In the Margins: The Transitional Clinch of Do Bronx
Photo by Icon Sportswire / Contributor via GettyImages
Introduction
Among the many mixed martial artists to grace the UFC octagon, Charles Oliveira was handed out adversity from the very beginning. Already a resident of the low-income world of the Brazilian favelas, Oliveira was told he was to be bound to a wheelchair for life. And armed with a determination like no other, Oliveira decided that, even if time and circumstances were going to do their best to weigh him down, nothing was going to keep him there. Only years later and his body, thought to be inevitably broken, was still going full throttle. Oliveira’s discovery of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu saw his indoctrination into combat sports – into mixed martial arts – and, like anything else for him, it was never going to be easy.
You may not have noticed, but Charles Oliveira has been in the UFC for well over a decade with twenty-nine total bouts and a vast majority of those were against formidable competition. The younger iteration of Charles Oliveira was a whirlwind of violence and his enthusiasm showed in every bout, though better fighters met him head on and bested him. Even back then, Charles Oliveira’s finishing instincts and gifted apprehension for opportunity were his finest qualities. How the Brazilian earned a reputation as someone who folded under pressure is probably a misconstruing of what actually happened: Oliveira’s own pace and aggression was undisciplined and imbalanced. Consequently, when he met those better fighters, he found himself battered, controlled or stopped – or he just ran out of gas because he lacked the ancillary skills to control the fight on his terms. That is, Oliveira never took a step back in any of these fights, though he never truly had to ability to push through fiercer resistance.
Normally, it’s uncommon to see a fighter endure the matchmaking meatgrinder and emerge looking better than ever, but Oliveira did. Whether it was something in training; whether it was experience and process finally making a connection; whether it was an intangible you can’t really account for – after his head was elbowed into the canvas by the perennially gritty Paul Felder, Charles Oliveira seemed to decide that he was tired of losing after almost winning. And since that loss, Oliveira returned with a scorching vengeance upon the historically competitive lightweight division, culminating in a textbook-perfect left hook that saw Michael Chandler’s legs give out. How the man of the favelas became the lightweight division’s king is ultimately far simpler than you’d think: He refined his process and made it cohesive.
What did Oliveira have? He was deceptively strong, had an eye for detail, could start fast from the opening bell, and could compete or have answers in and at every range. And what did he do? He crafted a game to enforce these pieces together on his opponents. He learned to cut the cage; he learned to navigate pocket exchanges in way that allowed him to start and end them on his terms; he learned to use his kicks to impede his opponent’s movement; and he paired the subtle movements into other, bigger movements.
Self-awareness and desire to improve goes a long way for a fighter. Charles Oliveira showed both in spades. As a Haxxorized once said, sometimes a fighter isn’t going to be the best fighter. What matters is how they become the best fighter they can be.
I’d like to think Oliveira proved that only a few days ago against Dustin Poirier, a man who may as well be a kindred spirit to the Brazilian. Like Oliveira, Poirier’s talent had been undeniable and his development into one of MMA’s premier striking royalty and elite action fighters was as profoundly inspiring as his work outside the cage. As far as experience and grit went, it was hard to find someone as battle-tested and as dangerous as MMA’s residential underdog. What made the contest with Oliveira so difficult to call on paper wasn’t just comparing wills and journeys of both men, but also how both men were going to wage a fight that was going to come down to margins of error and the ability to prevent and capitalize upon those margins.
And at the end of a twelve-minute thriller that showed the best Mixed Martial Arts could offer, Charles Oliveira proved he could defend and capitalize on those margins just enough to win just a bit better.
Diffusing, Capitalizing and Winning
Let’s review some prefight reads to start: Oliveira is fighting an opponent with an educated lead hand, a tricky rear forearm guard, and a potent pocket threat. For Olivera, who can still be static with his pocket defense and isn’t the best in longer exchanges, those are the danger points. But, what are Poirier’s issues? The biggest is the most obvious: the American tends to not have the best defensive ringcraft. Although Poirier doesn’t concede space without counters, his focus on neutral space for pocket exchanges means he won’t prioritize having said space to work.
Oliveira starting fast was imperative, but how he started mattered far more. Although Oliveira does have an educated lead hand, his commitment to the jab was a possible liability against Poirier, whose check hook and counter jab consistently prevented even the likes of Max Holloway from getting inside. Therefore, Oliveira allocated his lead hand to diffusing Poirier’s lead hand in the open stance. Watch how Oliveira only commits to the jab when he has space to do so and how he chains it together with handtraps or to the handfight to prevent Poirier from counterpunching. Special attention ought to be given to when Oliveira handtraps Poirier’s lead forearm and forces him to reset and or punishes him for standing still - this comes back to be important in a bit.
What’s equally prevalent is how Oliveira’s toolset is on full display. The kicks are there to surprise and force Poirier back. The feints draw out counters and then Oliveira counters back to give Poirier less space to work and then immediately goes back to handfighting. Each and every move here is offensively systemic and purposeful to control and deny exchanges on Poirier’s terms.
The open stance handfight is again on display here but it’s constantly used in multifaceted ways. Oliveira may jab or check hook off of it. He’ll use it to draw Poirier’s attention and force him to move or as a distraction to kick. It’s all about limiting Poirier’s opportunities and maximizing on Oliveira’s.
Let’s contextualize this a bit more: In an open stance matchup, denying an opponent room and their lead hand is going to allow one fighter to build while the other fighter becomes predictable. Once Oliveira pressures and fights the hands, he can keep using his lead hand to set up other offense - Poirier, with his lead hand jab shut down to some extent has one main option: To attack with his rear hand. So he executes: and that triggers the trap Oliveira had set for him from the very beginning.
If there was any weapon of Oliveira’s that defined this bout, it was his use of the clinch, specifically with his frames and collar ties. Like I said, Oliveira’s lead hand can interchange between hooks, jabs, and the handfight consistently - I didn’t mention how its an easy tool to convert into frames, underhooks, or ties. It’s even easier if the opponent steps in on you because their head comes in on the centerline and you can clinch them towards you. In many combat sports, clinches can be utilized as a smothering tool and referees will have to break fighters. In MMA or Muay Thai, however, the use of the clinch introduces far more offensive options.
A savvy clinch operator understands that breaking an opponent’s base and posture is key. Using the above clip as an example, Oliveira knows Poirier is already stepping in and has to reset/plant his feet again. As he does, Oliveira can hook his fingers around Poirier’s head to break his stance and force Poirier’s cross-frame to guard from an uppercut - then use his new space to get the collar tie and knee Poirier’s guts in.
Restricting an opponent means teaching them lessons. The lesson here was that if you want to step in, you can, but you’ll risk entering the clinch and real damage can be done there. As a result, Poirier now has to think through his main option on entry while Oliveira can keep building. Subsequently, Poirier has to concede the backfoot even more. And if he stops, Oliveira was set to take immediate advantage.
Oliveira’s transitional striking in this bout was nothing less than superlative when it comes to recognizing how committed strikes, even when missed, can turn from throwaways to opportunities. He may miss a counter combination, though if Poirier remains close enough? That’s an easy invitation to the clinch.
However, the crux of this piece is how the most effective clinch operators understand the use of frames.
Please use this image as context for the following descriptions.
For fighters in clinch-centric sports, such as Muay Thai, considering how your arms and legs are positioned is everything. In the clinch, you don’t have the luxury of free head movement that you may have in an infight or in punching exchanges. Ergo, it’s essential to know where your limbs are relative to your body and your opponent’s. A good way to think of it is if the same rules for striking guards apply - just up close: You want to be able to interplay offensive and defensive moves. This is why the position of the forearm matters so much. Reaching across to an opponent creates a ‘bridge’ of sorts between yourself and them. This is what’s called a frame; it serves as connective tissue between offensive and defensive options in the clinch.
A frame is easy to convert to and is highly convertible too because, at its core, it’s an extension of the arm. The use of frames gets important where they reach out towards and off of what. All those collar ties Oliveira has used to pull Poirier’s head down? He creates them off of frames. All those handtraps? He can turn them into frames. And again, strikes can tie into handtraps into frames - vice versa on all accounts.
An example of how you can use frames within a ruleset that does not account for them: Boxing great Floyd Mayweather Jr. was known to play with elbows in the ring, though those elbows were cross-frames - whereupon you position your forearm outwards. Essentially, Mayweather’s use of the elbow frame discouraged entries because, if opponents rushed in on him, it was their fault they got hit with an elbow, not his. When they can’t rush in, the cross-frame becomes a measuring stick to set up bigger punches.
Still, frames do pose a fairly obvious danger: If you are going to extend your arm out, then it means your head and body are now open targets. Someone who can close space quickly can blitz in behind a combination, punish you with a counter, or use your forearm as a bridge to handtrap themselves. In Muay Thai, you’ll see those handtraps over frames convert to elbows or knees to the body as Yodkhunpon Sittraiphum viciously demonstrates as he carves his man’s face up into a crimson mask.
That said, frames are incredibly useful defensively at close range across all combat sports. For one thing, frames can make the forearms a barrier and divider from yourself and the opponent.
It is possible to punch over the forearms, though it’s challenging if the opponent converts frames into tie-ups or to manipulate postures and the positioning - punches will and can be smothered because the forearm restricts their trajectory. If a fighter has their forearms between their opponent’s, hooks are going to be caught or lose quite a bit of power.
Straight punches are preferable, though they require the fighter to position accordingly. This can be difficult if the the frames are being used to shove the opponent back, as clinch elbow specialist Yodkhunpon Sittrapon exploits.
Against a clincher with effective frames, there are a few choices:
1) Step in and engage in the clinch with them.
2) Try to step under the frames and counter to the body.
3) Step away and reposition.
If you want to see frames used to work interchangeably between offense and defense, this is the clip for you. Watch how the frames on the shoulders break posture, set up a distraction and help measure for the rear straight, or the cross frames to prevent entries at the risk of getting elbow.
In context of Charles Oliveira vs Dustin Poirier and everything I’ve brought up thus far, what do you think Poirier’s response is if he’s been nullified and punished in the clinch?
This clip best encapsulates how every facet of Oliveira’s approach worked in tandem to diffuse and take advantage of Poirier’s game. The handfight is there, counters are launched to prevent Poirier from gaining any kind of initiative; the moment Poirier steps back, a kick forces him to set again. Then, once Poirier attempts to plant to set up a counter, Oliveira uses that as a cue to step in with a right, instantly use frames to level change takedown* to draw Poirier’s own underhooks upstairs. Oliveira counters with his own overhooks to get a body lock and uses that little space Poirier’s arms no longer cover to knee the body and press him to the fence more.
*After all, the greatest danger Charles Oliveira poses is his submission attack and bodylock takedowns, though it’s understrandable why you might have forgotten given all the other things Oliveira has done.
Of course, for all the credit I’m giving to Oliveira, I’d be remiss to not point out that Poirier still found his way into this fight consistently in the incredible opening stanza. When Oliveira cut off some entries, Poirier focused upon doubling up and touching with his rear hand to set up shifting right hooks or to draw Oliveira’s counters and counter them back. His trademark pull counters and jab found their chances and were Oliveira’s grit, composure and recovery not up to the task, he would have easily been finished on multiple occasions.
Oliveira’s understanding of transitions and clinchgame keep him safe (see the frame to collar tie again?) and force Poirier to back up. When Poirier steps back in, Oliveira immediately pitches counters to back Poirier up. Understanding how many phases in MMA contribute to in-fight success is what the best fighters do and Oliveira’s knowledge of each phase, used accordingly to his superior cage generalship is what allowed him to wage a war with Poirier and ultimately undo him.
Again, the fight was going to come down to margins of error and which fighter was going to mitigate theirs better. Poirier had his moments and surprises, particularly with his own physicality challenging Oliveira. But his defensive ringcraft, as it had in so many losses, was his downfall.
One of Charles Oliveira’s patented moves: Crafting a body lock takedown attempt through a level change dip and throwaway strike. A better grappling analyst than myself is more qualified to break down the finish, though I think everyone can agree that the overarching transitional game of Oliveira is what won him this fight.
Conclusion
I don’t really think I can say much else about how inordinately impressive Charles Oliveira has become. I think the vast majority of longtime MMA appreciators absolutely respected and adored his game though I don’t think many expected this sort of incredible turnaround in the last three years. Nothing has ever come easy for the man from the favelas, though he stands as one of the greater testaments of perseverance I’ve seen in Mixed Martial Arts. But any fighter who improves and fights like Charles Oliveira deserves all the credit in the world. He probably would not have won a longer firefight with Dustin Poirier had it remained standing, though what he did survive and competed in proved a level of grit that others just don’t have - he still took everything the American could unleash and found a way to win.
I find myself gutted for Dustin Poirier, a man who has epitomized the same grit and will that can be found in Oliveira. In spite of his weaknesses playing into his losses, anyone who denies that only truly special fighters are going to best him aren’t giving him due credit, especially once you consider whom Poirier has overcome in the cage. To be frank, I’d still assert that nobody beats him in a straight-up firefight regardless of how beatable he can be.
Although Khabib Nurmagomedov’s departure leaves many unanswered questions, I’d also argue a division with lots of competition at the top is its own reward. And with Oliveira having potentially other stiff tests on the horizon, it’s hard to not be invested in seeing where this division’s era is going to proceed. What I can say is that Charles ‘Do Bronx’ Oliveira is as worthy a king as you can find and no one should expect him to be ousted from throne without one hell of a fight.