Scouting Report: Logan Storley

Logan Storley

Born: Sept. 8, 1992 (Age: 30) in Roslyn, South Dakota
Division: Welterweight
Height: 5’9”
Reach: 71.5”
Record: 14-1 (9-1 Bellator)
Association: Sanford MMA
Stage of Career: Prime

Summary: In a weight class filled with great grapplers, Storley ranks as the best pure wrestler. He is ridiculously fast, strong and textbook with all of his takedowns. Plus, he can chain wrestle from one position to the next endlessly. Furthermore, he has superb cardio that allows him to do so for as long as the fight lasts and usually long past when the opponent has gotten tired from such a pace. Once on top, his control and ground-and-pound are excellent, having stopping many opponents, especially with his brutal elbows. If an opponent can keep the fight standing—a difficult proposition—Storley’s striking is much weaker than his grappling, though he did show considerable improvement against Neiman Gracie. Storley can throw solid kicks, especially to the body, and he can now deliver a heavy but slower jab and a decent right cross, though it lacks power. His hand speed remains subpar, and his other punches are generally poor. However, he has success thanks to throwing punches in bunches and his two best stand-up qualities: his fantastic footwork and stellar defense, which allows him to block plenty of blows and dodge most of the rest with nifty head movement. Thus, it is difficult to take advantage of him in the standup department despite his lack of weapons.

STRIKING

• Stance: Orthodox.
• Hand Speed: Still slightly slower than average.
• Jab: While slow, it is straight and carries plenty of power, as evidenced by the fact that he badly hurt Gracie with it.
• Cross: The best of his punches. A fairly technical, accurate blow with average speed, which makes it the fastest of his punches, too.
• Left Hook: A floppy arm punch that does little damage and is frequently telegraphed.
• Right Hook: Slow, technically flawed and lacks power. He hit Yaroslav Amosov flush with one without doing any damage.
• Overhand Right: Does not have a consistent arc and he does not rotate his body into it well, robbing it of power. However, it does have some accuracy.
• Uppercuts: Throws a right uppercut that does not look bad, but it is inaccurate, making it easy to dodge.
• Solitary Striker or Volume Puncher: Throws some nice punches in bunches.
• Favorite Combination(s): The one-two, which is serviceable. The jab is much weaker when he throws it in sequence, but the right cross is his best punch and still solid.
• Leg Kicks: Decent, but they lack speed and power.
• Body Kicks: While they lack speed, they are much more powerful than his leg kicks.
• Head Kicks: Does not throw them.
• Chains Kicks to Punches: No.

Storley’s offensive striking has improved but remains limited. He throws solid kicks to the leg and body. He features a heavy but slower jab, and his right cross, while lacking power, is otherwise a decent blow and his best punch. He struggles throwing shots with an arc and his hands are a little slow, though he helps himself by throwing punches in bunches now. However, the best aspects of Storley’s striking often go overlooked. He has outstanding footwork, with the feet perfectly parallel, and nimbly jumps in and out of range. Moreover, his defense is great. He blocks proficiently with his hands and also moves his head quite well, ducking and dipping around countless punches. It is not easy for a fighter with weaker striking to have such good defense, but Storley has managed it. Despite his lack of weapons, it is not so easy to do damage against Storley in the standup department.

CLINCH

• Physical Strength: Tremendously powerful.
• Technique: Superlative chain wrestling, cycling from one position to another.
• Knees: Lack power, but they are fairly accurate.
• Elbows: Does not throw them.
• Defense Against Knees/Elbows: Average. He has eaten elbows when grinding for a takedown, but that has proven to be a risky proposition for opponents.

Storley is a grappling monster anywhere, and that includes the clinch. He can be hit with elbows to the head when he changes levels and grinds for a takedown, which could be concerning.

GRAPPLING

• Wrestling from a Shot: Incredibly fast and powerful, with perfect technique.
• Wrestling in the Clinch: Another area in which Storley performs exceedingly well.
• Takedown Defense: Amosov got him down by surprise once or twice, but no one else has managed to do so, even other excellent grapplers.
• Ability to Return to Feet: Can explode back up, but he also has some superlative scrambles that allow him to either sweep or get to a standing position—even against an opponent with excellent top control, like Amosov. Excels in his use of the Granby roll in these situations, too.
• Submissions: He has never won a single fight by submission, though he did lock in a tight rear-naked choke late in Round 3 against Amosov.
• Defense/Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu from the Bottom: Difficult to say since he has never stayed in bottom position, with the exception of about 15 seconds when he was tired and trying to catch his breath at the end of Round 2 against Amosov.
• Top Control: Suffocating and heavy, he controls the wrists and often drags opponents back to the canvas as many times as necessary. Exceedingly difficult to stand back up one he progresses to a position of dominance.
• Ground-and-Pound: Throws technical, short, accurate elbows and significant punches and puts his body into them. Features an above-average rate of fire, too.

Storley’s wrestling is as good as it gets at 170 pounds and ranks among the best in the entire sport. He has a plethora of fast, powerful and textbook takedowns from either a shot or a clinch, and he can chain wrestle forever. However, the rest of his grappling is also quite good. He is immensely difficult to take down and even harder to keep down thanks to his excellent sweeps and scrambles. Storley features stellar top control, meaning opponents will stay grounded. His ground-and-pound is effective, especially his brutal, accurate elbows. His arsenal only lacks submissions.

INTANGIBLES

• Athleticism/General Physical Strength: Able to execute many dynamic wrestling moves and shows himself to be tremendously powerful.
• Cardio: Can wrestle constantly at a breakneck pace for all three rounds. He has only looked tires against Amosov, who consistently stuffed his takedown attempts. Even when fights move in to the striking realm, as it did against Gracie, Storley only slowed down a little in Round 3, then did not slow down further until the end of an absolutely crazy fourth round.
• Chin: He has weathered plenty of standard punches, but he was hurt badly by a Gracie uppercut that landed perfectly.
• Recuperative Powers: He took some time to clear the cobwebs against Gracie but managed to gather his faculties after being hurt.
• Intelligence: It is not easy to turn an MMA fight into a wrestling match. However, he is also effective at switching gears and striking against the right opponent, showing a lot of growth in that area.