Blackzilians coach Jorge Santiago addresses criticism about team's grappling

UFC 187 in May had the potential to be a defining night of success for the Florida-based Blackzilians camp. Two title challengers, two world championship opportunities.

Blackzilians fighter Anthony Johnson (19-5 MMA, 10-5 UFC) met Daniel Cormier (16-1 MMA, 5-1 UFC) for the vacant light heavyweight belt in the main event while his teammate Vitor Belfort (24-11 MMA, 13-7 UFC) challenged Chris Weidman (13-0 MMA, 9-0 UFC) for middleweight gold in the co-headliner.

Both fighters had brief moments of brilliance during early striking exchanges. However, that’s as close either would come to earning a title belt.

Johnson cracked Cormier with a massive overhand right in the opening seconds of the first round. He landed some powerful kicks throughout the contest, but ultimately Cormier’s superior grappling allowed him to control the pace and eventually secure a third-round submission on an exhausted “Rumble.”

Minutes prior to that fight, Belfort cut Weidman open with his trademark first-round blitz, but that’s where his momentum would stop. Weidman easily took the fight to the ground, got on top of “The Phenom” and punched his way to a TKO.

Johnson and Belfort shared a noticeable flaw in high-level grappling at UFC 187. They received criticism for that fact, and coach Jorge Santiago said he takes full responsibility for the fighter’s lack of preparation.

“We had two title shot; it’s the time right now to fix the problem,” Santiago told MMAjunkie Radio. “We’re there to face and fix. That’s my job. My job is to help the guys and show them the better way to approach the game. We need to figure out (how to silence people saying), ‘We don’t have good ground.’

“Most of our fighters are strikers; they are not young anymore. Some guys already have issues in previous fights with bad ground. The fact we have the best striking game is something we rely on. That’s our trust. When we’re standing, we’re knocking people out. Like we just said, we’re young. We’re still at not even five years since we got to this big stage. ATT’s been there for 15 years, some other gyms have been there forever.”

Although opportunities have already been missed, Santiago believes room for improvement still exists going forward. He said there’s going to be increased focus on grappling and fighting out of uncomfortable positions.

Santiago is happy to take his portion of the blame for failing to prepare his athletes for every scenario. However, just like his career as a fighter in which he was forced to rebound from losses, Santiago said he would discover the source of his flaws as a coach and how he can translate those lessons into becoming a better coach.

“Let’s be honest; we don’t have wrestlers, we don’t have many wrestlers,” Santiago said. “AKA or ATT has a bunch of wrestlers. We have strikers; guys that are well known as strikers. It was hard to figure out. The two fights we lost, nobody likes to lose, but it worked out well because we all face it. I’m sure the guys will get back on track.”

For more on the UFC’s schedule, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.