Pedro Munhoz vs. Aljamain Sterling

On Saturday, June 8th, 2019, Pedro Munhoz and Aljamain Sterling fought on the ESPN prelims, looking to secure their position as the next contender for the Bantamweight throne. Munhoz was ranked 4th and Sterling was ranked 3rd.

While some contested the idea of having the 3rd and 4th ranked fighters on the prelims as opposed to the pay-per-view main card, the ESPN prelims were most likely to get the higher view rate as a result of the paywall.

However, both fighters came into this fight with something to prove, Munhoz as the rising wrecking machine. Sterling the improved fighter and the contender that he was promised to be, many years ago.

Munhoz came into the fight on a three-fight winning streak stopping former champion Cody Garbrandt in his last outing. Sterling was also coming off three straight wins but had look far more complete as a fighter than he did before.

In this article, I’m going to examine how the fight was won, and the improvements made by both fighters in order to create a competitive arms race throughout the bout.

*Spoilers ahead*

The Brazilian Brawler

Right from the start of the fight, Sterling came out looking to make distance and land his long-range kicks. Munhoz being the shorter fighter was forced to walk into his kicks in order to find his own.

Kick for kick

As the shorter fighter, Munhoz needed to be inside of Sterling’s range, to reduce the kicks and to throw punches of his own. His combination punching is what got him to this contender fight after all. The name of the game for Munhoz was walking forward with his kicks.

Lowkicks to keep him in place

Snap kicks to create more variation in his kicking game

He showed this best in his fight with Brett Johns, slowing him down and keeping him in place with his low kicks. Munhoz is not a fighter with many variations nor beautiful craft. Rather, he only comes forward with a boxing guard looking to throw tight combinations and endless low kicks and snap kicks.

Boxing then kicking

There isn’t much nuance to his game, his head movement is non-existent, but his excellent chin allows him to wear his opponents down and give him the finish. Against Sterling, this was going to be a tough task for Munhoz as he needed to show that he could reliably cut the cage on Sterling and get into his preferred distance.

Let's get Funky

What makes Aljamain Sterling interesting is his potshotting strikes and his wrestling. On paper, these two styles are in direct contrast, one prefers distance while the other prefers the grinding closeness.

Very awkward

But what makes Sterling a good fighter, is that he has the ability now to do both exclusively. Against Munhoz, Sterling knew that Munhoz would try to slow him down with kicks to reduce his circling so he met him with punches. Whenever Munhoz looked to low kick, he was met with face-melting punches.

You have to stand still in order to kick

Counters galore

There were far more aggressiveness and confidence in Sterling’s performance that night and it certainly placed a seed in Munhoz’s mind that kicking would be incredibly costly for his chin.

Sterling would increase his kicking volume tremendously for this fight, as it would maintain the distance between him and Munhoz. But it would also be the opening for Sterling to strike.

Punching off his snap kick

Punching off of his kicks, Sterling was able to use his long reach to hit Munhoz’s stationary head. Furthermore, by constantly throwing kicks it gave way for Sterling to throw long hooks that he would change into stance forwards in order to land.

Notice he starts in Southpaw but ends in Orthodox

Sterling’s hunched forward stance also gave him the extra inches to land his long hooks. But it also served the purpose of giving him the space to lean back and shift stances backward in order to avoid Munhoz’s hooks.

Notice how far back Sterling is able to lean

By shifting stances backward it gives Sterling more distance to land his hooks but to also retreat and circle away from Munhoz. Munhoz, therefore, would struggle to close the distance for his punches for the majority of the first round.

Brazilian Grit

In the second round and the remainder of the fight, Munhoz needed an answer to Sterling’s varied strikes. He needed desperately to close the distance and to land punches. The problem was that he wanted to avoid as much damage as possible when coming into range. So, he had made the decision to grit his teeth and take some punishment in order to give it back.

The Munhoz came out in the second round far more assertive in his place in the cage. He immediately stood in place when Sterling kicked and was able to land his own front kick to the body which hurt Sterling

Ouch

From then on, it was pure forward violence for Munhoz. He was willing to take shots in order to land low kicks and front kicks. Sterling was still able to get the better of these exchanges, however, Munhoz was starting to drop Sterling with low kicks.

Munhoz dropping Sterling with a beautiful low kick

Sterling is able to get the better of the exchanges, but Munhoz was still in his face

Because Sterling was willing to wait on Munhoz’s kicks in order to land his punches, he had to wait in place to throw his punches. It is that moment that Munhoz allows himself to take a hit in order to close the distance and strike back.

Not pretty but he’s able to land more

As a result of Munhoz standing his ground far more, Sterling was willing to land more strikes to his face. But while Sterling was in punching range, Munhoz was finally able to land more leg kicks.

Notice how Munhoz can’t land his punches, but his kicks finally are landing

Standing his ground, allowed Munhoz to finally bully Sterling

While Munhoz struggled to truly keep Sterling on the fence, due to poor cage cutting. Sterling was forced to repeatedly move backward, lean backward, and be on constant alert for counters.

This was extremely exhausting for Sterling and it would show later in the rounds.

See-sawing away

Sterling forced to trade

Sterling needed to keep Munhoz off of him desperately, however, the constant motions of leaning forwards and back exhausted him. This forced exchanges that Munhoz would start to win. Sterling was still landing more strikes and more effective strikes, however, Munhoz was coming on strong and the latter part of the second round was hell for Sterling.

Faced with an opponent that just won’t quit, Sterling made an adjustment in the third round. He began to use heavy push kicks when he felt he needed space.

Kick away!

Sterling used more circling, feints, and light snap kicks in the open in order to confuse and delay a Munhoz rush.

Munhoz is too concerned to rush in

Whenever Munhoz threw a poorly set up kick, Sterling would immediately counter but then slid out of the way to avoid more punching exchanges.

Constant circling

Furthermore, Sterling would take advantage of his circling and come straight into a punching exchange. This was not to knock Munhoz out but rather get him to focus on the punching exchange, and not kicking Sterling’s tender leg.

Notice the back fists

Sterling added some back fists in exchanges to keep hitting Munhoz. But, his long limbs allowed him to engage first and disengage first. Thus, Sterling was able to dictate when he wanted to brawl with Munhoz and when he wanted to run. Munhoz was forced to play catch-up as a result.

The final parts of the fight would consist of Sterling poking away at Munhoz, tying up when he got too close or purely moving away. Munhoz having sacrificed his stamina in the second round to land more low kicks, started to fade as well. He no longer had the stamina to run after Sterling and was reduced to making trades whenever he could. Thus, Sterling was able to run away with the decision.

Sterling, poking then running

Conclusion

Had Sterling come out at the start of the fight, purely retreating, poking, and running he would never have exhausted Munhoz. Munhoz’s chin was too strong to be cracked by one single punch, but the effort to close the distance, stay on top of Sterling, and taking punches to the face and body, exhausted Munhoz.

For Munhoz he needed to have come out knowing he would get hit, and get straight to the low kicks. Sterling would likely have tired out faster or be forced to make more adjustments. Either way, Munhoz would have landed more strikes as a result.

However, Sterling’s style of striking was always going to be a difficult matchup for Munhoz and his long reach would always give him problems. When opponents do not stand purely in front of Munhoz he struggles because he cannot cut the cage on them.

Regardless, this was a brilliant fight and showed that both men will be at the top of the division for years to come. Whether Sterling gets his title shot after this fight is shaky at best, one can hope we get more fights just like this in the bantamweight division.