Neil Magny Vs Daniel Rodriguez Recap (UFC Vegas 64)

Neil Magny Vs. Daniel Rodriguez: UFC Vegas 64

Neil Magny Vs. Daniel Rodriguez took place on November 05th, 2022 at the UFC Apex and was the co-main of Rodriguez Vs. Lemos. Many were looking forward to this fight, with Daniel Rodriguez (D-Rod) looking to break into the top-15 and Magny ready to prove he’s still deserving of the position. Rodriguez has a fan-favorite style and backstory, while Magny has been the measuring stick for elite Welterweights for 5 years now. I expected D-Rod to have an advantage on the feet, and Magny would have one grappling. Styles make fights, and opposing styles often make good ones. After watching their last 5 fights, one-thing that was expected to play out was D-Rod’s struggles with defending the single-leg, and Magny’s ability to grab the ankle or body lock and turn. A recurring issue with Magny is that he will have stretches of choosing to strike, while having much more success grappling. With Magny being so long, it often leads to just leaning back with his chin up to dodge strikes. D-Rod finds success often with his 3-4 punch combos, especially when the last one comes off-beat. These things were apparent throughout their fight, along with mid-fight adjustments by both. It was an interesting fight and a joy to see Magny get that UFC Welterweight record 20th win. Here are The Big 3 things that stood out post-fight:

1. D-Rod’s abandoning of active footwork and leg kicks.

   At very beginning of fight D-Rod works a couple leg kicks. but isn't as active circling out after landing as he has been in other fights. Finding early success with the off-beat 3 punch combo, landing hard straight lefts into Magny's body and guard, leads to D-Rod hunting for a bit. This plays out repeatedly, as D-Rod almost entirely abandons the active circling footwork, for a more planted and angled boxing stance. Neil ends up finding a lot of success once he listens to his corner and gets his back off the cage and mixes up how he comes forward. While D-Rod is just following and then stepping in, Magny using the full range of circling, darting in, stepping past, etc. D-Rod only threw about 3 kicks this fight, but once Magny almost caught the third kick it became apparent why he abandoned the gameplan. 

2. Magny finding success with the hands.

   A downside to Rodriguez not making as much use of his active footwork is that Magny was able to find success with his striking as well. In the Parker fight and the Leech fight, he was having the most success when dictating where the fight took place.  Once Leech started guiding D-Rod and turning the tide, Rodriguez had a hard time getting it back. This fight played out similarly, with D-Rod starting to tire out in the second round as Magny started pushing the pace. The combination of being tired and being out of his optimal fighting position wore quickly on Rodriguez. The slightly slower reactions and defense from Rodriguez was just enough for Magny to start landing a lot more.  

3. Magny creating grappling exchanges and ultimately finishing.

   Daniel Rodriguez, by nature of being very late to the game of MMA, has unrefined grappling and clinch game, while Neil Magny is one of the best at 170 in terms of striking long or clinching tight. A weakpoint in D-Rod's game versus a strongsuit of Magny, and it showed. In round 1 Magny's corner tells him to come forward and stop getting pressed against the cage, and when he does finds a good entry to clasp his hands around D-Rod's hips. That entry to clasped hands ends up being the Move of The Fight, as Magny repeatedly forces clinches with it, and from the second round on D-Rod is unable to break it. Before the minute of grappling against the cage with Magny, D-Rod looked fresh. After the grappling exchange, was sweating and breathing heavy. Magny probably excellent at making you carry his weight, and the constant position improvement is mentally taxing to defend as well. Between the push kicks and grappling attrition, D-Rod is a shell of himself in the third round stamina wise. Magny ultimately gets the finish by recognziing how tired D-Rod is and ditches a back-mount with body triangle to pivot quickly into a deep arm-in guillotine. That sequence leads to Magny getting a very deep D'arce choke in before rolling D-Rod over and instantly putting him to sleep. Insane squeeze with perfect technique. 

Summary:

• Magny showed an excellent ability to listen to his corner mid-fight as well as during round breaks. When asked to stop getting pushed back, he got pushed back less. When asked to move forward, he started finding good clinch entries. A symbiotic relationship between corner and fighter. 
• Magny showed his career long blind spot of throwing and hanging around (Body Kick, return foot to stance, still standing in same place as when originally thrown) D-Rod landed a couple times as a result, but nothing too damaging. Definitely a worry to keep an eye out for.
• Magny did what a lot of fighters struggle to do: Maintain what works. It was great to see Magny find success with kicks and the occasioanl hook, to then use that for better grappling entries. So often fighters find success with something that's supposed to be a setup to the rest of their game and end up wasting energy if not throwing lead away. Magny used the success striking to force D-Rod into defensive positions with his guard up, leaving him unable to defend his hips and waist.
• Daniel Rodriguez has the heart and mind of a fighter, but needs to find a camp away from LA and stick with it. The Syndicate move showed a big jump from his Joe Schilling days, but Neil Magny's corner was worlds ahead of Rodriguez's. He has some things you can't teach like heavy hands and an ability to succeed, but still needs to be taught the fundamentals as well. 
• Magny getting Record-Setting Win number 20 is a feel-good story. A very nice, charitable, humble fighter is something the UFC needs, even if not as a champion, just a good representative of the sport. 

Who Next?

Neil Magny

Neil called out Gilbert Burns for January, a fight I think Neil gets finished in, but a very fun call-out that would clearly move Magny up the ranking with Burns being at #5. My personal pick would be for him to fight Vicente Luque or Sean Brady. Luque would likely throw enough to hurt Magny if he Neil hangs around in exchanges for too long, while Brady would be a good test of whether or not Magny grappling is very good or elite.

Daniel Rodriguez

Time-Off. Father Time is not on his side, but Leech and Magny in 2 months is a lot. 6 rounds of active fighting. When he does return, it's Daniel Rodriguez Vs Michel Pereira or bust. 

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Complete Live Fight Notes:

Round 1

D-Rod immediately trying to paw MAgny lead hand.

D-Rod sees Magny circle to D-Rod’s left, and D-Rod fires hard straight into guard/shoulder of Magny

Magny doing a good job using his long kicks, such as front kick and push kick.

D-Rod timing Magny’s circle to the left pretty well.

D-Rod showing much more boxing-centric footwork and not throwing the leg kick.

Magny recognizes he’s getting thrown when he circles wide right, so he dips into D-Rod and pivots around him. Hangs around to trade some punches, neither land flush.

Magny initiates two clinches, D-Rod breaks both. The second one was a little deeper and mid-combo so showing good ability to hide it.

D-Rod getting Magny against cage and firing, a repeat style of D-Rod he’s found a lot of success with. 

Magny listening to corner well, they ask for clinch and he clinched, they say get off cage and he does. 

Magny shows a standing arm triangle/anaconda (not sure) a flash of what’s to come later

Magny Uses that clinch to drag D-Rod down to mat and control against cage for a good 40 seconds. 

Round ends with Magny controlling against the cage, constantly improving position to end with a borderline mount.

10-9 Magny on Rewatch, had 10-9 D-Rod live. D-Rod landed more damage by a small margin, but you could argue the repeated kicks as well as threatening and active clinch/ground control also contributes to the end of a fight. 

Round 2.

Magny comes out very active. Much more bouncing on the feet, throwing body and head kicks in the first 10 seconds. The headkick bounces off of D-Rod’s guard, but was good placement and timing. D-Rod high IQ defense though.

D-Rod landing the hard straight to the body well, twice in second round already.

Magny doing a good job using lead hand to feel out D-Rod, something D-Rod usually uses himself. 

D-Rod continuing to press Magny against cage then land, Magny corner tells him get off the cage and he does. 

Magny gets backed up again and eats a left to chest and clean to face. 

When Magny gets backed up again, he comes back forward with a 5 punch combo that has the last land. When D-Rod goes to fire back, Magny clinches. Very smart

Cruz doing a much better job than D-Rod’s corner. Din Thomas also recognizes the back against the cage only bad spot for Magny. 

Magny landing several push kicks to the body of a slowing D-Rod. The constant activity combined with body shots is exhausting. 

D-Rod open mouth breathing now, jab falling apart in terms of technique. 

Magny corner recognizes D-Rod slowing, tells Magny to work and he does. 

Pass-By (As Dom calls it) is finding a lot of success where Magny steps past D-Rod slightly and pulls D-Rod into him for a clinch.

Pressed D-Rod into fence for last twenty seconds of round. 

Magny starting to groove, D-Rod starting to gas. 

10-9 Magny

Round 3. 

D-Rod finally opens with a lo-kick, lands flush. Second one almost gets caught, probably why he was hesitant with them this fight.

Magny striking wild rather than active, gets backed into cage. Foot slips which limited his ability to circle out as fast, D-Rod pounces and lands left hook to temple. Magny loses his feet and falls forward, ultimately pulling D-Rod into his guard to recover.

Magny not glassy eyed, recovered incredibly quick. 

DC sucks asshole on commentary.

As Magny opens his guard to start trying to shift D-Rod’s hips, D-Rod disengages entirely. Magny does a sitting push kick to see if D-Rod will come back down or try to pivot into ground and pound, but just stands up.

Magny catches his breath for a second and then fakes a collar tie and as D-Rod goes to defend it, Magny goes back to the step around and clasps his hands around D-Rod waist. Drags him to cage, drags him to mat. DC complains he should have magically been able to ankle pick him in the middle of the octagon.

Magny finds a crouched half guard against the cage.

Magny working slowly, D-Rod seeming to struggle on how to defend. 

Magny back to this semi mount position against the cage. 

D-Rod uses a high energy stand up to try to get off his butt, but Magny repositions and takes him for a ride instead. 

Magny now has D-Rod back, but starts way too high up on the back. 

Magny has good body Triangle to make up for the height, but lets it go as D-Rod leans forward to buck him off.

200 IQ move by Magny to ditch the Body triangle, pivot over, and sink in a deep headlock on a gassed Rodriguez.

I am not informed enough on the intricacies of how the finish goes down, but essentially Magny changes from a headlock grip to a crank. Uses arm-in guillotine to drag down D-ROd, and then repositions to a baseball grip on the far side of D-Rod.

Yanks it over and once D-Rod goes with it that’s a wrap, Magny Via Sub (D’arce?)

Veteran performance, improved mid-fight adjustments, barely sweating at end of 3 rounds. A beautiful veteran display and D-Rod and Magny hug and compliment eachother. Love to see it.