UFC 297 Winner Explains Why His Grappling Is Better Than Champion Alexandre Pantoja & Rising Star Muhammad Mokaev: 'Khabib Wrestling With Demian Maia Jiu Jitsu!'

Jimmy Flick feels on top of the world after kicking off the preliminary card of UFC 297 with a much-needed win, scoring a submission of Malcolm Gordon.

That victory marked the 17th of Flick's career — and the 15th to come by way of submission. The Forza Combat product has a talented ground game with unrelenting pressure, always looking for the submission as seen in the win over Gordon.

In fact, in a post-fight press conference following his UFC 297 victory, Flick stated that his jiu-jitsu was the best at flyweight in the UFC.

When asked what makes his ground game better than others who rack up plenty of submission wins, including current UFC champ Alexandre Pantoja and rising contender Muhammad Mokaev, Flick compared his wrestling and jiu-jitsu work to two Octagon greats in former undefeated UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov and longtime UFC veteran Demian Maia.

"They just don't have the jiu-jitsu that I have," Flick said. "A lot of people tell you in jiu-jitsu, 'position before submission.' Meaning you keep a position before you go for a submission, because if you lose it, you're going to be in a bad position. Well, my coach gets onto me...but I'm submission all day.

"People ask me, 'How do you describe your style?' Well, if Khabib and Demian Maia had a baby, they would have Jimmy Flick. You got Khabib wrestling with Demian Maia jiu-jitsu. I use the Khabib wrestling to get it to the ground, I dominate them, and I use my Demian Maia jiu-jitsu to sub them up."

Flick took quite the beating from Gordon during the opening round of their fight but came back and took Gordon down in the second round. From there, he managed to lock in an arm-triangle choke and got the tapout.

This marked Flick's first win in the UFC since returning last year after a two-year absence in his original 2021 retirement. Flick had been finished by Alessandro Costa and Charles Johnson in 2023.

Flick originally earned a UFC contract after a performance on the 2020 season of Dana White's Contender Series, where he submitted Nate Smith.

Flick made his official UFC debut in highlight fashion with a first-round submission of Cody Durden via a flying triangle choke.