Jump to…
On the surface, Sean Strickland does not look like a champion. He does not fight like a champion. By no measure, he is not a champion…except where it counts. Sean Strickland is a champion. How did this happen? How did Strickland dethrone Israel Adesanya, one of the best strikers the UFC has ever seen?
In today’s film study, we are looking at Sean Strickland. He faces Dricus Du Plessis this weekend in the main event of UFC 297. Our mission will be to look at the fundamental and foundational footwork used by Strickland going into his fight with Du Plessis this weekend.
Sean Strickland and his use of the shoulder roll
When he fought Israel Adesanya, not many gave Sean Strickland much of a shot. This was supposed to be a victory lap by “The Last Stylebender.” But as the horn for the first round ended and Strickland had knocked down Adesanya, the paradigm shifted and Strickland was in complete control.
As mentioned at the top, Strickland doesn’t look like a champion while he’s in the cage. But when that belt is wrapped around his waist, there can be no doubt that he is the best in the world. How has Strickland achieved such success? What are the tools that made him a good fighter despite not looking the part?
To circle back for a moment, the shoulder roll is simple in concept and hard to implement in practice. The master was, of course, Floyd Mayweather. Protecting the chin, Mayweather tucks it behind his lead shoulder. He will also use this lead shoulder to deflect the power shot from an orthodox opponent. He will roll his shoulder, hence the name, and cause the power shot to go awry. The power hand, Mayweather’s left, stays by the chin. This can parry the jab and blocks any check/lead hooks to come his way. Lastly, the lead hand is down, by the body, to protect the body shot.
By no means is Sean Strickland a Floyd Mayweather. But when illustrating the example, I feel it pertinent to show what the Philly Shell can be. Strickland uses it in a different sport with different weapons and won’t use it the same as a boxer would. There’s high kicks and takedowns to worry about. But his use of the shell did baffle the striking savant that was Israel Adesanya and that deserves credit in its own right.
Strickland’s use of the shoulder roll is not unique in it’s own right but he utilizes it in a way that’s unassuming. In fact, he even incorporates some of Floyd Mayweather’s pull counter. In the diagram above, we see Strickland (1) anticipating Cannonier to step in the pocket. (2) He will roll with the overhand right that is coming from Cannonier while keeping his right hand at home for the left hook, shoulder roll 101. (3) Finally on the twist of his hips and the thrown lead hook, Strickland rotates his hips back and lands the right cross.
Footwork wins fights
Sean Strickland also has quite underrated footwork. It may not be anything that is revolutionary, but he uses it to his advantage. The Xtreme Couture champion does well to know distance,
The foundation of Strickland’s footwork is understanding distance. While he relies on the shoulder roll as his primary defensive tactics, his footwork is the bedrock that it is built upon. Against a fighter like Israel Adesanya, one who lays feints, traps and is better on paper, Strickland stuck to the basics.
UFC 293 saw Adesanya fighting off the back foot all night. As Strickland got him to the fence, he would have to be weary of the feints and traps. His idea: ignore them. Strickland bet on his reaction time and his shoulder roll to avoid the real blows while pressuring Adesanya to the fence.
Once there, Strickland would (1) grab the lead hand of Adesanya for a tactile feedback and to control the hand. (2) He would then be able to feel the instant Adesanya pulled the right back to fire his left and (3) parry it down, another function of the shoulder roll. He would then hop out the back (4) not to get caught in any extended exchanges. Remember: Sean Strickland used the basics.
Even with other fighters, more athletic than Strickland but less tricky than Adesanya, saw Strickland use basic footwork to land important strikes.
Abus Magomedov isn’t the best in the world past the first round. But for that first round, he’s interesting in his own right. To land a cross, (1) Sean Strickland would flick a jab into the face of Magomedov. While doing this, Strickland would use the step in on the jab to bring his back foot to the side, (2) and fire off another jab. This shift to his left would line up the right hand which (3) he would throw over the top of Magomedov’s lead hook.
More often than not, Strickland fights in the middle of the cage. He doesn’t traditionally pressure fighters until they’re tired or, like Adesanya, they are okay to fight off the back foot. He doesn’t rely only on the cage to land big shots.
Against Jack Hermansson, a fighter willing to trade in the center of the ring, Strickland showed off some slick pivots that are, again, rudimentary but effective. Constantly doubling up on the jab, (1) Strickland steps in with his first and (2) the second jab behind it. During the second jab, Strickland brought his back foot around and (3) created his angle for the (4) third jab.
Strickland has also shown that he uses this pivot against more complicated situations. (1) Against Adesanya, he would (2) pivot around on the jab. (3) He expected Adesanya to throw a check hook so his right hand was ready for the block. (4) As Israel Adesanya turned into him, Strickland threw a jab and (5) a right hand that beat Adesanya’s lead hook.
Sean Strickland uses his footwork with great effect but that’s not the only thing he does. In fact, our next section will actually show us some of the more complex portions of Sean Strickland’s game.
Tricks and traps
The basic attack of Sean Strickland is a very stiff and annoying 1-2 combination, sometimes accented with a doubling up of the jab. This is all it took for him to knock down Israel Adesanya at the end of the first round of the fight that saw him become champion.
With Adesanya backed to the fence, (1) Strickland throws the jab and then (2) lifts his right elbow to draw a counter out of Adesanya. It does not work but (3) the ensuing jab does. As Adesanya throws a lead hook out of orthodox, Strickland (4) throws the right hand and gets his head off the center line. This put Adesanya down and swung the fight in his favor.
As Strickland comes forward, he will sometimes lift both of his legs high, like marching. This is simply explained. Strickland uses this march step to check low kicks, something that he does well, threaten the teep, or step in on the jab. Low kicks are the bane of a front foot-heavy fighter currently in MMA. While Jose Aldo figured this out long ago, most fighters still just eat the thrown kick. Strickland lifts his leg up and forces a fighter to go off balance. Remember, a missed punch is exhausting. Eventually the opponent gets the message and stops throwing them all together or they gas.
The teep, or push kick, is a great weapon to intercept opponents with. As Strickland fights Dricus Du Plessis this weekend, this will be his best friend. We previously spoke about this with Leon Edwards and his anti-wrestling technique. Intercepting an opponent as they are coming in with a long weapon, the longest weapon in the case of the push kick, doubles up as a body shot to zap the energy out of the pursuant.
When going backwards, as he was often put with Jared Cannonier, Strickland would (1) keep a wide stance as Cannonier comes forward. (2) Strickland takes the weight off his lead foot, and (3) throws the teep as Cannonier comes. This gives Jared Cannonier time for pause and (4) Sean Strickland fires a jab as he circles out to his left to cover himself upon exit.
Strickland’s march is a bit funny looking but it serves a purpose. Seen above, Strickland will step in with (1) his lead leg high, threatening the push kick discussed in the previous diagram, and (2) through to southpaw, threatening the rear push kick. Strickland doesn’t really work too much out of southpaw when he comes down, but he will occasionally.
Doing this march offers two clear advantages: first (3) it queues up the push kick should Strickland not want to only threaten, but actually throw the strike. As discussed in the Leon Edwards article, this is used to intercept should an opponent blitz. Dricus Du Plessis likes to blots. This push kick will serve Strickland well. Our other advantage deals with the low kick. Being light on his lead leg as he is, (4) Strickland is quick to pick his leg up to check a low kick, causing a miss and over extension.
One other small thing we saw from Strickland in the Adesanya fight, built on from his footwork, shoulder roll and other things we discussed is my favorite moment from the Adesanya fight. This knee is a bit inconsequential but the fact that Strickland used this shows the amount of self awareness and amount of sparring he does. Check it out:
Now let’s take a bit more of a look at this knee.
We start our exchange (1) with Adesanya in southpaw and looking to control Strickland’s lead hand. Strickland keeps it at home and Adesanya cannot get a good grip to control the hand fight. Strickland (2) will reach out and grab Adesanya’s hand and pull “The Last Stylebender” to him (3) throwing the knee to the body as he does.
That’s it. A simple pull forward and a knee. That’s the extent of Sean Strickland’s craftiness. It’s small, but oh, so clever. Strickland is known to basically only spar in his camps. This shows just how much he does. Strickland knows that the basics wins fights. Whoever can throw the straightest punch gets the kick. Footwork is fundamental to hitting not getting hit. Making an opponent miss is tiring and really works on their gas tank. These are all common and basic precepts in fighting that are interpreted a million ways. But Sean Strickland takes them to heart.
Sean Strickland’s rise to the title was an unlikely one and he was seen as a sacrificial lamb to Adesanya going into the fight. This weekend he will have to deal with someone who is more athletic than him and hits harder than he does in Dricus Du Plessis.
But Strickland has a not-so-secret weapon: foundation wins fights. Look for him to ignore Du Plessis’ southpaw switch, work the basics against the fence by hand fighting, and building a good solid base to get up when taken down. Sean Strickland will implement his game, not bend to the will of someone else’s.
