TJ Brown
Division: Featherweight
Result: Jordan Griffin def. [autotag]TJ Brown[/autotag] via submission (guillotine choke) – Round 2, 3:38
Record: (14-7 MMA, 0-1 UFC)
Grade: C-
The octagon is a tough place to learn your trade and, despite an otherwise impressive debut performance, TJ Brown discovered that one technical mistake can leave you unconscious on the mat.
“He kept exposing his neck on the double-leg,” said the man who defeated him, Jordan Griffin, and that, in a nutshell, was the story of the fight.
Brown had looked impressive throughout, as he dropped Griffin in the opening seconds with a superb right hand, then bossed the action on the ground as he maintained top position and kept Griffin on the seat of his pants and pressed up against the fence.
But, while he was dominating with his wrestling, he also gave a glimpse of his Achilles heel. UFC Hall of Famer Michael Bisping identified it immediately in commentary, as he pointed out that Brown left his neck exposed when shooting for takedowns, and that technical misstep didn’t go unnoticed by Griffin, who twice grabbed the debutant’s neck and nearly snatched a first-round submission with a pair of tight looking guillotine attempts.
To his credit, Brown escaped both of those predicaments but, when he was trapped in a third guillotine midway through the second round, there was no escape as Griffin choked him unconscious.
Overall, Brown showed that he has the sort of athleticism that could give him a chance to progress in the UFC, but he’ll need to address those technical holes to give him the best chance to use his wrestling and physicality to its fullest.