Mixing jabs to the head, body, and feinting allows Topuria to constantly apply pressure and move forward, eventually backing his opponent onto the fence, at which point he can start swinging for knockout punches. 

The main obstacle for Topuria’s jab is an opponent’s jab. Ilia, however, has three main counters for this. The first is to just cover the lead hand of his opponent. This basically stops the opponent’s jab in its tracks as the arm is stuffed from extending. Petr Yan is another fighter who uses this tactic. The risk of this is the opponent trying to ping you with a right hand, but Topuria is exceptional at getting behind his shoulder, covering his chin from any shots coming from his left. Another option is to parry the jab and throw a calf kick, batting away the punch with his rear hand and hammering the opponent’s lower leg, often knocking them off balance in the process. The final main counter to the jab is the cross counter, where Ilia will dip to the inside of the punch and then throw a right hand over the top, allowing him to get to the inside and land some serious damage. The threat of the counter is what makes Topuria’s pressure so relentless, as the possibility of getting hit with a brutal shot causing opponents to shrink away, slowly being pushed to the fence to get ko’d.

Topuria presents an unstoppable force, but Gaethje could prove an immovable object. Gaethje’s entire early career could be summarised by winning brutal wars of attrition, taking shots on his forehead and returning with an overhand or a chopping leg kick until one of them went down. He has never lost by decision in his entire pro career. While he is not the same fighter he once was, violence-wise, he maintains his serious knockout power and willingness to fight. Gaethje has a decent jab but often opts to swing into exchanges, launching overhand rights and uppercuts. “The Highlight” will offset this by dipping to his right when he comes in, putting himself out of the way of trouble, coming up top with a hook ala Rocky Marciano. 

For someone who is very reliant on big head movements, Gaethje is very good at punishing them. From his time fighting practically blind with cataracts, he’s become very adept at catching the head of fighters as they duck, using a collar tie to keep their head in place so he can pinpoint their position and land a nasty uppercut. This could be dangerous for Topuria, who constantly dips and ducks to avoid the line of his opponent’s punches. If Gaethje comes in aggressively and Ilia tries to duck out of it Gaethje could grab him and clatter him with an uppercut. The uppercut in general is a great tool to punish Ilia, acting as a deterrent for being overly aggressive, as Topuria runs the risk of walking right onto the punch. 

However, Gaethje has many habits that could be exploited by Topuria. He overswings a lot, which, while entertaining to fans, leaves him wildly off balance. Gaethje will throw overhangs out in the open and then have to catch himself with his back foot, squaring himself up. Doing this against a striker such as Ilia Topuria is an extremely risky decision, as Max Holloway found out. If Gaethje is caught off balance as he tries to catch himself, he could end up tasting the canvas. His tendency to dip to the same side every time is also punishable, with Paddy Pimblett able to constantly catch him as he ducked to his right with knees, uppercuts and left kicks. While catching ducking opponents with the uppercut is Gaethje’s speciality, Topuria could give him a serious taste of his own medicine.

Ilia Topuria is one of the greatest talents of this generation of fighters. Lightweight’s top 5 has been ruled by the “old guard” since Khabib’s retirement, and this provides an opportunity to show whether these established figures of the division really deserve their place. While Gaethje is certainly not a lamb to the slaughter, it will be interesting to see what he has for the two-division champ “El Matador”.

Pereira vs Gane

Pereira looks to make some serious ufc history by becoming the first man to ever win gold in three ufc divisions. The former two-division kickboxing glory champ has gone far from “that guy who beat Israel Adesanya” to a genuine legend of the sport. He has defied the odds over and over again, upsetting former champions and still getting big wins at the ripe old age of 38. He is far removed from the Brazilian tire shop. Cyril Gane has been a staple in UFC heavyweight title contention, coming off a brutally eyepoking Tom Aspinall. He has fumbled three title shots already, but is definitely not someone to be overlooked, being one of the best strikers in heavyweight history. Pereira’s skills are legendary, but it is yet to be seen if he can deal with a technical giant like Gane.

Alex Pereira has made his career off spectacular knockouts, mostly coming as a consequence of his left hook. Pereira, much like Topuria, relies heavily on forward movement. He stalks opponents, hands practically by his shoulders, waiting for you to back up to the fence or to lash out so he can counter. Gane presents a difficult challenge to this. He is very movement-heavy, galloping around the cage, never settling down to be hit. This stumped Tom Aspinall in their fight, as he would go to blitz, and Gane simply would not be there to be hit. Gane is adept at circling and picking you apart with his jab, and he has the cardio to do it for five rounds, mixing in a variety of leg kicks in order to slow you down and widen the movement differential. Pereira is not a point fighter, willing to give up rounds to look for a knockout shot. If he is willing to wait he may end up getting beaten by the clock, Gane picking away to an underwhelming decision.

While Gane presents a tricky puzzle, Pereira is more than equipped to deal with it. A large factor in the fight will be Pereira’s own low kicks. Pereira is one of the rare fighters who are adept at kicking the legs of both orthodox and southpaw opponents, mastering the step-up calf kick, pendulum stepping and whacking the opponent’s calf from the outside. This is especially useful against southpaws, as many of them tend to stand quite bladed, chopping up the leg of Magomed Ankalaev in their first encounter. Pereira has also shown he can kick to the inside against southpaws, with Ankalaev again getting his leg chewed up for as long as their second fight lasted.

Gane’s straight punching will prove a legitimate threat, but it is something Pereira is particularly good at countering. Pereira will keep his hands out to his sides in his guard, leaving a window open for straight punches while blocking the line of looping shots. This allows him to react to said straight shots and attempt to slip and counter. Khalil Rountree was constantly being punished for trying to jab with Pereira, only keeping him at bay because he would launch into a flurry every time Pereira would look to sit down and counter punch. This option isn’t as available to Gane, as Rountree was tiring himself out with this method, making it unlikely that the much bigger Gane could replicate it. 

There will be a big battle of controlling the lead hand. Ankalaev and Adesanya gave Pereira a lot of issues by simply grabbing his left hand, taking away his options for the jab and left hook against southpaw opponents. Gane has shown the ability to do this and it is something that could give Pereira a significant issue if he were to replicate it. Pereira also likes to use this tactic, snatching the opponent’s lead wrist while they’re in southpaw, hoping they will aggressively pull their hand back and pull their shoulder away from their chin, leaving a clean runway for his nuclear left hook. Jamahal Hill had his lead hand controlled, and it led to him getting frustrated and throwing his rear straight, opening him up to a brutal left hook. The handfight from this mirrored stance situation will likely play a large role in the fight. If Gane isn’t able to keep Pereira’s left hand in check there is a good chance he gets caught circling with the left hook, as Tuivasa did when he was circling.

Ultimately, Gane presents an interesting puzzle for Pereira to solve. His elusive style and large size make him one of Pereira’s toughest tests to date. Pereira has all the tools to not only win, but get an exciting knockout (fingers crossed). Gane is being underestimated in this fight, but he showed that he absolutely has the potential to cause an upset in the Aspinall fight. Hopefully, this will go down in heavyweight title fight history as a banger.

Some notes on Sean O’Malley

Once seen as just a replacement for McGregor, Sean O’Malley is still one of, if not the slickest, strikers in bantamweight. His super-high-output style and flair for the dramatic make him a very entertaining fighter to watch. On this White House card, he has been dished out some nice Dana White privilege and has been given somewhat of a layup in Aiemann Zahabi. Zahabi is still a formidable opponent and should be respected in his own right, having knocked out prospect Javid Basharat and getting wins over bantamweight staples such as Marlon Vera and Pedro Munhoz. Ultimately, this is O’Malley’s fight to lose, the UFC giving him an opportunity to show off his skills after scraping a win over heavy hitter Song Yadong.

 

O’Malley has a very fun game to watch. He loves to pick away at opponents from range, being one of the best fighters in the world at using teeps and other stabbing kicks to wear down opponents. Suga Sean’s high volume paired with his long reach for the division creates a very awkward wall of offence that is very difficult to breach. Petr Yan, the current champion, struggled to find his range against the pink-haired predator, relying on wrestling to keep the fight competitive. If you just try and rush in on O’Malley, you will likely be met with an open side counter, with O’Malley sliding off at an angle and allowing you to run onto a left straight. This is how he managed to win the belt against Aljamain Sterling, with the former champ being frustrated by the range and attempting to lunge in, ultimately getting cloaked by a left hand.

This plethora of straight shots is coupled with an incredible feinting game. O’Malley constantly twitches his hands and hips throughout his fights, making his already high volume seem all the more overwhelming. This often causes his opponents to freeze, making it even easier to pick them apart. One of his most entertaining feints is his look-away feint, where he will pretend to look over his shoulder and then throw a one-two. This threatens his dangerous wheel and spinning back kicks while also exponentially increasing his aura. Once the opponent starts to catch on, he will then feint the look away and not throw anything, causing his opponent to react to strikes that are just not coming. The frustration factor of these moves plays into his game, making his opponents more likely to lash out and providing him with easy counters. General taunting amplifies this even more, pretending to dribble a basketball in between piecing up Chris Moutinho. Fighting O’Malley is a frustrating enough endeavour without getting clip-farmed every two minutes.

One of O’Malley’s most underappreciated parts of his game is his darting straights. O’Malley is excellent at switch-hitting in combinations, borrowing a lot of sequences from bantamweight legend TJ Dillashaw. His darting straight is one of these more unique moves, something that you don’t see replicated too much from other fighters on the roster. O’Malley will hop in with a straight punch, square up his feet, and then gallop away from the opposite stance, pushing off his previously lead foot as he does so. This is similar to the “Pep step” used by old-school boxer Willie Pep. If he starts off in orthodox, this step allows him to hit and then use the open side counter if his opponent tries to chase after him, extending themselves trying to catch the elusive O’Malley after he tags them. If he comes from southpaw he can get behind his shoulder and roll off a right hand as he darts back out of range. Another southpaw tactic he uses post darting is to pivot off a la Lomachenko, getting an angle and allowing him to throw more and more shots. This often leads to O’Malley’s opponents simply freezing up after he darts in, giving Sean even more leeway to keep striking. O’Malley’s darting straights are an ode to many striking greats and should be tried out by every upcoming fighter. 

Sean O’Malley may have lost some significant hype after the Merab Dvalishvilli losses but he is far from washed. He is still one of the most entertaining strikers to grace the UFC Octagon and will likely put on a clinic on the White House lawn, provided he doesn't slip on a banana peel and snap both of his ankles. Any striker looking to get better should be leaning in whenever they see O’Malley on their TV screen.