How the Black Beast Slayed the Boa Constrictor
Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC
When one thinks of Derrick Lewis, of the many things that come to mind, displays of grappling proficiency wouldn’t be one of them. Despite possessing some of the most devastating ground and pound we’ve ever seen in the sport, Lewis has always had issues utilizing and imposing what are arguably his best tools. That being said, despite the common misconception, Lewis has been steadily showing some pretty decent work on the ground for a long time. My comrade Edward Gallo wrote about his mythical “just stand up” defense on the ground, and why we need to take a closer look at it.
Aleksei Oleinik is basically on the opposite end of the spectrum of Lewis, a savvy grappler with a ridiculous 46 submission wins on his record. The expectations for this fight were pretty simple really from either fighter’s perspective. If you’re Lewis, stay on the feet and knock the older gentleman out. If you’re Oleinik, get the big man down and submit him.
Well what we got was a surprisingly back and forth grappling match, at least for the first round. Within seconds, Lewis closed the distance and initiated a clinch. When he spoke about what he would do before the fight, he said he would “come out balls blazing”, and I guess when you’re fighting a guy who would have desperately wanted to lock up, that likely qualifies. Let’s see just how these exchanges went down.
Black Beast, Use Seismic Toss!
We see Lewis drive Oleinik back to the fence, and makes sure his neck is safe (we actually see Oleinik hint at the Ezekial choke) by driving his shoulder up into the armpit of Oleinik. Oleinik is able to dig for underhooks and is able to get the fence, beginning to rotate toward Lewis. Seems like Lewis had been learning some Redneck Judo though, and he hits a throw eerily reminiscent of Tim Boetsch’s toss of David Heath, though there are some key differences.
Oleinik has a deep underhook with his left arm, and begins to circle behind Lewis, likely to either score an outside trip or to slip to the back, worst case scenario just pushing Lewis against the cage. Lewis locks up a strong overhook and controls Oleinik’s right arm. Once secure in his control, Lewis quickly rotates toward his left, lifting Oleinik with his overhook and pulling Oleinik’s right arm with the rotation, allowing him to slam Oleinik into the cage. From here, Lewis quickly gets to the side of Oleinik’s turtle and begins landing hard punches to the head. Oleinik rolls to his back and Lewis settles for top half guard.
Now, even Oleinik isn’t foolish enough to allow Lewis to stay on top of him, and begins working to get on top. His first attempt was countered quite well, as his set up was less than stellar and Lewis took advantage of some key positional errors made by Oleinik to retain his top control.
Oleinik has an underhook on the side of his half guard and begins to scoot his hips out toward the same side (this being his left side). The purpose of this is to be able to utilize this underhook to come up and secure a single leg. Rather than trying to push Oleinik down, Lewis opts to stand over Oleinik, forcing him to sit up. In this position, Oleinik has no real leverage to control Lewis, who steps over Oleinik’s leg. Oleinik shoots his arm under Lewis’ right leg and pulls it on top of his chest, in what looks like a position to set up a potential X or single-leg X guard position. However, Oleinik’s got the wrong leg, as Lewis’ left leg is already passed the hip-line of Oleinik, and Lewis is able to land a hard shot before this can be corrected. Oleinik tries sneaking out the backdoor, his head following his left arm. Lewis sits down on Oleinik’s stomach, and rotates toward him, almost securing side control as he settles back on top, but Oleinik is able to recover the half guard again.
Despite shutting Oleinik’s first attempt to get on top down, Lewis would not be escape this fight without feeling a bit of constriction, courtesy of our favorite Russian Boa.
With Lewis relaxing in his half-guard, Oleinik swims his right arm in for an underhook and begins to scoot his hips down and out, bringing his body under Lewis so he can more easily move the monstrous man on top of him. Lewis is aware of what’s coming and actually tries to windshield wiper his leg over the hook of Oleinik. Granted if he succeeded he would be in full guard, but that’s better than what ended up happening. Oleinik catches the leg with his hook, blocks Lewis’ knee with his left hand, and rolls back towards his left, and sitting up. With Lewis’ leg laced tightly, Oleinik posts and begins to standup (the technical standup is one of the first things taught in your average grappling school, and here Oleinik shows why it’s so important and how it can be utilized effectively). To defend, Lewis keeps his overhook and begins to push the head of Oleinik down, trying to create space to limp leg out. Recognizing this, Oleinik steps his right foot deep, closing the pace between Lewis’ legs and shelving it on top of his own. From here, Oleinik can continue to drive and turn Lewis, so he the shelved leg is blocked and he gets taken down straight into side control.
The Boa Constricts
With Oleinik finally on top, he knows he needs to get to work fast, and boy does he. Immediately after getting the takedown, he begins to apply his first scarf hold choke on Lewis. Compare this (and his second attempt) to this demonstration by Josh Barnett. Josh is the first man to submit 2 time ADCC champion Dean Lister, and he did it with a scarf hold chest choke, so….yea, he knows what he’s doing with this submission.
Oleinik slides his hips up and grabs an overhook on Lewis’ left arm and begins wrapping his own left arm around Lewis’ head. Lewis reacts immediately and turns to his side, and is able to slide his body down, and head out just a bit, which saved him here. In order to exert maximum pressure and finish this choke, Lewis would need to be flat on his back. By turning to his side and sliding down, he avoids any real pressure being applied. Lewis continues to turn his hips to the mat, and Oleinik realizes he will lose control, releases the hold, and gets to all fours. Lewis is ready and immediately pounces on Oleinik, who’s now seated, and starts hammering punches to his dome. Unfortunately for Lewis, Oleinik was able to get under him and pull him on top using double underhooks, staying low so Lewis couldn’t land punches. Oleinik was able to lace the leg once more, slip out and come up for the single leg, but this time Lewis was slower to react. Before he could get up, Oleinik stayed heavy on Lewis’ thigh, blocked Lewis’ right leg, and drove him over. Lewis made no attempt to counter or escape and Oleinik easily passes to side control…..to set up another scarf hold.
Scarf Hold 2, Electric Boogaloo
The final sequence on the ground, and it’s a testament to Lewis’ toughness more than his skills here. His own words summed up how things went down, better than I could ever convey it:
“The last one I did [feel in danger], but I was like nah, I can’t,” Lewis said. “I started to tap because I was starting to gargle and scream like a little girl. So I was like ‘I can’t tap, I can’t go out like that.’ So I just had to wait out the time. I think he’s ranked up there, I give him respect, he’s ranked up there because that little bulldog choke he did on me, it worked pretty good. He squeezing the mess out of me. So it worked pretty good for him. I was snorting, making funny noises while he was choking the hell out of my neck, and I was like ‘Damn, I’m making too much noise, I wonder if they can hear it on TV.’ So I can’t tap like that. And I know my kids are watching. They gonna tease me forever.” (source)
Oleinik is starting in a much better spot. Despite not seeming to be gassed in any sense, Lewis just….waited for the application of the scarf hold. He does seem to start his roll to the side, but there’s no urgency and Oleinik locks in the hold. At first, Oleinik begins to apply pressure without pushing Lewis’ right arm across his face, allowing Lewis to frame off his hips.
It’s possible Oleinik was just rushing a finish here. Realizing this wouldn’t happen, he does swim under Lewis’ arm and brings it across the face, but not far enough as Lewis is able to create a frame across Oleinik’s face. It’s this frame, and continual fight to keep it during this entire submission attempt, that saved Lewis. Compare images of the finish in Barnett’s instructional vs. Oleinik’s attempts to finish Lewis:
Notice how the arm is positioned, with the face almost forced into the crook of the elbow. This allows Josh to apply the maximum amount of effective force and pressure, constricting the breathing in addition to the pressure applied to the neck in the submission as well.
Oleinik, despite his best efforts, is unable to break the frame created by Lewis. While still incredibly dangerous, this small bit of space created by Lewis’ frame is what likely saved him from tapping. That and his stupid strength and toughness.
In the end, we see Oleinik realize the fruitlessness of his efforts, smile, and go back to side control, to ride out the rest of the round attempting an americana that was had Lewis looking bored. Round 2 lit a fire under Lewis, and we know the result. Lewis knocked out Oleinik in style, and secured his 3rd straight win. With his next bout coming against Curtis Blaydes, it will be interesting to see how Lewis handles a more traditional takedown/ground and pound stylist, but also happens to be the best offensive wrestler at HW right now.
Considering how Lewis often is viewed by fans, and frankly the unskilled narrative has been pushed by Lewis himself, it’s easy to overlook the fact that he’s not just some crazy freaky strong giant with no skills. He’s not the most polished fighter by any means, but there’s knowledge, understanding, and nuance that does go into his game. To not only survive, but hold his own, against one of the better grapplers in the division deserves praise. In other words, Lewis is actually kind of good….for a heavyweight.