Photo by Harry How

UFC 184 was never going to be a fan favourite, it was almost universally panned as the weakest pay-per-view of in recent UFC history once the card had lost Chris Weidman versus Vitor Belfort, Ronaldo 'Jacare' Souza versus Yoel Romero, and Frank Mir versus Antonio Silva.

The event had some good scraps, but still didn't feel worthy of being a pay-per-view event. We will soon see how willing fans were to part with their cash over this, but in the meantime the event did provide a couple of decent moments which are worthy of review.

This won't take too long, so let's crack on.

The main event was the biggest let down of the night as exciting challenger, Cat Zingano, decided to rush Ronda Rousey with the signature Brock Lesnar running knee. Signature because you won't see trained fighters doing it all that often.

I have no idea if Zingano was desperate to answer the criticism of her slow starts—she's made a habit of taking a beating early and rallying to decimate her opponent—or if she genuinely thought she could smother Rousey in close. But just as no one should, at this stage in the game, be slowly walking forward against Jon Jones on a straight line, eating linear low kicks, no-one should be rushing head first into a clinch with Ronda Rousey.

Zingano fell forward and overbalanced Rousey, then Rousey immediately reversed and Zingano showed her back. Rousey put in a hook but caught Zingano's right arm in an overhook. Kicking her left leg over Zingano's head she moved into a beautiful overhook armbar variation—the favorite of fellow judoka newaza legend, Koji Komuro.

Komuro loved the overhook armbar, and various attacks off of it, that it became known as the Kom-lock.

Can't fault Rousey's brilliance, but when her opponents keep giving her clinches so easily by either charging her (as Zingano did) or standing still and trying to knock her out with punches (as Alexis Davis and Miesha Tate did), it's hard to see anyone beating her. It's often oversimplified to “armbar defense” or “elite judo defense” being what's needed, but prevention is far more important than cure. Avoid the clinch for as long as possible and don't attempt to stand and bang when you do strike should be chief among the concerns of all Rousey opponents, no matter what their skill level on the mat or in the clinch.

Frankly, Rousey seems to find an armbar from every scramble. It might well be worth her opponents considering, when she does inevitably get her clinch, pulling guard. If there's one thing judoka tend not to be as good at, it's passing the guard. Half of Rousey's success, according to many observers and her own mother, who lays it out in her excellent book, is landing from her throws in excellent position to attack the arm.

In the co-main event, Holly Holm faced Raquel Pennington. It was never going to be a great fight, it was Holm's first real step up in competition. Holm fought off every takedown attempt with ease, and landed good knees from the clinch, but her work on the outside was not what we're used to. Every time Holm attacked with punches she would finish her combination, then drop her hands (perhaps concerned about a takedown attempt) and get hit clean with strikes.

The usual Holm high kicks were present, but absent were the low kicks and body kicks which allowed her to land them. What resulted was Holm easily fighting off takedown attempts, and kicking into Pennington's guard for three rounds. No-one was impressed, but why should they have to be? Holm had never fought a credible opponent in mixed martial arts and she had to meet her first in the co-main event on a UFC pay-per-view. If you were expecting a ready made world beater, sure you'd be disappointed, but if you wanted to see how a boxer fought off the takedowns of a legitimate opponent, you would be happily surprised.

But the real story of the night was the power of the guillotine. Jake Ellenberger used the power guillotine or 'ninja choke' to turn the tables on Josh Koscheck as Koscheck repeatedly pushed him to the fence. Rather than cross facing with his far hand, Ellenberger slide his near hand across Koscheck's neck, locked a figure four and applied pressure. Koscheck rolled to relieve the choke but could do nothing to prevent Ellenberger from submitting him.

This sort of choke is saving the man with his back to the fence more and more in the modern era. Carlos Condit and Martin Kampmann have both used it to make wrestlers think twice, and Katsumura, the man responsible for the popularity of the 'ninja choke' name, finished Masakatsu Ueda with one off of his back, setting it up with a failed rubber guard attack.

But the guillotine isn't just a submission, it has come to take on a similar role to the omoplata. It began as a finish but more and more the opponent's last ditch defense to it serves to reverse position. To relieve the pressure of a guillotine, fighters will often drop to their side or even flop to their back if they are desperate.

As Mark Munoz shot in on Roan Carneiro, he found himself in what my friend, BJJ Scout terms The Chancery. Chancery was an all purpose term for a hold of the head way back in the days of antiquity, but this chancery position is a hold of the head and an underhook. The underhook can be used to keep the opponent off, or to snap him down. The other hand can whip into position for a choke at any time, and that's what Carneiro did.

Munoz turned to his side to relieve some pressure, and intended to spring back up into Carneiro, but Carneiro was already stabilizing side control. Moments later, Munoz gave up his back and Carneiro secured the rear naked choke. It was a tremendously impressive showing by Carneiro which was over shadowed by the referee, Jerin Valel's lateness in noticing that Munoz was unconscious and that his eyes had rolled back into into his head.

In terms of striking prowess, we were pretty short on good showings at UFC 184, but Alan Jouban's performance against Richard Walsh had me entranced. Jouban circled off the fence beautifully, switched stances mid-combination, and just generally looked to be a cut above what we're used to seeing.

The finish in particular was a lovely series. Jouban came in behind a southpaw jab, but keeping his shoulder high he was able to move inside of Walsh's left hook. Unharmed by Walsh's punch, Jouban was able to move to the single collar tie. Notice how his left hand is immediately up to block an expected Walsh right hand, which it does. Jouban uses Walsh's forward momentum to reverse positions and put Walsh on the fence, and connects a brutal left elbow. A flurry follows and the fight is called. One of the slickest finishes I've seen in months. The striking that men like Alan Jouban and Jordan Mein are showing has me excited for the future of this sport.

A decent card, but a ghost of what it was planned to be.

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Quick Results: UFC 184 Rousey vs. Zingano