At his best on his feet, Etim possesses an exciting striking game that makes him dangerous any time the fight is kept standing. A solid, technical muay thai practitioner, one of the most impressive aspects of Etim's standup game is his kicking ability. At 6'1", Etim is a very tall lightweight fighter who is excellent at using his long legs to pepper his opponents from the outside, particularly with quick and powerful cutting leg kicks - that are arguably better then any other fighter's in the UFC lightweight division. Etim also displays outstanding footwork, very dangerous knees from inside the clinch, a precise jab, and fast accurate hands. Etim has a striking game that flows very well and he is very adept at stringing together combinations. To compliment those technical striking skills, Etim is also an intelligent fighter who has shown he has the ability to slowly pick apart opponents if the fight is kept standing (see bouts with Brian Cobb and Rich Clementi). Most effective when he's the aggressor, Etim has had trouble in the past when opponents have pressured him and been able to close the distance and get inside his range, but overall he features an extremely polished striking game. Etim also possesses a much underrated submission game, and as much talk is made about his standup abilities the vast majority of his wins have actually come via tapout. Quick on the ground, Etim shows good submission awareness, constantly transitioning from one attempt to another as well as showing excellent submission defense. At times Etim has had trouble finishing off his opponents when he has a submission locked in, and to that end will need to continue tightening up his technique. Although Etim is busy off his back looking for submissions, he hasn't displayed great sweeps or reversals, which coupled with the fact that he isn't the strongest wrestler in the division leaves him at risk against strong grapplers with good submission defenses - something that Gleison Tibau and Rich Clementi were able to capatilze on in his only two losses. Since then Etim has made strides in both his takedown defense and his wrestling, but will need to continue to do so as those appear to be the major areas of his game that could potentially prevent him from reaching the upper tier of lightweights in the world.