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The Tactical Guide to Chinzo Machida versus James Gallagher

We look at the best fight of Bellator NYC.
Photo courtesy of Bellator MMA

No one has a clue as to how Bellator's New York pay-per-view will sell, but Scott Coker's crew are trying everything in their power to make it appeal to each and every kind of mixed martial arts fan. For the ever growing group of fans who yearn for a bygone era of mixed martial arts, the card is headlined and co-headlined by three old timers: Fedor Emelianenko, Chael Sonnen and Wanderlei Silva. For the man interested in current world class talent there are the two title matches: a welterweight tilt between Lorenz Larkin and Douglas Lima, and a light heavyweight rematch between Phil Davis and Ryan Bader. For those into hotly anticipated prospects, Bellator has booked the debut of freestyle wrestling savant, Aaron Pico. For a showcase, Michael Chandler is fighting a 7-0 up and comer, coming off a couple of split decisions.

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Yet perhaps the most interesting fight of the night, to this writer at least, is the unexpected pairing of James Gallagher and Chinzo Machida. There is no title shot on the line, neither has a streak of wins as long as your arm, and neither is looking anything close to a rounded world beater just yet. But the fight just feels so right.

James Gallagher seemed to be Bellator's attempt to get into bed with the Irish MMA fan base that is so hot right now. A student of John Kavanagh and a charge of Straight Blast Gym Ireland, Gallagher has often been accused of being marketed as a budget Conor McGregor. The truth is, of course, that he scarcely resembles McGregor at all in his fighting style and is nowhere near the stage where any reasonable observer would expect him to be able to fight at the level that McGregor does. Yet when Bellator went to Dublin in December they felt it necessary to match the 4-0 Gallagher (with a 5-1 amateur record), against Anthony Taylor—a 1-1 professional with a 1-6 amateur record, in the co-main event spot. Showcases do not come much more obvious than that. The fight was ugly as Gallagher outpointed Taylor on the feet, while being bundled to the ground as Taylor stepped in on every second naked right low kick or spinning back kick that Gallagher threw.

After two rounds of Taylor swinging wild and turning his back each time he missed, he came out for the third, stepped in on Gallagher as the Irishman attempted yet another naked right low kick, and the two tumbled to the mat. Another naked right low kick and Taylor span full circle to concede his back. The choke followed shortly afterward.

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For the man touted as a brilliant young grappler this was not an impressive showing. In his most recent fight, against Kirill Medvedovsky, Gallagher looked more measured on the feet but he had a more passive opponent. Gallagher is very much a rough diamond but at just 20-years-old he has a decade to make it happen.

Chinzo Machida is the brother of MMA great, Lyoto Machida. The more accomplished competitive karateka, Chinzo's MMA career has been a series of promising showings with years separating them. Chinzo's recent career has got his fans feeling optimistic, as he managed to put in two performances between 2016 and 2017, but he has already turned forty years old. The idea of Machida running through Bellator's featherweight division and winning a title seems out of the question based on his age and inactivity more than his developing grappling game, but whenever Machida steps in the ring you are almost guaranteed to see some beautiful counters and some unusual strikes. A Chinzo Machida fight also has the chance of a shocking knockout. In his two Bellator appearances, the aged Machida has stolen the show.

If you want a more detailed look at Chinzo Machida's game, and the differences between his style and Lyoto Machida's, I highly recommend reading our lengthy study, Chinzo: The Other Machida . Chinzo uses distance as a buffer in the same way as Lyoto—he fights at an exaggerated range and retreats from most of his opponent's attempts to close the distance. This allows him to pick up on their go-to techniques and combinations, but also encourages the opponent to chase and overcommit. When an opponent begins to get frustrated and take that 'extra step' through the space he expects Machida to vacate, Machida will step in and meet him with a reverse punch. This creates enormous collisions which give the Machidas starching knockout power that they probably wouldn't show if they didn't convince their opponents to run onto their blows.

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Lyoto likes to fight southpaw more than orthodox, leaning 'out the window' when he throws his reverse punch to thread it down the centreline:

Chinzo prefers to fight orthodox, which means against an orthodox opponent he will use the inside parry or hand trap to clear the line from his right shoulder to his opponent's chin.

Where Lyoto uses round kicks a good deal more, particularly the left kick to his man's liver from a southpaw stance, Chinzo attacks the centre line. Chinzo does this with front snap kicks aimed at the solar plexus, which can quickly suck the wind from an opponent.

Chinzo will also use these kicks to close for a straight punch.

Similarly Chinzo will attack the solar plexus with the reverse punch, which lays the groundwork for his look-low-kick-high set ups later on.

So why is this fight so interesting? If Michael Page's time in Bellator is any indication, Scott Coker can keep a prospect as a prospect for half a decade. In James Gallagher versus Chinzo Machida you have two men with incomplete skill sets, uniquely suited to test the poorer areas of the opponent's game. For each man, the other's name will easily be the most meaningful on their record. Rather than continuing to build Machida and Gallagher against fighters no one has heard of, Bellator have made the ballsy decision to make a big name fight by risking the momentum of both men.

Hypothetical Gameplans

Everything that James Gallagher wants to be in his striking, Chinzo Machida has already been for the best part of two decades. The long stance, the linear movement, the quick kicks, the lightning fast counter right hands: that is Machida's wheelhouse. That is not to say that Gallagher shouldn't strike with Machida, though. Whenever one man is desperate to stay off the floor, the level change becomes a valuable striking tool. Simply by dropping his level as if to shoot on Machida's hips, Gallagher can force reactions from Machida. Out in the open, with Machida's focus on distancing, this probably won't be so useful. But should Gallagher move Machida towards the fence, Machida will be force to drop his hands and square his hips to contend with level changes. This can open up everything from the left hook and the overhand right, to the look-low-kick-high round kick that Machida himself loves.

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Certainly it would be good to see Gallagher attempt his takedowns more cautiously than against Taylor. His long shots in that bout were the kind that turn into nothing more than knee slides against opponents who maintain a distance as significant as Machida.

In his previous few bouts Gallagher has done a good job of convincing his opponents he is happy to stand before he shoots. Whether or not that will be the case against Machida, Gallagher's main concern should be Machida's desire to land big uppercuts and knees on shooting opponents, rather than his ability to defend a takedown or get back up, which are largely unremarkable.

Linking back to that idea of good ringcraft, it would be great to see Gallagher use the cage as his ally in this fight. It would be encouraging to see Gallagher get Machida's back foot to the fence, then step in and compress that buffer zone Machida loves to keep, before ducking in on the takedown attempts or driving into the clinch. Though, Bellator's completely corner-free cage will make this a tough ask. But Machida has been put to the fence by much lesser opponents who simply rushed him there, a conscious effort to cut the cage should give him trouble.

For Machida, Gallagher has consistently shown one habit that both the Machida's love in an opponent: low kicking hard and naked. The most powerful counter in the Machida toolbox is stepping inside of the round kick with the reverse punch. Getting an opponent stepping onto a punch is one way to cause a collision, stepping inside his kick while he's on one leg is another. Lyoto decked Sokoudjou like this, and even stepped in on the gigantic Jon Jones in this way. Chinzo's first MMA fight, against a kickboxer named Cristiano Rosa, started with a Rosa low kick, and Chinzo immediately stepped in to counter the next kick Rosa threw.

There is certainly nothing wrong with low kicking the Machida's. In fact, their long stance begs to be punted. But a far better idea is to use Mauricio Rua's strategy. Knowing that the Machida's will give ground from almost every attack until they pick up on an obvious tell or have their man's timing down, Rua threw punches or feints to get Lyoto Machida running, then kicking Machida's trailing leg as it was the last thing to leave range. When the feet are busy retreating, they can't check. When Machida is fleeing range, he will struggle to step all the way through kicking range and into a reverse punch counter. The counter straight down the middle of a round kick works by convincing an opponent to kick from a riskier, closer position. It doesn't work nearly so well when they are right on the end of the range to begin with.

Chinzo Machida doesn't have many fights left in him, James Gallagher has dozens. Realistically, a loss here hurts neither man but a win means a great deal. This is the kind of matchmaking that must be applauded when Bellator could have had both men on the card fighting nobodies. There are an awful lot of unknowns with each man and the fight could turn out to be woeful, but it has this writer more excited than even many of the established names on the card and is well worth keeping your eye on.The Tactical Guide to Chinzo Machida versus James Gallagher