What’s next for Jack Hermansson?
Jack ‘The Joker’ Hermansson picked up the biggest win of his career this past Saturday over Kelvin Gastelum at UFC Fight Night 172, improving his record to 21-5 (8-3 UFC). The fight itself, especially the result was an absolute shock to us all. No one expected the fight to go that way. It was so short, and most of us thought that if it was going to be short, Gastelum would walk away with the knockout victory, but that’s not what happened.
Once the fight started, Hermansson attempted to tie up with Gastelum, and Gastelum hit a beautiful lateral drop and ended up in Hermansson’s guard. Not long after this, ‘The Joker’ wrapped up a heel hook, moments later submitting the 10th Planet BJJ black belt.
Gastelum had only been submitted one time prior, against former UFC Middleweight Champion Chris Weidman, and three of his five losses came via split decision. He was coming off two straight defeats, the first back-to-back losses of his career. His back was up against the wall, but he just didn’t show up. His takedown was literally perfect, but he didn’t really try to defend the heel hook, thus the reason he got caught. It was also only 1:18 into round one, they were both still dry, making any type of submission tighter, easier to finish, and harder to get out of.
Hermansson was also coming off a loss in his fight prior, where he was TKO’d early in round two by Jared Cannonier. Before that, ‘The Joker’ submitted BJJ black belts Gerald Meerschaert and David Branch with his guillotine he likes to use, as well as defeating then No. 1 contender Jacare Souza via unanimous decision (49-45, 48-47, 48-47). He almost submitted him with the same guillotine too, but the multiple time world BJJ champion was able to get out of it.
We knew how good his guillotine is from his previous fights, but securing a heel hook victory in mixed martial arts competition is a very hard thing to do, it’s very rare, especially when two top ten guys are fighting. Very evidently, Hermansson has that type of grappling strength that’s not to be taken lightly. He’s well rounded on the mat, we’d only seen how good he was on top before, but now we know how dangerous his ground game truly is.
After beating someone like Gastelum, the only way to go for this 32-year-old Swedish-Norwegian contender is up. What/who would you like to see be next for Jack Hermansson?
