UFC Signs Kron Gracie - Debuts in January

Bellator + Rizn Cross Promotion: Caldwell vs Horiguchi - $&@% Yeah

Finishers Sub Only -125 lb Bracket Released

Show the Art/Finishers Sub Only 125 lb EBI Format This Saturday Dec. 1st, FREE ON YouTube 7pm EST

They turned down FloGrappling money/offers and fightpass to keep it free for anyone with access to WiFi. Can’t say much more than that. A lot of social media and folks claim they want to grow the sport and blah blah but these guys legitimately do believe that and show it with their actions and choices. I did their Open Tournament @ 145 and took a last minute spot when someone pulled out of the -155 Pro Event they held the following day. Great guys who love grappling, competition, and the sport as a whole and put a lot of time and energy into making a professional but accessible platform for competitors.

I’m expecting to see Sam Micale in the final. He’s beaten several of the competitors and is looking to avenge he some losses he has to other guys in the bracket. I’ve beaten two guys in the bracket, and having trained with Sam, I think it’s his event to win along with a few other experienced competitors.

I’ve got a Superfight at the event @ 145 lbs, EBI Format also.
Support Grass Roots JiuJitsu. Tune in Saturday evening 7pm on YouTube.

BJJ Scout's BJJ Digest # 90: Glad someone's doing a grappling weekly rundown

Between my multiple job + training and sometimes sleeping schedule I don't have the time to do it in a format as palatable as a youtube video:

Paulo Miyao Popped for Add’l 3 Month Penalty for Violating USADA Inelegiblity Ban

Guess they’re kinda saying they’ll enforce penalties.
He competed while serving his original two year ban (took them nearly a year to even confirm that one) and so they tacked on 3 more months of ineligibility time.

Throwback Adult Purple Belt Gi & NoGi Featherweight Submissions

Even back then, it was exceedingly rare that I won on points. If I won, I won by submission.

Double lapel choke from the back back when I still competed in the Gi:

These were my last 2 NoGi matches I did prior to moving to NYC:

BJJ Scout's BJJ Digest #89 - Roberto Jimenez, Viral Neck Man MMA Plans, White belt Armbars Thief....

A lot to unpack here.....

Slap, I mean Combat JiuJitsu in Florida This Weekend

Polaris 8 Announces Ross Nicholls vs Mansher Khera - Dec. 9th (Spoiler Alert - will look identical to the Gianni Match from Grapplefest 3)

This will look identical to the match Nicholls just had with Gianni where Gianni literally attempted ZERO submissions despite 20 minutes and plenty of time on top, in side control, et cetera.
 Khera goes for about that same rate of submissions on a good day....anyone recall his atrociously boring Quintet match?

Real talk: why do promotions sign up guys who for sub only matches knowing full well that said athletes have shown time and time again they will virtually never concede any position or even use dominant position to attempt a submission?

Some Recent Submission Wins of Mine @ Grappling Industries NYC & Boston

Awhile back I went 4-0 for the day at a Grappling Industries Advanced -145 in Boston, all submissions, about 10 mins of mat time total. Most recently I went 3-0 for the day at Grappling Industries in NYC at -145 with 2 submissions and a ref's decision. Sometime in the fall I did another Grappling Industries at -155 in NYC but picked up 2 wins on points and a walkover with a teammate (quite a frustrating run of a day of not getting any submission wins).
 

Grapplefest 3 Results: An Upset and Spoiler Alert

ADCC trials (not in 'Murica or Brazil) winner Nichols beat Gianni Grippo in a 20 min sub only match.
Nichols racked up some submission attempts to take the win while Gianni scored what would've been points. Alert the news media.

Grippo teammates Matheus Diniz put the pressure to Strauss and got to the back but did not finish and took the win. 

BJJ Scout - BJJ Digest - Combat JiuJitsu Fake News, Sambo Submissions et al

Where’s all the support for Women’s EBI 18?

I hear a lot of complaints about the lack of equal pay in JiuJitsu for women. I don’t see a lot of those same vocal female athletes who put on women’s training events and seminars giving up press and publicity for EBI featuring women that’s coming up soon. So is the women’s pay things a plug to induce support for your personal event that you stand to profit/benefit from? Is it just lip service to garner attention? Or do you actually care about supporting an event that is actually paying women athletes? People would rather complain than support part of an actual, legitimate, attempt at a solution which addresses the disparity. There’s a disproportionate number of athleisure, lifestyle, and fashion brands that purport to/support and (at least claim to) care about women athletes as part of their marketing campaign. There’s deep pockets in the fashion industry and sporting goods, just walk into a LuLu Lemon store and look at the prices. I’m not buying the whole complain complain complain standard of equal pay while not actually supporting events or recurring efforts to actually invest money into the sport and athletes.

Ricky Palacios Missed Weight Twice for Tito/Chuck 3 Golden Boy Card

Everyone give this guys a round of applause. God knows what the guy was weighing two weeks out from the fight. 

Sergio Hernandez vs Bill "The Grill" Cooper Dec. 15th

Awesome flyer and always glad to see Sergio’s unique style showcased 

Combat JiuJitsu: Gordon Ryan, Fabricio Werdum, Josh Barnett & Vinny Magalhaes(?)

Eddie Bravo posted it but Vinny’a #questionablehistoryfordays manager says fake news

Satoshi Ishii to Compete @ IBJJF NoGi Worlds/Black Belt

Kayla Harrison’s Next Opponent Set for Dec. 31st PFL

MMA Blowout Bonanza Weekend: Nov 30-Dec 1st

This weekend we get a forgettable UFC China card, buuuuuuuut wait, there's more....next weekend we get:

Friday
UFC TUF Finale: RDAnjos vs Usman, 2 TUF finale fights, Benavidez vs Perez, and Caraway vs someone
Bellator 210: NJokuani vs Salter & Rickels vs Vasconcelos
LFA: Johns vs Yanez

Saturday
KSW: Khalidov vs Narkun
Bellator 211: Sakara vs Kauppinen
UFC Fight Night 142: Dos Santos vs Tuivasa, Mark Hunt vs someone, Yushin Okami, Wilson Reis, Nakamura, and Hirota

Wow. We used to get maybe one UFC PPV a month....back in my day.....what a time to be a fan

Agazarm pulls a Danis & Signs to Bellator

We’ll see if he takes a year to fight...

Gordon Ryan vs Werdum - Combat JiuJitsu

Wow. Jumping right into the deep end of the pool for his first Combat JiuJitsu effort.

Lovato Jr. VS Hinger - Dec. 1st

UFC Argentina: Magny vs Ponzinibbio

Woke up at 630am to weigh-in at Grappling Industries in lower Manhattan so I could then head uptown to CCNY to coach at the IBJJF NY Open, then was back at Grappling Industries by 130ish PM to coach and compete in the Advanced Adult -145. I won my division with 2 submissions (inverted triangle & heel hook) and a ref's decision: was deep on leg attack & handfighting, but due to poor time management, and forgetting their format is 5 minutes, I wasn't expeditious enough on getting to the finish.

Was a struggle to get up and get going afterward to watch the fights down in Argentina.
Calvillo missed weight then did a sob story about family and how important this was for her (but was lounging on a beach just recently instead of cutting weight according to social medai *ahem*). She got a submission win which is what you have to do to sorta break even after missing weight by 3 lbs over the weight class.
Lamas looked sharp in his fight with Elkins, Elkins looked a bit unable to get to the bodylock and cage (places where he did have success when he got there). Lamas' Octagon awareness did him in good stead here, and got him the win and an eventual stoppage after some heavy knees and shots had opened up the perennial bleeder Elkins. I would love to see Elkins get a title shot before he retires, but many a great man has been unable to fight for the belt in this division, and with the current holding pattern, who knows?
Heinisch did well in his debut. Was willing to take chances, throw up submissions, work, and land heavy elbows and other shots against Mutante. Tough fight but Heinisch looked largely unmarked after the fight.
Canetti took some heavy shots but the ole' block the knees from the Thai clinch with the forearms did not work, and was later finished after a torrid Tazmanian devil pace in the first round. Dunno how this 40 year old ish dude fights at this pace when other fighters do less in 3 rounds than he does in 1.
Johnny Walker absolutely starched his opponent Rountree, who himself, was just coming off of a starching of OG world class level kickboxer Saki. Those be the wages of fisticuffs, elbows, kicks, and knees man. Big dudes throwing heavy strikes and someone falls down. All in all, a solid card for a Saturday night and non-PPV. There's a lot of cards left to fill out -2 months of UFC programming in 2018. What a year it's been already though.

Calvillo Misses Weight for UFC Argentina

BJJ Scout's BJJ Digest #85 - Barber Wants Dern, Ryan Wants Werdum, Royce and Son have story time with Ariel

Werdum vs Hulk was an abomination (see the comic book reference?)

Dern I don't think ever fights for the belt. She's too busy looking like she's walking around at my walking weight to fight and make weight again or challenge for a belt down the road.

I'm doing Advanced Adult division this weekend @ Grappling Industries. Anyone in NYC who's there, hit me up. Busy weekend with a Naga and the NY Open & Grappling Industries all in the same weekend and a UFC with Magny vs Ponzinibbio down south of the border et cetera. Darren Elkins returns to action, and Bellator brings a card to us tomorrow night. What a time to be a combat sports fan...

Kasai 4 Results & Reflections

Arrived in time for the first undercard bout. The undercard in general were mostly tight matches decided by a sweep or a guard pass, with a number of submissions occurring. It's always interesting to see guys doing superfight who don't even bother to compete in any of the local/nyc area open events. It typically shows in their performance as a number of the guys wouldn't even win the Grappling Industries Manhattan bracket for their belt/experience. But, I digress. Tony Bergamo and Silvio Duran had a spirited affair with some bottom guard retention resembling kicks to the chest and face, and some rough collar ties and chest thumping, complete with celebrating winning by a sweep that was escaping a back take, and acting like it was winning the Worlds or something. Anyhow, Junny and Rey had a rematch or a third match or whatever, much like their Finishers match, Junny dominated positionally and racked up points, but with no overtime in place as at Finishers Sub Only, picked up a win whereas in the OT at Finishers he lost via RNC with Rey on his back. Rey is apparently opening up 10th planet NYC in early 2019. News came shortly before the main card began that due to NYSAC blood test stipulations, Gordon Ryan's match with Matheus Diniz was off (go see his Igram post about it for a succinct explanation, I don't want anyone to say I misquoted him or misrepresented what happened because there's enough internet trolls misrepresenting what happened already). Kasai did announce an event in Dallas featuring Gordon Ryan vs Joao Rocha for February which is exciting news, as well as 2 more add'l events (a qualifier - though they did quietly cancel the last qualifier the week of, and they announced an Open EGC event). TBH, I started planning to leave early once I saw that Gordon's superfight was cancelled. The bracket played out largely how I expected with Paulo and Gianni and Augusto scoring points and safely winning bracket matches to head toward the final. Augusto came out for his match with Gianni with a limp, tried to shoot a well-timed takedown, but no points, and Gianni attacked some wrist locks from closed guard in an effort to eke out some submission attempt points, but by and large, the Grand Prix matches while tightly contested at points basically resembled NoGi Worlds matches with little in the way of leg lock or submission attempts and mainly passing efforts by more experienced black belts. Crelinsten picked up a win via submission attempt points over Kim Terra, Bruno Frazatto hurt his knee in his first match with Geo Martinez (I couldn't see by the angle if it was a leg entanglement, or as a result of a toe hold attack by Geo). Honest opinion, Geo took some bad calls (1 definite, another more questionable) at this event. Overall, like the 155 Grand Prix, there were no submissions this time around (the 155 had one submission when Celso Vinicius guillotined Enrico Coco).

I left before the Canuto vs Vagner match because if I'd waited around and had to take the express train home after watching Canuto backpedal and slap, and shuck and jive for nearly 6 minutes like last time they had a match, I would've been pissed. So I headed home after the conclusion of the grand prix matches. Lutes beat an outmatched opponent with a north-south choke.
Glad I was there to support east coast pro grappling/jiujitsu/whatever/this format, and the Hammerstein Ballroom is a legit venue for an event. I remember before the IBJJF events were even held every month, so to be in NYC at a venue like Hammerstein Ballroom, with UFC's on every weekend almost, and with Pro events held under a variety of rule sets now, it's pretty cool that this is the norm now for being a fan of grappling.

The myth of being respectful in BJJ

A lot of old school guys with businesses, and affiliations, and reputations to protect seemed concerned about all this trash talk in JiuJitsu. This is the sport where we literally aim to strangle or cripple our opponents if necessary. It’s also a sport that proved its efficacy by fighting it out with other styles that all those previous behind the Wizard of Oz curtains and claims of being too deadly and all that silliness was just smoke and mirrors. Helio brought a coffin to the match with Kimura. Count Koma proved grappling was great and that his knowledge AND application was superior wherever he went by throwing down from city to city. There’s a soft period in JiuJitsu these days with guys who haven’t fought opening up schools, guys who rarely if ever roll with their students, and random McDojo esque grappling schools far and wide. Guys who want to cry foul because someone else is out there laying claim to being he greatest and trying to back it up. If you doubt what someone like Gordon says, challenge him. If you just want to have an opinion congrats, the sport is grappling not "I don’t like what you’re saying." Helio had to prove it out there under the lights and anyone today who says talking trash or laying down the gauntlet isn’t at the heart of BJJ should pick up a history book. 

Schedule Set for Kasai 4 Tomorrow

Hannette Staack talks brass tacks for Female BJJ Athletes (and thoughts on guys demanding pro athlete pay)

Real talk. A number of events have been and are paying male/female athletes equally and really though, this is bigger than gender: JiuJitsu athletes want to be paid like pro athletes but there’s almost nothing professional about them other than hours on the mat. The Spyder Invitational? Guys getting paid for literally two matches and coasting in one of the matches at that. Lemme score a sweep and stall with a minute left. Lemme tie this guy up in lapels and win on an advantage. And expect people will want to see it? Spare me.
ACB was a canary in the coal mine. The boring ass Gi matches and 50/50 stall fests literally shuttered an event paging dozens of guys who’d hardly been ever paid by the IBJJF until the semi new Pro events. Dudes cry about the IBJJF and show up and put on boring AF Superfights more boring than two blue belts I coach on Thursday night. Spectator sport? Paid like a pro sport? Who are you kidding?

I tried watching the event and was literally bored and tired of the quality of the stream prior to even making it to the superfight where Werdum and Hulk both said the usual "I'm coming to finish him" and "it's going to be a war." Man, if I had a scoop of BCAA's for every time a guy said that then put on a *&^%ing snoozefest of a match, I'd be a lot less sore, that's for sure.

Masakazu Imanari vs Nicky Ryan @ Polaris 8

Kasai FW Grand Prix Brackets Set (and a last minute replacement)

It’s going down in NYC Saturday night at the Hammerstein. I’ve been to each of the Kasai events thus far and this one looks amazing.
Calestine has withdrawn and Frank Rosenthal will step into his spot. 

Polaris 8 Announces Benson Henderson vs Vagner Rocha

Actually pretty interested for this one, because against AJ, Henderson showed an ability to really roughhouse to prove a point when he felt like it, and dirty Vagner’s tactics will probably backfire. Benson is far more dynamic o his feet and will change levels and blast Rocha off the stage rather than let Vagner abuse him with borderline slaps and rough collar ties and finger joint manipulations. I think Vagner’s plodding hand-heavy work on the feet is no match for Benson’s dynamic wrestling. Nor will Benson get out of his game because Vagner tries to psych him out with his tactics. 

Charles Oliveira to Rematch Jim Miller: Dec. 15th

Oliveira, the most submitting-est fighter in UFC history will get a chance to sub the first guy to tap him in MMA. Miller himself had a ton of legit submission wins over JiuJitsu black belts inside the cage. Below is Oliveira’s record. Wildness.

Miesha Tate Joins OneFC

We can only hope she’ll also do color commentary...I kid, I kid. I had to mute Quintet roughly a couple minutes into the opening match as Miesha had already hit quite a few cringe worthy high notes.

Subjected Myself to the Spyder Invitational Finals (So You Don't Have to)

Read online that Hulk and Werdum basically didn't do any mat work but that the Gi matches made up for it. Given the honesty finally being displayed in critiquing guys getting paid to put on "superfights" that are less eventful than watching blue belt deathmatches in the gym at an open mat, I was hopeful the Gi matches would deliver.....spoiler alert: it was less exciting than Worlds matches at black belt.

Miyao took a ref decision win over Jang who basically did less passing movement than Miyao did various lapel and feet/hook grips rocking him off balance. Alves in typical tongue half out and both feet tape cast wrapped nearly halfway got a submission win (armbar) over Iwasaki despite Iwasaki actually trying to pass and Alves never really putting him in danger of being swept. Iwasaki was up by an advantage with 30 seconds left and got lazy in an omoplata position he'd been in at previous points in the match, and Alves pounced and got the tap. Alves took out Miyao with a sweep, his only real points scored of the event.
I guess that's the sport in the Gi these days. Exciting, thrilling, sexy, beast mode stuff, I know.

Hugo scored a sweep, then a guard pass, then mount then additional points finishing at 16-0 against DJ Jackson for a dominating win.
Ferreira vs Duarte - Duarte scored a sweep, got to his feet, pulled guard....then stalled to ride out the 2 points....because I guess fighting for 7 full minutes then 7 more minutes in the final sounded like a lot of work.

Cho vs Shane - Shane locked his hands in a scramble, stepped around behind then hip heisted him up and put him down flat on his back. Cho hits a big bridge and almost gets kimura-triangled/back problems, but gets to closed guard with Shane still on the attack. Shane would go onto to rack up double digit points before taking the win. At this point I couldn't tolerate the laggy, jpeg level quality of the flograppling broadcast so I stopped watching.

Boo Bird Alert: Ben Askren Debut Against Robbie Lawler in January

So....Lawler gets the ole Askren "death by takedown then one thousand paper cuts" that is Askren’s style. Interested to see if a marginally more ground savvy MMA crowd will appreciate Askren’s *ahem* dominance in the form of smothering guys with mat returns and short punches now that they’ve grown accustomed to the level of savagery that is Khabib. 

Kasai 4 FW Bracket Update: Kim Terra replaces Ashley Williams

Eubanks wants a pass on second weight cut fail

Le sigh. Is it sexist if I call her out for missing weight the same I would as a man or is it sexist to hold her to the same standard as I would a male athlete? Confusing times we live in. Yay 2018.

ADCC East Coast Trials - Reflections

Had a blast competing and watching the East Coast ADCC Trials yesterday. Saw a bunch of notables and some not so well known put on some serious displays. The ruleset really provides some different variables to influence the outcome of the matches. The refereeing was diligent, consistent, and fair. I was shocked at the lack of the usual buffoonery I see at local and even IBJJF level events I've come to just accept as the price of playing the game. The referees stayed on task, no staring off into space or fixing their balls' location in their pants or the usual half or full assed-ness I have to ignore every time I go compete or coach. The rules meeting was concise, positions and scoring were clearly defined, and the reality was the event ran non-stop once it began. Scales closed about 15 minutes before the first match, and the biggest issue is with only 3 mats there were serious wait times between rounds of each bracket but it's an all day affair and that's just part of the mental battle for all the athletes.

I opted to play conservative during the first 3 minutes with no points, and my opponent let me come to top just as points came into play and I immediately went heavy on a pass attempt with some backsteps and hips floating, but he laced a leg and rather than commit to taking the back or splitting his feet to escape as he attacked an outside heel hook, I paused and committed to neither and was forced to tap. He would go on to lose to Keith Krikorian in the next round.

Some odds and ends throughout the day of guys I know and/or train with/have trained with in the past year or two: Jason Rau submitted each of his opponents until the finals where Satava scored a takedown then did the Cobrinha avoid any points or engagements to run down the clock now that he was up on points. Ethan Crelinstein laced the leg of the Ruotolo twin and locked in a tight kneebar which his youthful legs stretchy-ness wasn't enough to ride it out. Jon Calestine submitted his opponents up through the quarterfinal where he lost a ref's decision as his opponent utilized a disengage and reset plan to ride out the points portion with a few takedown attempts. ADCC's ruleset is tough where any smart player can ride out the initial points-less phase, then score or continue on to overtime and look to win a ref's decision knowing the opponent can't pull guard without getting penalized. It forces some interesting dynamics as the day wears on.

Initially I thought I'd hate training for the ADCC ruleset, but honestly, the gamesmanship and mid-match decision-making with the overtime scoring and penalties, reminds me a lot of when I competed in Judo and frankly, it's a lot more stress-inducing than the lackadaisical  approach to points scoring and winning we often adopt in IBJJF or sub only grappling. Kasai is next weekend with it's insane Featherweight Grand Prix. Doing the NYC Grappling Industries on the 17th, headed to Boston for Grappling Industries start of December, then possibly doing the NoGi Worlds if I can swing the cost of the trip. 

Eubanks missed weight (again)