The EUG Series: Isaac Doederlein’s Knee Slice
Credit: Ane Nunes/AJP
This post is in paid partnership with EUG Promotions, hosting its first event on April 3, 2021, live on FloGrappling. Their inaugural event features an 8 man single elimination tournament of the sports best as they compete for $10,000 cash prize.
Victories over jiu-jitsu icons such as Mikey Musumeci, Paulo Miyao, and Augusto “Tanquinho” Mendes, have solidified Isaac Doederlein’s status as one of the most exciting athletes in the sport of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Doederlein initially started his jiu-jitsu journey under the legendary Masters competitor, Wellington “Megaton” Dias, and quickly thrived, becoming a world champion at blue belt in just over two years of training before being promoted to black belt by the legendary Rubens Charles. The Cobrinha black belt has especially thrived on the international scene, winning Brazilian Nationals (becoming only the second American to ever do so), the IBJJF European Open, and the prestigious UAEJJF King of the Mats Tournament.
Doederlein is mostly known for his wicked straight ankle locks, which have quickly become one of the more feared weapons on the IBJJF circuit.
While his foot locking prowess garners much of the acclaim, Doederlein’s passing ability from the knee slice position is what could allow him to separate himself from the rest of the pack at the inaugural EUG Promotions 8-man Lightweight Grand Prix. To obtain the proper knee slice position, Doederlein usually employs a multitude of takedowns from a variety of positions. Whether it be off an opponent’s guard pull, a double leg from the feet, or wrestling up to a single leg from guard (one of Doederlein’s primary attacks from guard), Doederlein immediately looks to place his shin on his opponent’s thigh and starts to pass.
Even though Doederlein usually starts his pass in the knee slice position, it is rare sight to see him finish a pass with a knee slice. Rather Doederlein uses the position to pin his opponent’s hips to the mat while determining his next course of attack based on what grip his right hand is able to secure. Doederlein often looks to make a grip on the outside of his opponent’s elevated leg, either on the drawstring or on the ankle before turning to the open side to pass.
The key to both of these passes is the amount of pressure Doederlein is able to put on Galvao. For the latter, Doederlein uses the initial grip on the collar to amplify the amount of force he is able to generate with the knee cut before he is able to stabilize the position by using his chest against Galvao’s frame. Once Doederlein is able to force his opponent to completely commit to defending against his chest pressure, Doederlein releases the collar to control Galvao’s hip. This allows Doederlein to use his elbow to prevent Galvao from switching his hips to retain guard as Doederlein moves to the unoccupied space. In a last ditch attempt to maintain guard, Galvao extends his arm to create a frame on Doederlein, but Doderlein continues to turn all the while placing his knee behind the elbow, preventing Galvao from turning back in to hip escape and forcing the turtle.
Since going out the backdoor while stacking from the knee slice is a well known attack throughout grappling, opponents tend to fight like hell to prevent Doederlein from getting an outside grip on their pants. If after a few attempts, he is unsuccessful in gripping the outside of his opponent’s pants, Doederlein will gladly grip the inside of both ankles and step over into a variation of a over-under pass.
Well aware of Doederlein’s ability, Sodré refuses to let Doederlein control the outside of his gi pants. Therefore, Doederlein switches to grip both sides of the gi pants near the ankles and forces Sodré hips to be completely parallel to the mat before releasing the knee pressure and stepping over into side control for a brief moment before Sodré is able to re-guard.
For opponents it is often a blessing when Doederlein is forced to use the gi pants to pass, as his favorite method of passing is when he is able to find an underhook on the far side of the knee cut. Instead of looking to pin his opponent and slowly grind out a demoralizing pass, Doederlein uses his dynamism to its full affect and looks to lock in a kimura before armbaring his opponent.
Doederlein gets the underhook before forcing the knee slice position. Instead of slicing across his opponent’s leg, Doederlein uses his near side arm to maintain his balance as he drives his knee to the center of his opponent’s chest in order to flatten him out. This causes his opponent to rock back into Doederlein, elevating his own elbow, allowing Doederlein to get to the North-South kimura before finishing with an arm lock.
Currently the number four ranked featherweight contender in the world, Doederlein has a chance to avenge previous defeats to the likes of Gianni Grippo, Marcio Andre, and Shane Jamil Hill-Taylor, especially in his current form as he has been on a tear since a narrow defeat to Andre at the last IBJJF World Championships. Doederlein will be one of the best passers at the inaugural EUG event, and it should be interesting to see how he matches up with the rest of the field. To see Doederlein in action, tune into EUG Promotions on April 3rd only on FloGrappling.