UFC Fight Night 200 breakdown: Will Sean Strickland’s pressure be too much for Jack Hermansson?

Given how quickly Hermansson can change the landscape of a fight on the floor, I would not be shocked to see the Swedish-born fighter elect to grapple early and often.

Coming from a solid base in Greco-Roman wrestling, Hermansson has a nice variety of trips and tosses he looks to set up whenever he is not unloading in the dirty boxing department. Keen on upper-body attacks, Hermansson works well from the body lock while using slick foot sweeps for assists, but is not beyond changing levels to hit reactive shots in space.

Considering the forward-moving ways of Strickland, then I suspect that the latter option of level-changing threats will likely be his best bet in regards to initiating grappling opportunities.

Stickland’s pressuring ways have certainly opened him up to level-changing shots in past fights – though those instances also appear to have benefited from impeccable timing. In fact, I’d argue that Strickland’s wrestling abilities have been a bit underrated and overlooked during his tenure as a UFC fighter.

Sure, the reigning UFC welterweight champion, Kamaru Usman, was able to largely dominate Strickland to a decision win; but other than that, Strickland has made a solid account for himself within the wrestling realm.

Offensively, Strickland still shows the ability to hit level-changing doubles when he needs to, as well as helpful “shuck-by’s” from the body lock position that allows him to get an angle on his opponent’s back (which are all good signs considering the damage Strickland sustained in a motorcycle accident a few years back).

Although we haven’t had to see much shot defense from Strickland since his return to the middleweight division, the 30-year-old American has always done a decent job of either separating his opposition’s grips or sprawling and shutting down their takedown attempts outright.

Strickland also appears fairly flexible in scrambles, showing a solid sense of hip awareness and leg dexterity to boot. That said, Strickland will have to watch out for his legs and then-some if he ends up tangling with Hermansson.

Although Hermansson’s title of ‘best ground-and-pounder’ is self-proclaimed, it is far from a joke for the man who fights out of Norway.

A superb transitional grappler, Hermansson is a heavy top player who can seamlessly ride and pass under the guise of unforgiving ground strikes – a process that has helped him secure victories over credentialed black belts.

Hermansson also has an impressive guard game that he keeps in his back pocket, but I’m sure that those ideas are something he’d rather not have to rely on here. Outside of the leg lock games that can catch some MMA fighters by surprise, Strickland seems like a well-schooled Brazilian jiu-jitsu brown belt who doesn’t ‘say Uncle’ easily.

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