Spyder BJJ Championship Qualifier 201 Event (Warning: Boring Gi Match Phobia/Criticism Ahead)

I spent 11 years in a Gi playing Judo. I've had 2 ACL/Meniscus surgeries as a result. A herniated disc and numb arm and nerve pain for months. More broken fingers and sprains and toes and wrists than I can count. Concussions. 5 MMA fights. I reffed JiuJitsu and submission grappling tournaments for the better part of 5 years. I've had a torn oblique, bruised hip bone and kidney. Broken ribs and torn cartilage. I love combat sports and I love grappling. High level guys will use the fact that they compete at a high level to dispel any unwanted criticism of their matches. JiuJitsu is a sport where that kinda doesn't hold water as a counter argument to criticism of boring ass superfights and matches. A lot of the people watching aren't just armchair critics. They actually train. Do I have to be a black belt in JiuJitsu to know that 50/50 sweep battles timed til the last 10 seconds are boring AF? Do I need to be a black belt to criticize a competitor stalling and routinely fleeing the boundary every time there's the remotest possibility of a takedown? Maybe. I kinda doubt it. It's laughable at best and disingenuous at worst to pretend that a lot of us spectators don't know what we're seeing when guys play the margins in an effort to avoid losing rather than trying to win. It's more laughable when guys demand spectator sport money but put on boring, tactical battles aimed at not losing rather than winning, hoping to scrape by on an advantage or ref decision. Be as technical as you want. Don't be surprised when you game the margins of the rules and lose on a bad call or a split decision. No complaints. No excuses. Call it what it is. If you're gonna compete and make it solely about pulling off the smallest possible margin of error, don't be surprised that no one's lining up to suck your &^%# or that some folks on social media aren't impressed. You do something in a public forum and get paid to compete in a spectator sport, criticism comes with that. You'll be okay, big tough, professional competitor. Your skin won't split open. You won't die. God forbid you realize maybe they're right, maybe your style is boring AF.

Moizinho submitted a Korean black belt you've never heard of.

Diniz beat some Korean black belt you've never heard of.

Calasans sucked Tinoco into 50/50 and when Tinoco got tired of doing nothing for 3 minutes got his back taken trying to get out of it.

Munis won off of a couple sweeps over the much smaller Jimenez.

Jones-Leary took no chances on top pretending to think about passing Moizinho who also took no chances trying to sweep and Jones-Leary won a ref decision.

Mendes lost a ref decision do to one near takedown in the match from Lutes in a standard both guys holding a lapel and sleeve spin and fade out to boundary then reset 20x match with a few random foot sweeps, knee touches, and little else.

Calasans vs Munis - both guys scored 2 points, Calasans got to an omoplata on the much larger purple belt, but Munis stood up and shook the tree and escapes, then jumped guard. Calasans spent the last 30 seconds in double unders on the much larger man. Munis locked up a no-arm triangle from bottom in an effort to eke out an advantage in the last 10 seconds as Calasans stacked him on his head.

Change this event to the "Oscars of JiuJitsu" for guys selling "attempts at things" as a way to win. What the *&^% am I watching? This one is even worse than the last one the young guy from Atos won by sweeping everyone and doing nothing the rest of each of his matches. Calasans got a ref decision but you could tell he was sweating tying his belt thinking "I prob just lost to this purple belt."

Spriggs beat Diniz after Diniz pulled a low half-guard then got flattened out/line of the shoulders and knee through passed. Diniz almost came up on a pant grip double leg but the ref stopped him midway there and ruled it a non-score.

Mendes vs Jones-Leary - Mendes got sucked into full-guard, then 50/50, then attempting to get out, got his back taken. He got to standing and fought the hands with Jones-Leary's body triangle locked and content to not give up the position by risking to finish. Somehow at this point it's all so boring I'm both unsurprised and not even mad because I've actually seen a couple transitions. It's like the end of a Serbian film when the henchmen are going to *&^% the bodies of the family after the murder-suicide but you're so desensitized it kind of makes sense in the alternate universe you've now become a part of by passively granting permission for your own degradation by participating/watching.

Munis vs Diniz - Diniz spends 4 minutes stuck in open-guard, mostly on both knees, curiously unable to pass from this supremely immobile and slow position. Munis sucks him into full guard with 3 ish minutes left. Munis cleverly baits Diniz into walking forward, feet not far apart at all and hits an ankle pick from seated. Haha, hilarity. Diniz feeds a lapel grip through the legs and tries to come up on a sit-up guard sweep, but loses it, they pause, Munis is kneeling, then he sits to guard and they incorrectly score it a sweep for Diniz so now it's tied again. Sigh. Diniz again on his knees, immobile, not even really pretending to try and double under or stack pass at this point, Munis locks up a triangle with 10 seconds left but not particularly deep, much akin to how the Calasans match ended. He's awarded an advantage and you can't feel that bad because Diniz decided to squander time on top in that atrocious fake double under position without much direction changing or attempts to stack. Play the margins, sometimes you fall off the edge, buddy.

Lutes vs Moizinho - Moizinho pulls because ain't no way on God's green earth he's trying to be standing with Lutes. Moizinho trying to pry a let out from bottom but Lutes literally splits his legs with hip grip and is looking to pass. Moizinho scores a sweep but is later turtled defending a back take/hooks from Lutes. Moizinho comes out on top but then gets swept from 50/50. Lutes gets the win.

Calasans vs Spriggs - Spoiler Alert: Not Much happens for 4+ minutes of the match. At over halfway in it's penalties apiece that are now turning into advantage points. Spriggs gets him moving with a cross-collar grip and series of snapdowns, that leads to back exposure and a backtake. Spriggs wins 4-2.