Scouting Report: Sergey Spivak

Sergey Spivak

Born: Jan. 24, 1995 (Age: 27) in Chisinau, Moldova
Division: Heavyweight
Height: 6’3”
Reach: 78”
Record: 15-3 (6-3 UFC)
Association: Polar Bear Team
Stage of Career: Pre-Prime

Summary: Spivak leans on a strong grappling base that has allowed him to best a majority of the opponents he has faced in the UFC. He has a slew of different takedowns at his disposal, both wrestling- and judo-based, and he can shoot on reaction. Even if he gets in the clinch and fails to complete a takedown, he features powerful knees and elbows with which he inflicts damage. Once an opponent is grounded, he has effective submissions and punishing ground-and-pound with elbows and punches. His cardio and physical strength are more than good enough to make him dangerous well into the third round. Spivak’s striking is solid in regards to his boxing and nice timing on his knee, but opponents need not worry about his kicks. His defense has some major holes, and his merely average chin cannot make up for them.

STRIKING

• Stance: Orthodox.
• Hand Speed: Average.
• Jab: Hard, fairly technical and straight but somewhat slow.
• Cross: Straight and mostly technical but telegraphed, and when he follows up, he hitches it with the elbow high and punches downwards.
• Left Hook: Does not throw it.
• Overhand Right: Follows a solid arc, with some power and accurateness.
• Uppercuts: Throws a surprisingly stout right uppercut, with proper mechanics, arc, accuracy and some power, as evidenced by the fact that he hurt Tony Lopez with it.
• Solitary Striker or Volume Puncher: Throws punches in bunches after finding initial success, but succeeding blows get a little sloppy and noticeably less accurate.
• Favorite Combinations: A series of one-twos.
• Leg Kicks: Does not like throwing kicks, and they are light when he does.
• Body Kicks: Same properties as his leg kicks, although he throws them even less.
• Head Kicks: Average at best. They are often telegraphed, and he fails to recoil quickly enough when throwing them.
• Knees: Good timing at range.
• Chains Kicks to Punches: No.

Spivak sports some solid boxing fundamentals in his arsenal. While he does not do anything especially well and lacks a left hook, he not only throws an effective jab and cross but an overhand right and, surprisingly, even a right uppercut—likely his best punch. Unfortunately, his striking abilities are limited to the hands and a knee he can throw at range, as his kicks are of no genuine concern. He also tends to get sloppy when throwing more than a punch at a time, which is quite common for less advanced strikers. His defense remains a significant problem, as he has some major holes there. He is especially poor against the cage, where he simply covers up and fails to even clinch, lacking defensive reactions along with head and ring movement.

CLINCH

• Physical Strength: A powerful heavyweight who can bully opponents who lack a solid grappling background.
• Technique: Sound. Possesses excellent body positioning courtesy of his judo base, although he sticks to the fundamentals.
• Knees: Delivers them with power in close quarters.
• Elbows: Decent, but they lack some accuracy.
• Defense Against Knees/Elbows: Few opponents can afford to throw them while Spivak throws those of his own and/or works for a takedown.

Spivak is highly effective in the clinch, whether threatening with takedowns or battering an opponent with knees and elbows. There is little that can be gained against him in this area of battle.

GRAPPLING

• Wrestling from a Shot: Features a variety of nice double-legs and especially single-legs that have succeeded, including some on reaction to strikes. He has also recorded some excellent body locks into trips.
• Wrestling in the Clinch: Utilizes a number judo-based takedowns, including head-and- arm throws—normally a risky proposition in MMA.
• Takedown Defense: Fair. He often moves straight back and does not angle off at all when defending against a shot—a tendency that allowed Marcin Tybura to take him down. Spivak also relies too much on his judo in those situations, as evidenced by his ill-advised whizzer into hip toss attempt against Tybura, which ended with him on his back.
• Ability to Return to Feet: Excellent when he can do so immediately after being taken down, thanks to his hip escapes and scrambles. However, he accepts position at times with an ugly, closed full guard.
• Submissions: Effective. Locked in a textbook palm-to-palm rear-naked choke on Travis Fulton, a scarf hold neck crank on Lopez reminiscent of Mark Coleman-Dan Severn and an arm-triangle against Tai Tuivasa. All of it indicates a powerful squeeze.
• Defense/Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu from the Bottom: Mediocre. He is easy to ground-and-pound, as he grabs for the forearms instead of controlling the biceps.
• Top Control: Improving. He laces a leg and tracks his opponents, but he often has to rely on multiple takedowns because does not control the wrists or break down their base quickly enough.
• Ground-and-Pound: Lands meaningful punches, albeit with a slight elbow hitch, while utilizing part of his body to throw at a high rate of fire. Also mixes in good, cutting elbows.

Spivak’s bread-and-butter is his grappling. He has an array of nice takedowns from both a wrestling and judo base—everything from double- and single-legs to head-and-arm throws. Many of them are in reaction to opponents’ strikes, which makes them especially effective. Once an opponent is grounded, he has solid, improving top control, dangerous ground-and-pound and some chokes with which he can finish. It is a combination of skills that even heavyweights with stout grappling themselves, like Augusto Sakai, have been unable to stop. However, Spivak can be beaten in the grappling department, too, as Tybura showed. His takedown defense could be better, and if he does not get up immediately, he oftentimes finds himself stuck on the bottom, where he defends poorly against ground-and-pound.

INTANGIBLES

• Athleticism/General Physical Strength: Spivak has shown the ability to lift and control huge heavyweights, but his overall athleticism is nothing special.
• Cardio: Starts to slow down halfway through Round 2 but partially recovers through the third and can often finish strong.
• Chin: He can withstand weaker blows but has been badly hurt by solid connections from powerful strikers.
• Recuperative Powers: Average.
• Intelligence: He implements his grappling wisely and accentuates his strengths while oftentimes covering up his weaknesses in terms of standup defense.