Brendan Schaub Vs. Chase Gormley: UFC on Versus 1 Preview

[MMA Reporter]

The third installment of this 11-part series has Denver's hometown TUF 10 hero, Brendan "The Hybrid" Schaub, stepping into the cage against Chase Gormley in a heavyweight bout.

Each guy is still relatively green in the sport of mixed martial arts. They are both 26 years old with only 12 professional fights between them. Both fighters are coming off the first professional losses of their careers—ironically, against two fighters who are scheduled to fight each other 10 days later.

It will be interesting to see how each one bounces back from his first setback. But with Schaub's work with Greg Jackson at Jackson's MMA—as well as his time at High Altitude Martial Arts and the Grudge Training Center—the advantage undoubtedly goes to him.

Since working with these camps, Schaub has developed into a Golden Gloves boxer with the ability to find the button, finishing his opponent in all of his victories. He still could use more head movement, but his footwork should get him past Gormley's strikes.

It would be unwise for Gormley to try to strike with Schaub, so expect him to shoot in for a takedown on the much smaller Schaub.

The Denver native has improved his takedown defense tremendously and could keep this fight standing for a bit—wearing down the wrestler's stamina with dirty boxing and knees.

Despite his improved sprawl, Schaub still struggles against bigger, stronger wrestlers. So this fight will likely make its way to the mat at some point after some grueling work in the clinch.

Here, Schaub's purple belt in jiu jitsu is going to be tested against the wrestling of Gormley. A ground war between the two could be a back-and-forth battle for positioning, with heavy strikes landing for whoever has top control.

Gormley is fond of raining down punches and elbows on his grounded opponents—and if it isn't working, he even has a few submissions up his sleeve. However, he tends to give up his advantageous positions when going for the submission finish.

If Schaub has top control on the ground, expect the same sort of attack as Gormley's. He looks for the knockout, but if it isn't there, he will look for the submission finish.

It will be very tough for Schaub to secure submission victory, as Gormley has the strength to muscle out of submissions—as evident in his fight with Stefan Struve.

The chances of this fight ending in a tap out is pretty slim. It's likely that after engaging in a ground battle, Schaub will force this fight back to the feet with his explosive escapes.

Here, Schaub holds the advantage and will look to test Gormley's chin. If the knockout isn't there, he will look to outpoint his opponent on the way to a decision victory.



Advantages

Experience: Draw

Training camp: Schaub

Range striking: Schaub

Clinch striking: Schaub

Takedown defense: Gormley

Takedowns: Gormley



Ground striking: Draw

Submissions: Schaub

Submission defense: Gormley



UFC on Versus 1 Official Picks

Schafer over Brilz

Pierce over Paulino

Schaub over Gormley



Keep an eye out for coverage on Duane Ludwig vs. Darren Elkins in the next couple of days.

[Zapp Brannigan]

Wait, Schaub is still alive?

[p-jersey]

he is alive, i saw him beating up on your boy wrenn the other day at practice.

[The Janitor]

Schaub has REally good escapes from mount and Has some nice power in his hands i think he will take it