This has the potential to get long and nerdy, so please feel free to ignore me, but I want to talk about why the Yuki Ueno vs Yukio Sakaguchi match from DDT Kawasaki Strong 2021 on the weekend appealed to me so much as someone who appreciates pro wrestling and Brazilian Jiu-Jistu

I wanted to do this because:

1. I loved it, and think other people in the middle of that Venn diagram might, too.

2. I've seen some annoyance over the finish and whether this is an attempt to build Ueno as a legit shoot fighter, when that's not the story here.

First, some general background on the story leading up to the match: Promising young high flyer Ueno has been feuding with veteran legit MMA fighter Yukio Sakaguchi for months. Sakaguchi has repeatedly caught Ueno in sleepers and choked him the fuck out.

To challenge himself and grow, Ueno decides that he wants to face Sakaguchi for his Universal title. Sakaguchi agrees, promises to murder him some more. And proceeds to murder him some more.

This isn't some deep lore you have to hunt down to understand the story, by the way. The above gifs are from the video that ran before their match.

Ueno dies. Ueno challenges. Ueno dies more.

And then Ueno goes to MMA fighter Shinya Aoki for advice on how to die less.

That's all the background you need to appreciate the match, but if you want to get nerdier, the whole training video and interview are on YouTube. Aoki's sleeper defence advice focuses on three points:

1. Using leverage to relieve pressure on the neck.

2. Preventing your opponent from getting their hooks in.

3. And because this is pro wrestling and 3 counts exist there, how to reverse a sleeper attempt into a pin.

(Side note: this looks more like a read naked choke than a sleeper to me. But they're calling it a sleeper, so that's what I'm going with. Please don't chokesplain me.)

Anyway, let's look at how Ueno applies his experience and Aoki's advice to Sakaguchi's multiple sleeper attempts during the match.

First up, look at him grab the wrist here. Also not how he can use his entire body to escape the choke due to the lack of hooks in place.

Second time, he tries the pin. Again possible because Sakaguchi doesn't have time to even attempt to get the hooks in.

Third time, look at the wrists, hook defence, and pin attempt.

Now we have an attempt and a defence from Ueno.

You can see the same defence techniques at work here, but you can also see some nice details in his attempt, like how he gets Sakaguchi's neck right into the crook of his elbow and starts to snake that one hook in.

And finally, neck in the crook of the elbow, body triangle (an even more constricting alternative to hooks) in, and then readjusted to make it tighter. One hand grabbing his own bicep and the other one on the back of the head to increase the pressure. Sakaguchi's out.

In learning how to properly defend himself from the sleeper, Ueno also learned how to apply it. When Sakaguchi was already worn down from high youthful speed and high flying power attacks, he found a moment and applied it with precision to secure a fast and decisive win.

So why did his choke work so quickly when he was able to fight off Sakaguchi's? It's not because he was stronger or tougher in defence or attack. It's simply that he had the chance to fine tune the details and he took them.

This choke is what's called a blood choke. It's not about making your opponent gasp for air or feel uncomfortable until they want to give up. It's about restricting blood flow to the brain via the carotid arteries. Sakaguchi went out because that's what happens in real life.

Ueno was able to fight back and defend himself for longer because while, in real life, this would be somewhat painful and potentially make breathing a little more challenging than usual, it's not restricting the blood flow.

You'll see this choke in a lot of high end fights both "real" and scripted, and that's because it's a very effective submission. But you don't have to be a high end jiu-jitsu fighter to master it. We're first taught it before we earn the first stripe on our white belts.

So this isn't a story of a young punk suddenly becoming a shoot fighter. It's the story of a young fighter intent on growing who learned a technique entirely in line with his abilities. He won with a mix of his current moveset, opportunity, and his one new tool.

Ueno said as much himself today: https://twitter.com/ddtpro_eng/status/1361205408967221248?s=20

If we were supposed to see Ueno as a budding shoot fighter and not a budding sleeper hold applier, I suspect we would have seen better defence from him in other submissions. But look at how he can only scramble for the ropes here.

Or attempt to power out.

And then, when that doesn't work, go for the rope break again.

Similar thing with the guillotine.

Which he escapes by doing Yuki Ueno things.

Obviously this isn't 100% realistic. In a real fight, this would be a hospital/cemetery combination. But it has a degree of realism and it works perfectly within the logic of DDT's universe.

And one of the many things I love about DDT is its use of BJJ and MMA. It's fun and accessible for the uninitiated. But has an element that appeals to nerds, too.

I should add that it's been established in the greater DDT universe that Ueno has some BJJ knowledge and aptitude. Here he is jumping guard, attempting a sweep and taking the back in the Hiragana Muscle shoot tournament.

And finally, some background on where I'm coming from, because I know what happens when a woman tries to talk about this kind of stuff online without firmly establishing this shit:

1. My bylines on MMA culture and the intersection of MMA/pro wrestling: https://www.vice.com/en/contributor/sarah-kurchak

2. Although it's been collecting dust for over a decade, I did receive a blue belt in BJJ under Jorge Britto of Ribeiro Jiu-Jitsu.

(Forgive the overkill, but I was accused of lying about the details of my writing career just last week.) Anyway, here's me with Xande Ribeiro.

Xande let me armbar him for my 26th birthday.