Khriemelie Metha breaks down the performance of Avizo Lanamai at MFN 9

Avizo Lanamai made a statement at Matrix Fight Night 9. Avizo who trains out of The Combat Academy Nagaland under Khriemelie Metha went up against Abhishek Negi on the card and he took home a dominant unanimous decision win.

Avizo was seen dominating throughout the fight which was on the undercard. With the win, Avizo marked his entry to MFN in style but what went behind the scenes in that fight?

We managed to shoot the question at Avizo’s coach Khriemelie Metha in an exclusive interview and the TCA Nagaland chief broke down the performance of Avizo and detailed the game plan. You can read what Khriemelie had to say below.

"I was very excited with that fight because everyone said Negi is a striker but no, he's someone who's not bad everywhere. He's got good skills. He's got good wrestling, good BJJ, and good striking.

I felt lot more comfortable going to that fight because, yes, Abhishek is okay everywhere but Avizo Lanamai is good everywhere. He's good at striking, he's good at wrestling and he's good on the ground.

I really really enjoyed Abhishek's guard and I think he has a very very active guard. He's just not a 'hold and control type' guard, he's pretty active with that guard, I quite enjoyed watching that as a spectator; as a fan.

What the game plan was: Abhishek switches. He switches stances, not a lot but sometimes. so again, our thing was to pepper. To touch that lead leg and not really commit on the hands.

To touch and then wait for the switch [was the plan] and when the switch happens is when we will look for the finish. Also interestingly, when the knockdown happened, it happened when he was southpaw, so it was something that we were looking at, like that's when we were going to bang.

That's when we were a lot more comfortable throwing those power shots and connecting and dropping him. When he was orthodox, it was more about touching, touching or forcing to switch. Force him to switch and then we'll look for the finish.

At the end of the first round, Avizo went for a leg lock. It was a dual takedown where you cut the legs and you switch immediately to a hook entry.

It's something that for some reason that he decided to work on backstage literally minutes before the fight.

He wanted to drill that and he was drilling that backstage. So I remember he was up against the cage and he looked at me and he asked me how much time. and he winked at me.

Abhishek was holding him and as soon as Avizo broke that grip, he switched and he went to the floor for that leg lock entry. It would have been beautiful had it been 30 seconds earlier. But also, it would be a risk unnecessary at that point of that fight. I think that that sequence was brilliant."

What were your thoughts on the performance of Avizo and what should be next for him? Let us know in the comments below.

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