UFC 300
Coach Conversation | Alex Pereira vs Jamahal Hill
Striking Coach Sean Madden Breaks Down The UFC 300 Main Event Between Alex Pereira And Jamahal Hill
Ahead of every championship fight, UFC staff writer E. Spencer Kyte will sit down with one the sharpest coaching minds in the sport to break down the action and provide UFC fans with insights into each championship pairing from the men that spend their days getting these elite athletes prepared to compete on the biggest stage in the sport.
To break down the UFC 300 main event between light heavyweight champ Alex Pereira and returning former titleholder Jamahal Hill, Kyte asked respected striking coach Sean Madden from Easton Training Center to share his thoughts on what should be a clash of two titans on the feet.
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Best Trait of Each Fighter
Kyte: At a time in the sport where everyone is pretty solid everywhere, generally speaking, what is the one thing that each of these competitors do better than anyone else? What is the one element to their game that stands out the most?
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Madden: For Alex, obviously the power is what everyone is going to say, and they wouldn’t be wrong with that, but I look at his experience in kickboxing, fighting some of the top guys over there, doing really well and taking that skill set over to MMA.
I think his ability to make reads and set traps, particularly feeding people into his signature lead hook — building off things like the jab or using the footwork to get people into the hook, small things like that. Setting traps and making those reads (is his best trait).
He’s shown he can be successful with it over 15 minutes, so to have 25 minutes to set your traps and execute on those to me is a big advantage.
Kyte: And what about Jamahal Hill?
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Madden: Jamahal is an interesting one. Funny story: I cornered against Jamahal in his UFC debut, so I’ve been tracking him for a few years, been paying attention to him for a little while.
I think something that Jamahal is great with is that he has great power off both sides and fantastic timing. He reminds me of Bojan (Velickovic) because Bojan is a right-handed southpaw, and Jamahal possesses a crazy amount of power in his right hand too. I’m not sure if Jamahal is a righty or not — like a true righty — but he has a crazy amount of power in that right hand, as evident when he finished Johnny Walker with it.
The more impressive thing to me in that finish in particular is that he was orthodox and he set that up really nicely.
He also has great eyes — he has great vision in the pocket, especially with his boxing. His ability to time people from both of his stances is really something that stands out to me and I think we’re going to see a lot of that on Saturday night.
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Kyte: I spoke with him before this one and one of the things he said was, “I’m on that level with Alex; I’m on that world-class level (in terms of striking), and people haven’t seen it. I haven’t had to show what I can do.”
It’s always interesting with a guy like that, because we’ve seen some pretty good striking from him. He’s not technical the way a guy Alex is, but could he be that elite tier guy that is able to stand and finish and go with anybody?
Madden: It’s tough to say. When I was prepping for this, thinking about this stuff, it really reminds me of our conversation about Volkanovski and Topuria.
I’m not saying Alex is Volkanovski — I think that’s a premature comparison — but in terms of someone that is maybe unproven, we sat down and said, “Yeah, Topuria is undefeated, but let’s look at his track record, Volkanovski’s track record.” I think we can do the same thing here with Jamahal Hill.
Glover (Teixeira) is amazing and clearly a legend of the sport, but he was getting up there in age, so to beat him decisively for five rounds, how much does it tell us? I’m not sure.
Thiago Santos, not with the promotion anymore, and he’s been on a skid outside of here, so what does that tell us? I’m not sure.
Johnny Walker? He was on a decent win streak, and then Jimmy Crute, who is not necessarily in the conversation. Those are the last four wins, and then it’s the loss to Paul Craig, so it’s tough. We don’t know. We did the same thing with Topuria, so this reminded me of that conversation.
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I think you and I both err to the side of people that are time-tested and battle-tested against high-level competition, but we found out in that one.
Kyte: And similar to that fight, as we said, you can only beat the guys in front of you. He’s beaten them, and we’ll find out.
This is the thing I love about this sport: we can have all these questions, and on Saturday, we actually find out. More than in just about any sport there is, we’re gonna get a bunch of answers to the most important questions there are, and I can’t wait!
Madden: In 25 minutes or less!
This is a massive opportunity for him. Do I think he has the skill set to win? For sure. Can he against someone like Alex? We’ll find out on Saturday.
I’m very excited for it.
Path to Victory for Each Fighter
Kyte: Everyone would love a 10-second knockout or a quick submission, but that’s not often how these things go, especially not at the championship level. Instead, it’s usually the competitor that has crafted the better game plan and did the better job of executing things inside the Octagon that comes away with their hand raised and the gold around their waist.
So, how does either man get it done on Saturday night?
Madden: I’m gonna keep playing off of this, but for Topuria and now for Alex, he had 25 minutes to find the clean shot that he could land on Volkanovski. Obviously, he didn’t need that much time, but he had that much time, and that’s what makes someone like that so dangerous.
If you can carry your power through 25 minutes — and Alex has shown that to us when he knocked out (Israel Adesanya) in the back half of the fifth round, and that was down a weight class, too. So now we’re talking about 205.
When we look at a matchup like this, maybe taking away the names, we have someone that is mostly a puncher in Jamahal, and someone that has a pretty well-rounded skill set on the feet in Alex, and so I’m thinking that Alex is going to be using that calf kick, especially against someone that switches stances like Jamahal, to try and punish him when he’s orthodox. He’s gonna use that to take that option away, dictate what stance Jamahal is in, and he’s gonna use it to set up the hook on the other side, as well.
I’m really looking forward to the boxing and the punching exchanges in this fight. Alex is a master of punching in close; he generates so much power from close range. I do think Jamahal has a speed advantage, so it will be interesting to see where this fight takes place. The smaller the cage gets, the more it favors Alex.
So yeah — use the calf kick, dictate what stance Jamahal can fight out of, and use the 25 minutes to make the cage a little smaller, where I think the in-close exchanges will favor Alex, kind of like we saw with Alex and Izzy in that finish in the first fight.
Kyte: And those two elements go together, right — you use the calf kick to dictate, and you dictate because you would prefer him to be operating in a certain stance, certain positioning?
Madden: Exactly.
I’ll get into this with the Coaching Curiosity stuff later a little more, but for anyone facing Alex, it’s pick your poison. It’s choose your own adventure, but in a bad way, where if you’re moving to your lead side, you’re gonna get calf kicked and if you’re moving to your other side, you’re in danger of a lead hook coming your way.
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It reminds me of the old Goosebumps books where you can pick which page you go to, but the ending is bad either way.
Kyte: There is no “Oh, you’ve found the treasure!” It’s just “this is how you died!”
Madden: He does a really good job of steering people into those weapons with his footwork, so, for him, it’s taking 25 minutes to set those weapons up.
We know low kicks and calf kicks are an investment, they tend to be something that accumulate over time, but we also saw in the Jiri (Prochazka) fight that it only takes a couple from Alex before things really start to go awry.
He forced Jiri to pick a stance. He forced Jiri to get inside that calf kick range, and it caused him some big problems rushing in.
Kyte: How does Hill get it done?
Madden: I think he’s gotta build off the jab. I do think he is the faster fighter, especially when it comes to the punching in this situation, and if he uses the jab to draw the hook out, to draw the calf kick out, he can start to land some counters off that.
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One area that I think Jamahal can take advantage of that we didn’t see Izzy do as much is the clinch. I think Izzy used it a little more as a survival tactic to get inside and snuff Alex’s arms there, but Izzy was also the smaller fighter, so it makes it harder for Izzy to work there. I don’t expect Jamahal to be much smaller — he’s also a pretty big light heavyweight — and we’ve seen him do a lot of good work in the clinch with his knees and his elbows.
I would expect Jamahal to get into the clinch a little bit and try to tire Alex out from inside, hanging on those arms and using those inside weapons. From the outside, I think he’s gotta use the jab, he’s gotta use his speed. I think he’s the better and the faster puncher overall, and he’s gotta keep this fight in the center of the Octagon.
I don’t think Jamahal has the best and most athletic base overall, and that’s something he’s going to have to pay attention to. If you’re crossing your feet, if you’re standing tall, switching stances very casually, someone like Alex is gonna really make you pay for that; he’s gonna see that, he’s gonna expose that.
I hope Jamahal can keep a pretty sturdy base for 25 minutes, keep his legs underneath him, and if he doesn’t, that calf kick is going to turn up early and often.
The name of the game for him is speed; I do think he can out-work Alex, put a pace on him, but he’s gotta keep this fight in the center and give Alex some different looks.
Kyte: We’ve talked since Pereira came into the UFC about “just take him down,” which is much easier said than done, of course.
In talking to Jamahal ahead of this one, he was like, “This dude is a striker; he’s got a puncher’s chance against me. If this goes to the ground, he’s done.”
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Do you think there are advantages to going that route? Do you think he can get him there? From what you’ve seen, is that a legitimate avenue to victory or is it playing with fire because that starts eating at the gas tank if you can’t get him to the ground and have to contend with him trying to get back up?
Madden: That’s a great question.
For me, as an MMA striking coach, I always advocate for my athletes, my fighters to use their wrestling in MMA, whether they intend to get the fight there or not. We just know that if he puts that into Alex’s mind early on, it increases the odds of him landing something on the feet, and vice versa.
Whereas, if they just stay striking for 25 minutes…
UFC 300 Breakdown | Alex Pereira vs Jamahal Hill
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UFC 300 Breakdown | Alex Pereira vs Jamahal Hill
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Kyte: You’re in a kickboxing match with a two-division word champion in two sports.
Madden: Right! How quickly he’s going to be able to make reads and set things up, it’s not going to take Alex long to do that, and he’ll be willing to give up a round to do that because he can carry his power through the entire fight.
Kyte: Get a feel for the range, the speed, the timing, the movement and then go.
Madden: So yeah, I would always encourage people to mix that wrestling in, even if we’re not looking to get them to the ground. He can still attempt a shot, let Alex defend that shot, and work up to the clinch, like we talked about earlier, where I do think Jamahal has an advantage.
The difference between kickboxing and Muay Thai is that when Alex fought kickboxing, there is no real clinch allowed — one or two seconds — so he can take advantage of the fact that he fought most of his career without the clinch, which is new to him the way MMA is new to him. I do think Jamahal is the better fighter there.
You can take that shot, fail at the shot, but it gets you to the upper body, where you want to be. He doesn’t necessarily have to take him to the ground.
On the other side, same thing for Alex, but Jamahal’s takedown defense is getting better and better, too. It should always be in the back pocket, just in case you need it. Keep it on their mind.
X Factor
Kyte: If there were one thing that was going to significantly impact how this fight plays out — that swings it in one direction or the other — what would it be?
Madden: For Alex, the X factor is Glover Teixeira.
I think the big thing about this is that Glover has been in the cage with three of Alex’s opponents — Jan, Jiri, and now Jamahal, all shortly before…
Kyte: And Alex is 2-0 so far.
Madden: By all indications, Glover is a phenomenal coach, it seems like they have a really great relationship, and what better way to formulate a blueprint for beating someone than by your coach having already spent time in the cage with them.
A lot of times they say learning from experience is the best way to do it, and not the greatest experience. Well, Glover had not a great experience against Jamahal in Brazil, and so I think there is a lot of opportunity to learn and get recognizance on how to fix that.
Kyte: Ironically, Glover had “not a great experience” with all three of them, and Alex has been like, “Cool — we do this instead!”
Madden: We’re seeing the results with his pupil, so, to me, Glover is the X factor for Alex. I’m really interested to see what kind of blueprint they put together for Saturday night to be able to beat Jamahal.
For Jamahal, it has to be the injury, it has to be the Achilles, right? When was it — July?
Kyte: Yeah, early July, so he’s 10 months removed.
Madden: 10 months, and I know he’s an elite athlete, but it’s a pretty quick return against a very formidable opponent, in a main event, in a five-round fight, against someone that is looking to create a lot of damage against your leg.
Maybe not the Achilles directly, but the calf is very closely located to the Achilles and can create proximate damage to that spot. We don’t know what he’s gonna look like until he gets in there. I hope that it holds up — I trust that it does — but we just don’t know until we know.
Kyte: I’m not worried so much about it holding up — he saw the best surgeon in the field for it, Dr. Neal ElAttrache, worked with all the right people getting better.
To me, it’s that you had surgery 10 months ago, six-to-eight weeks where you probably couldn’t be on it at all afterwards, and so you’re not just jumping right into training.
When did you get cleared for training? When did you get cleared to be able to really go because — you can tell me better than I can speculate, but you’re not holding onto that conditioning when you have even four months where you can’t run.
Say you can get on the bike at four months, which means you’ve got six months where you can be on the bike; that’s bike fitness, bike cardio. How many months do you have where you’ve been able to be in there going hard rounds, very you feel 100 percent, moving the way you’ve got to move against this monster?
That’s the question for me, and it has me leaning towards Jamahal coming out and trying to get this done quickly, so that he doesn’t have to rely on the gas tank, because I’m not sure it’s going to be there.
Madden: It’s a great point. Ten months is a lot of time, but it’s also not a lot of time, especially when we’re talking about that world championship level, so I’ll be interested to see how it looks on Saturday.
One Coaching Curiosity
Kyte: Coaches see the sport differently and look at the sport differently than anyone else, picking up on different things and paying attention to movements, habits, or intangible pieces that others might not notice, but that could have a significant impact on the action inside the Octagon.
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Every matchup offers its own unique collection of elements that might pique a coach’s interest and get them paying a little closer attention to once the fight gets underway.
So what is that one thing in this matchup? You teased it earlier, so let’s do it.
Madden: It’s that “pick your poison” I was talking about earlier.
So for me as a striking coach, I’m always picking one thing to pay attention to with these big fights, and for what I said about Alex having the calf kick on the right side and the hook on his lead side, Jamahal also has similar things here — he’s got a helluva left kick when he’s a southpaw, and we saw what he did to Glover with that, multiple times.
Technically, Glover kind of blocked it because the hand was up, but it goes through the arm and wraps around, creates a tremendous amount of damage. When he’s orthodox, we saw it with Johnny Walker where he timed him coming in. So not only does he have power on both sides, and upper body limbs and lower body limbs, he has power in both stances, and that’s really interesting.
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Unrivaled Greatness | UFC 300: Pereira vs Hill
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I don’t know if Alex can say that he has that from southpaw because we don’t see him there a ton, but that is a unique set of tools and opportunities that Jamahal has — that he can create fight-ending power from both stances and both sides of his body.
This all comes down to a bit of a footwork battle and positional battle. If Alex can get the calf kick going early, he takes one of those stances away from Jamahal. If he takes one of those stances, he takes away one of those big weapons, too, and fighting is always about “let’s take tools out of their toolbox, make sure we keep ours.”
I’m gonna be paying attention to what stance Jamahal is in, what he’s doing from there, and where Alex is trying to take Jamahal with the footwork; make him pick one of those poisons.
And we’re gonna see who lands one of those weapons first.
Kyte: I loved this fight when it was announced just because this is the fight we need to have for this division — let’s finally settle things and get it moving forward in a clear direction — but the more I’ve gotten into it, written about it and these two athletes, the more I love this fight even more.
Madden: It’s very intriguing.
Kyte: This is one of those ones where the little intricacies are going to be huge.
It’s easy to say, “These two are going to go out there and swing hammers!” Absolutely, they have big power and they’re going to be chucking hammers, but the things that are going to decide it are all those little bits, all those little things that nerds like us geek out about and talk about here.
Madden: You have to drill down into this fight.
On paper, it’s a good fight, but if you drill down into it, it’s a really, really intriguing matchup and something that we have been hoping to see in this division for quite some time.
I’m looking forward to it.
UFC 300: Pereira vs Hill took place live from T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada on April 13, 2024. See the final Prelim and Main Card Results, Official Scorecards and Who Won Bonuses - and relive the action on UFC Fight Pass!
