Ahead of UFC 217 bout with Corey Anderson, OSP has the perfect analogy for his Von Flue choke

Von Flue choke finishes aren’t exactly common in the UFC, so when Ovince Saint Preux managed to make a third octagon victim that way, the general reaction was of slight befuddlement.

If you know that’s your opponent’s go-to move, many asked, why would you fall for it? Still, that’s just what former middleweight title challenger Yushin Okami did in September in Japan, at UFC Fight Night 117. At the time, even Saint Preux himself admitted to being “quite surprised” that his opponent would even grab his head.

But at the same time, Saint Preux and his team have worked on this move long enough that he can find the finish from basically any position. And he’s seen it in action often enough to know just how hard it is to escape once he is able to get ahold of his opponent’s arm.

So, to those who wonder how anyone with basic jiu-jitsu skills would get caught, he offers an analogy to explain it.

“People don’t realize: That arm that you have around my head? Once I wrap my arm around your arm, you can’t pull your arm out,” Saint Preux told MMAjunkie Radio. “It’s one of those situations where – have you seen the monkey comes to go there in that jar? And his fist can fit in there. But once he gets the treat, he’s trying to pull his arm out, and he can’t? You can’t pull your arm out. Especially with gloves on. You definitely can’t pull it out.

“It’s just something that I’ve been doing since Day One. And you know, with mixed martial arts, if you’ve been doing a particular move since Day One, after a while it just becomes embedded in your head.”

One man who’ll most likely be on the lookout for that choke is Corey Anderson (9-2 MMA, 6-2 UFC), who meets Saint Preux (21-10 MMA, 9-5 UFC) on Saturday at UFC 217. The light heavyweights are set to meet on the FS1-televised preliminary card prior to the pay-per-view main card.

Being on one of the year’s biggest UFC cards, which features three title fights at the iconic Madison Square Garden in New York, is not too bad of a deal. But the quick turnaround wasn’t in Saint Preux’s plans until a few weeks ago, when a “mutant” staph infection forced Patrick Cummins out of his bout with Anderson.

As soon as Saint Preux, who’s No. 10 in the USA TODAY Sports/MMAjunkie MMA light-heavyweight rankings, caught wind of Cummins’ withdrawal from the meeting with honorable mention Anderson, he had a hunch his coach would be in touch soon – a feeling made stronger by looking at a fully booked 205-pound roster.

As someone who’s taken three fights in seven weeks back in his Strikeforce days, Saint Preux didn’t have much of a problem saying yes when his prediction came true two days later.

“I woke up one morning, I was like, ‘I know I’m going to get a phone call,'” Saint Preux said. “Lo and behold – I get a phone call. Once I got the call, the opportunity was right there. why not take it? I feel good. I’ve been training. And my body feels amazing. So we just went ahead and took the fight.”

There’s an added factor heading into the meeting: The fact Saint Preux and Anderson have actually trained together in the past. But much like the short preparation window or getting down from 227 pounds, that was yet another non-issue for the 205-pounder.

“We talked about it, and it was like, ‘If we ever have to fight, we fight,'” Saint Preux said. “It’s part of the job. It’s what you do. It’s a business. So we’ll handle business, and after that, we can get back to being friends.”

To hear more from Saint Preux on his signature finish, check out the video above.

And for more on UFC 217, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.

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