Prior to each UFC card, Jay Primetown takes a close look at debuting fighters. In the latest installment, we look at Team Alpha Male’s Josh Emmett as he debuts against Guam’s Jon Tuck at UFC Fight Night 87 in Rotterdam, Netherlands. Josh Emmett Hometown: Phoenix, Arizona Age: 31 Height: 5’8” Reach: 70” Weight Class: Lightweight Camp: Team Alpha Male Career Record: 9-0 Key Wins: Christos Giagos Key Losses: None Background A five year professional, Emmett wrestled at Menlo College. After his collegiate career, he wanted to continue grappling and joined Urijah Faber’s Ultimate Fitness. In addition to his training at Team Alpha Male, he owns a cross fit gym in California called MVMNT Cross Fit. Strengths
- Respectable counterstriker
- Solid overhand right
- Above average power for the weight class
- Strong knee work in clinch situations
- Team Alpha Male power double leg
- Excellent job of transitioning fast from takedown to dominant ground position
- When taken down difficult to keep on his back
Weaknesses
- Can be overaggressive and lose his footing and therefore position
- Tends to back up too much on the feet and fights off his back foot
- Too comfortable fighting with his back against the cage
- Striking defense needs some work
Match-up against Jon Tuck This is a solid preliminary match-up between two fighters who come from very strong camps. Despite making his UFC debut on Sunday, Emmett is a veteran having trained at Alpha Male for several years and has already fought nine pro fights. Tuck has fought 11 times against the likes of Kevin Lee and Norman Parke. Emmett was training for a fight in another organization on the same weekend as this event, so the short notice call up shouldn’t be much of a detriment to his performance. This should be a competitive fight in which Tuck will likely be the aggressor and Emmett will look to counterstrike and land a big shot on the feet. Tuck’s forward movement could have him see some success in the early stages, but Emmett has fight-changing power on the feet. This is similar on the feet to Tuck’s last fight against Tae Hyun Bang. The exception to that is Emmett is a solid wrestler and has the advantage in that regard. He can work in takedowns and top position in this bout in addition to landing a huge right hand on the feet. Tuck has shown a poor gas tank in the past and his defense opens up as he gets tired. After a competitive opening stanza, I’d look for the Team Alpha male trained Emmett to take over later in the fight and or earn a competitive decision win on the scorecards. This is a fight with close odds and a good chance to be competitive on the scorecards, so a bet with confidence is hard to make. UFC Ceiling Josh Emmett is a 31 year old lightweight out of Team Alpha Male. He’s shown to have a nice mix of skills with heavy hands, good counter striking, and a solid top heavy wrestling game. From watching him fight, it’s clear that he’s been heavily influenced by his training at Alpha Male. Emmett is a fighter who can compete with the lower tier lightweights in the UFC and is capable of a few wins inside the octagon. He’s very close to his fighting ceiling already so it’s difficult to see him earning victories against top 15 or even fringe top 15 opponents. He doesn’t have a truly dominant weapon and that will catch up to him against the better fighters in the division. Fight Film Check out Josh Emmett in some of his most recent fights: Josh Emmett vs. Christos Giagos Josh Emmett vs. Tony Rios Josh Emmett vs. Tramain Smith