Watch: Aljamain Sterling reveals his secret trick to defend against takedowns
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Aljamain Sterling has now proven his grappling skills against two of the top fighters in his division, dominating Petr Yan on the ground while choking out Cory Sandhagen
Aljamain Sterling showed the world how effective grappling can be in neutralizing seemingly unstoppable fighters like Petr Yan in order to bag those very valuable rounds in the eyes of the judges. Ever since his rematch victory over Petr Yan, the Champ has been in vacation mode, hanging out with Daniel Cormier, Henry Cejudo and Molly McCann to name a few.
However, the end of fun and festivities is right around the corner and Aljamain has already started acquainting himself to camp-ready shape. On his newly revamped youtube channel, the champ shared some trade secrets on how to avoid takedowns and effectively take the back of your opponents.
Aljamain has a literal machine to practice these drills with, in his teammate Merab Dvalishvili. The duo showcase what a day of sparring at the Serra-Longo fight team entails in the video. Currently, Aljamain is in the gym solely to polish up his younger teammates who will soon be fighting under the Dana White Contender Series in order to secure a UFC contract.
Aljamain Sterling trains teammates appearing on Dana White’s Contender Series
In the video, Sterling can be seen running instructional drills for his teammates on how to avoid and forsee takedowns based on the strikes an opponent throws. Sterling advises his pupils to not be lulled by the lead hand as it can be a feint to land a takedown and hence a fighter should always be aware of it.
Under the circumstance that an opponent shoots for a takedown, Sterling’s advice is simple, in that you can never let your lead leg be stuck under the lead of your opponent. “I can’t let him have my lead leg on the inside so that he can trip me and all other kinds of stuff” said the current bantamweight champion advising his students to immediately take the lead leg on the outside so that they end up having more control over the direction the fight takes
Sterling then advised in order to get free of their grip, one needs to “break the fingers” instead of trying to unlock the wrist itself as the former can be much easier and less exhaustive than the latter. Sterling then revealed that he was partially out of shape as he couldn’t keep his endurance up for a 5 minute round and suggested that he only needs to get in total fight shape by September when he aims to compete again.
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Jerin Mathew
(713 Articles Published)