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| Geje Eustaquio vs. Adriano Moraes at ONE Championship: HERO'S ASCENT Photo from OneFC.com |
With nine submission wins under his belt, it is safe to assume that former World Title holder Adriano “Mikinho” Moraes is one of the top active submission specialists in the MMA world today. In fact, six of his last 8 wins were via submissions, including his first match against ONE Flyweight World Champion Geje “Gravity” Eustaquio.
Moraes' tenacious wrestling prowess will surely be felt this coming January 25 at ONE Championship: HERO'S ASCENT. But he's about to face ONE Flyweight World Champion Geje “Gravity” Eustaquio, the Team Lakay standout who beat him in their second encounter.
The first time the two champion MMA fighters met, Moraes' submission skills prevailed. The second outing, Eustaquio's determination prevailed. But whose will is going to prevail in the conclusion of this trilogy?
Geje Eustaquio Game Plan
So what could possibly be included in Eustaquio's game plan this time? While many detractors and commentators doubt Eustaquio's abilities mainly because his wins were decided by the ringside judges, his martial arts skills are not just above average. After all, his MMA background includes kickboxing and wushu.
And after two bouts, Eustaquio is now very much familiar with the Brazilian's grappling prowess.
Moraes' three losses were all split decisions, which means his opponents were able to match his tenacity, escaped his grappling combos, and more importantly, outscored him. This only means that Moraes might be better on the ground but he's certainly at a disadvantage against fighters with strong takedown defense capped with superb skills on foot.
Eustaquio surely has all these formulae. So here are some possible things we will see from the ONE Flyweight World champion:
- Keeping his distance at bay - not too close for the submission specialist to grab him; not too far so he can throw punitive kicks and punches;
- Throwing numerous jabs and lead punches will help outscore the Brazilian should the match go the distance again;
- More uppercuts, kicks and knees, and;
- Maintain a standup fight which gives Eustaquio pretty much a better chance of winning.
