Dominick Cruz UFC 301 Breakdown: Alexandre Pantoja vs. Steve Erceg | ESPN MMA Dominick Cruz gives his breakdown for the …

I’m Dominick Cruz Carl gbar here he’s going to be aric and I’m going to be panta so now in this matchup panta he is like a buzs saw he’s extremely powerful with his hands and he knows he he just has a lot of confidence in his hands knowing if you touch me with a jab the second my head whips back it’s okay I’m going to take it and the second time you throw it I’m going to split it with this with either an overhand over the top here and then follow it with a combination standing his ground and trading with m goes down right in the pocket fight already that’s what I mean by a buz saw but the key of what what he’s what PTO is trying to do is just wait to get touched and counter and hit you harder because he doesn’t have a ton of footwork Penta isn’t like a if you’re moving around and hopping he’s not the guy to try to like chase you he’s the guy that to just stand his ground slowly boom slowly plot boom you he’ll get hit and then the third one and he exactly he’ll mix everything up and add punches to his taked down threats oh beautiful take down by the champ he’s a good counter fighter when you touch him a lot of guys when you hit him they just move back and have to reassess Pento will eat four or five Jabs until he finally just hits you harder and looks to get you back the face ends it just like that wow holy smokes salaan P with a knockout Victory and beyond that the takedowns are so clutch some of the takedowns that you’ll see at a Pento is he’s really good at getting into the body lock taked down throw an overand get to the single get to here once he gets to the body lock taked down this is where you see these trips or he’ll get his foot inside here and Jack this overhook see how he’s got the overhook you just kind of get this inside space from here and you just Jack it up and the arms going to flip over or they go they either clip up that way or they let go with the arm in which case you end up here and then panta that’s where he throws in his hook and he starts attacking the bat that’s tight Jo I’m telling you you can put a guy [Applause] tobis tonight now who is Steve ersc is probably one of the questions you all at home want to know and the reason is cuz it’s been such a fast track for him he’s beaten three guys in the UFC but the outstanding victory that has gotten him to the top was knocking out Matt Schnell in the pocket that’s where he’s going to have this that do it the walkoff KO Astro Boy Steve you don’t see a ton of powerful Knockouts like that at 125 lbs we need this fight right now to show not just how good Pantoja can be as a champion but also can there be new contenders ersi is that guy he’s long he’s lanky he’s got very good footwork he pulls you into shots with his footwork and on the other end we got a panta who’s not a footwork guy he’s stationary he’s power he plots he heads you off this makes for a fun fight so one of the things about URC is he lines up this back this lead hand with the jab hand so that when you try to throw it he can see where it’s coming at all times he’s always watching that back hand and to stay out of the way and then once he starts to see the timing on it that’s when he goes to land his own and he’ll follow with the hook but what makes uring so good is is the way that he stays in The Stance keeps his hands up at all time and when you start throwing he stays composed he moves keeps his hands up moves his feet really well stays on the outside and then he starts once you unload that’s when he lands his jab bam and he snaps it nothing slow and then once he starts connecting to the face that’s when you’ll see his two down the middle and it is a laser that right hand comes fast it reaches far and it’s very good technique cracking right from what makes it good technique is when he throws his right hand he sets up the lead foot with the jab he steps in and when the right hand throws it comes out straight and he doesn’t drop and lean there’s no lean in his punches it’s not this his punch is balanced comes back and then he goes weak side right after and he just keeps the movement going little stumble there oh there a bigger stumble that’s what ersc does he’s good at keeping you moving back and forth am I going to attack the lead leg or am I going to attack the two and now you’re leaning forward and leaning back leaning forward and leaning back you don’t know where to go and then you add the footwork and the fact that you can’t hit him back it becomes a landslide of offense connecting on you over time hug right hand for look at what makes up just so dangerous is when he he’s got a few options for this Tak down let’s say he gets to this single leg and he tries to dump it and doesn’t get it you keep your balance then he goes to this body lock and he gets see how his knee’s inside here he keeps it inside and starts trying to twist and when you start he start to lose that battle you have to give the arm there’s what he wants drives you to the fence throws a hook in splits the wall and he’ll stay right here and you know the thing about panto is if you give in this position that means he’s going to go all the way and start threatening the choke right away is being nasty trying to get this choke he’s ripping his face up and then one of his other takedowns that he’s very good at is underrated he’s got a good double leg he just changes levels gets to a double drives gets his Tak down and he can always explode on that taked down because it’s very fast so what it looks like in full movement as he’s here and then you just see him shoot and he’ll get his take down and this is where he’s dangerous because Pia can stay here all day and all he wants to do is keep this arm and your body here so that you can’t turn towards him cuz if you can’t turn towards him that means you’re turning away from him and if you turn away from him that’s what he wants because now he can get his back back Mount here and once Pantoja gets your back that’s all he wants he gets to here a gift wrap keep this position he’s got arm triangle here many options so he’ll punch punch until you give him what he wants body triangle choke oh this is tight put him to sleep here pant submit Bron roal so there’s a big intangible that we don’t know about and it’s how good is Steve ‘s grappling we’ve seen him out grapple people and he’s got a he’s got a high level of grappling degree but panta we’ve seen finish people take the back he’s a nasty black Bel that we’ve seen proven his offense and can ersc stop that grappling onslaught of Pantoja the key is going to be not to give his back anytime he gets taken down you cannot see ersc ever give his back in any scenario if he’s here he needs to be here if he’s here he needs to not give his back keep his back against the wall and under no circumstance in the Open Mat do we want to see ersc give his back he’s going to have to stay on his back be offensive on a single or make sure he’s creating space to get away because if you give pentos your back it’s a rough night and that is the difference in this match up I think who can control the range if ersc can control the range with his footwork that is a missing tangible he’s very good with his feet he’s very good at pulling pushing faking and sticking that jab so if he can keep this if he can keep pendo chasing him with his plotting stance and missing every time pent you throws he can make a Miss keep his hands up and then start firing check kick and keep his own offense going it’s going to be good but he’s going to have to stay very defensive in the in the grappling and he’s going to want to keep his feet moving and I think the key for ersc is going to be footwork range jab range kick range all night stay at this range right here ‘s going to have a good night if it’s in this range right here where panta can box him and wrestle him it’s going to be Pantoja sty Knight and number one who dictates the forward pressure is going to be I think who wins this fight