A lot of people argues that you should always take the shortest route from point A to B which is a straight line. Therefore, attacks involving swings and spins are almost guaranteed not-to-work.
The bottom line is that anything can work if used at the right time – one can’t defend what they cannot see or anticipate. In the old days, I have seen people being so technique oriented or driven that at a tournament, he keep doing spins after spins without landing any. I have also seen people who is so arrogant about their approach/theory that they got knocked out without even knowing what hit them.
There was a period when MMA was dominated totally by those that do ground fighting and therefore people think that the outcome of a fight between a standup fighter to a ground fighter is a foregone conclusion. It was indeed almost true for a period, but that was when nobody really understands the ‘ground game’. However, things evolved and you see a lot more standups now… you can even see techniques that was deemed impossible at one point in time actually working within the octagon.
Exercise
What am I trying to explain? Refer back to the 3 pillars.
Watch the video carefully, try to identify opportunities for spins (if you are the spinner) and try to read telegraphs before the spin (as the defending person).