BJJ Scout's BJJ Digest: A Hero Asnwers Ryan Hall's Call, Burns vs Maia, SUG Tag Team...

BJJ Scout's BJJ Digest: Urijah Faber Starting Grappling Team Event, Craig Jones Supergroup, Mousasi Still Takin' Shots at Lovato

Mmmm. Craig Jones' squad looking like: Jake Shields, Nick Rodriguez, Lachlan Giles, and Edwin Najmi. That's a hard group to best across the weight classes, though what is the weight combined total allowed for the event? Will be interesting to see this come to fruition.

Kasai Super Series Card & Predictions: Rocha vs Leon, Craig Jones vs ***, et al

Predictions are as follows:

Leon won't mind being on bottom, as Canuto slight of hand to try and get Leon out of position on the feet. I expect Leon to sit to guard rather than take a chance on Canuto faking him out of position and scoring two points. Leon looked very good against Najmi if not a bit lackadaisical at the outset as he adjusted, but turned it up later in the match. This probably won't fly against the aggressive style and constant reset and untie and back away and come back then fake out then run around style of Canuto in NoGi. It's frustrating watching Canuto who has all the movement in the world but when threatened will endlessly disengage in NoGi matches in particular or on the feet (see matches with Vagner & Eddie Cummings amongst others).

This is a hard one to call, I could forsee some negative points pulled out, and Leon winning on penalty points or Canuto getting to Leon's back in transition if Leon plays open guard NoGi lazily at the outset of the match like he did against Najmi.


 Celso vs Vagner  -  endless head fakes and reaches and non commital  collar ties plus aggressive shoving and chops with the forearm from Vagner because disregard those training videos in his actuall matches he don't doesn't actually wrestle: rather he will harass your head and neck and shove and chop and collar tie until you take a bad shot or sit to guard (don't believe me? Watch his entire ADCC run and superfights in the past year). Vagner submitting Leon or even getting him down, and Vinicius is a capable wrestler + been around for ages. I expect a lot of handfighting and collar ties with Celso doing the actual work on the feet trying to take Vagner down and Vagner being on the back foot.

Craig has a win of ***. I guess for obvious reasons, this match couldn't be made at whatever NYC event due to some lingering questions in NYC for ***. Tex will pull and Craig won't necessarily be an idiot and play leg spaghetti. *** struggled to tap Demente in NoGi, which suggests that if Craig plays smart at all on top, *** doesn't have enough bullets in his leg lock submission game to catch Craig. I could see *** looking for that RNC grip ankle lock and actually getting his back taken, but more likely, Craig will stay on top, be smart, and eventually pass.

Khera will wrestle*&^% Cocco to death, probably score a takedown, or endlessly back and forth side to side try to pass and smash, winning on a guard pass or ref decision. Khera did Quintet which is sub only and literally attempted zero submissions so you already know what this match is gonna look like.

Lutes vs Araujo for the tree trunk specimen grapple match of the evening. I see Valdir actually having the size and strength to not get manhandled by Lutes, and perhaps even Lutes creating a scramble and scoring a sweep.

Boogeyman vs Tibau. Tibau looked flat in the sub grappling superfight I saw awhile back so my pick is Boogeyman by submission.

"Main Card

Dante Leon vs Renato Canuto 170lb

Celso Venicius vs Vagner Rocha 170lb

Tex Johnson vs Craig Jones 205lb

Mayssa Bastos vs Talita Alencar 115lb

Jorge "Macacao" Patino vs Gesias "JZ" Cavalcante 170lb

Mansher Khera vs Enrico Cocco 170lb

Richie Martinez vs Gleison Tibau 180lb

Matheus Lutes vs Valdir Araujo 175lb

Tony Way vs John Lineker 155lb"

BJJ Scout's BJJ Digest: Polaris 10 Results & Recap

Polaris 10 Review: Urijah Seeks to Survive/Nicky Retains Title, Boogeyman Lives by the Sword, Craig Jones Wrestles et al

Missed the prelims by and large, was training, as I'm back doing select positional rounds in the Gi, it's been 3 months and a week since ACL surgery. I'm glad I've been thru this perilous phase before to know how to navigate training what I can but making sure to avoid re-injury.

At any rate, some thoughts: Boogeyman is a guy who either submits or gets submitted. I can always respect that about him. He showed that perhaps Miha's success on the European stage is predictably not an indicator of success against the top tier of talent and experience. A learning experience with some takeaways: holding onto the Kimura while your back is being taken by a guy as lengthy in frame as Boogeyman and tripod'ing up while your back is taken/body triangle was ill-advised. Thank God he was on the card b/c he and Uno were the only 2 submissions on the main card.

Uno picked up a deserved win over a guy his age. Remedios hung onto the lockdown to stall passing attempts, but left his left arm extended for periods of time and predictably, got reverse armbarred by the experienced Uno.

Lutes tried the Diniz both knees down, hand fight and throat post to stop most of Jones's attempts to invert and utilize his Z-guard, Jones also did a fair amount of wrestling in an effort I suspect to prepare for ADCC. For all his joking and nonchalant attitude, Jones is a sharp guy, as evidenced by his willingness to wrestle and pass in the time that's elapses since his last ADCC. Jones won based on activity, and Lutes being stymied with any real passing attemtps.

Rodriguez beat the brown/black belt Ash after some snapdowns and him remaining turtled as Rodriguez worked to take his back. The RNC came not long after the back was taken with Ash not controlling the meat of the hand and opting to try and pull down on the wrist. Blah.

Faber came to squat on both knees, and disengage when Nicky would look to post on the shoulder to expose his base. Faber for his part just cuffed with the forearm, posted on the throat, and did a lot of shoving but really didn't come close to doing anything resembling a pass attempt or a submission attempt for the entire duration of the match. He tried to roughhouse which comes off looking silly AF. I think the hardest job is a commentator trying to call it anything other than what it is, but when you book a non sport grappler to face a dangerous submission grappler, the guy is gonna get waxed or he's gonna do everything to avoid any prolonged grappling exchanges. Nicky had a deep leg entanglement on the border of the mat, and in the reset, Faber extricated enough of his knee to survive, disengage, and reset.

Ashley Williams got another gift decision (he lost to Imanari, f*ck what anyone else says, go back and watch the match, Imanari dominated with submission attempts) over Ethan Crelinsten. Ash picked up a period out of the 3, but no way he won 2 of the 3. For coming off of a long layoff, he kept pace for much of the match with Ethan, but having trained with Ethan a bunch, I can tell you Ethan sets a very, very, very constant pace which is hard for most guys to match for a 15 minute match. At any rate, it's good to see a lighter competitor back on the stage doing well, despite my misgivings bout the gifting of a decision to him for the 2nd time at this promotion.

BJJ Scout's BJJ Digest: Vieira MMA, Teams want Keenan to commit (shocker), et al

Worlds body for Keenan coming in hot.
Rodolfo competing far away in MMA against a jacked looking guy.
Keenan says overlords at gyms want Keenan to wear their patch if he prepares for Worlds there (disgusting, right? hahaha shocker).
Polaris books Craig Jones vs Matheus Lutes. Nicky Ryan vs Faber still on tap for May 25th Polaris.

High Marks for Kasai Pro 5: Finishes, Surprises, Penalties, & Upsets - Duarte Wins, Jones 3rd Redux, Tap-Gate Controversy....

Grand Prix thoughts:
Craig Jones picked up a 3rd place finish again after a DLR of his leading with the height of the knee control being inadequate leading to a backtake by Duarte then an RNC shortly thereafter.
Duarte's run to the top involved points wins over Blank, Marinho, RNC of Craig Jones (discussed below), then a sweep against Tex followed, a half-hearted toe hold attempt awarded a point, stalling and resetting to ride out the remaining 6 minutes, then a guard pass right at the end.

Tex Johnson must've ignored 5 clear slapping taps by Pena to go belly down on a 50/50 heel hook that may have seriously injured Pena. Pena for his part did not take Tex's leg entanglements seriously and was on his butt not really addressing the position, perhaps assuming he was safe and looking to come up and sweep with about a minute left as he did in 2 previous matches. Pena violently rolled one way, hit the wall, then rolled back the wrong way as Johnson went belly down with a hard bridge into the side of the knee facilitated by the 50/50. Pena for his part didn't C grip at the knee, wedge a foot inside, nor flee in the manner Magalhaes did against Gordon at ACB and paid the price.

Pena did not seem overly enthused in his walk out and I guess now regrets the paycheck he took to take an "L."

Jon Blank, tho' largely undersized for the event picked up a submission win as he oft does coming out of an invert into an armpit/elbow grip armbar. Otherwise,

Valdir Araujo, tho' taking his spot on extremely late notice lost to Pena by only one point in a tightly contested match, and showed a willingness to scramble that will hopefully have him invited back to other Pro events. A guy willing to make transitions rather than coast is always welcome. Duarte and Pena in their wins seemed content to score, then coast. Duarte coasted through his match with Marinho despite facing a purple belt and scoring 2 points early. Marinho stalled out Craig Jones with some hand clapping, Samba style footwork and circling for the better part of 6 minutes.


==== Overal thoughts and reflections:
A solid night of action both on the prelims, main card, & superfights:
I've been exceedingly critical of the reffing at this event, and it was clear based on the refs looking to one another in the awarding of points that the real person deciding the points has been made clear behind the scenes to tighten up the shenanigans in scoring that has occurred at previous events. Whatever, however it gets done, I'm just glad they myriad of scoring inconsistencies have been tightened up at an event with this many people watching in person and at home.
All in all, the reffing was much tighter with only a couple clear mistakes made pending where the ref was standing and perhaps missing a deep kneebar that could've been scored, and a point that could've been awarded to Araujo in his match with Pena.

Jackson had a toe/nail that was bleeding and the TWO doctors matside did not have athletic tape. This led to several stoppages for re-taping in his matches following that point. It's a building full of grapplers, and downstairs in the staging area there had to be enough athletic tape to make a mummy....but anyway.

Leon vs Najmi showed Leon cautious at first to avoid any of the high flying scramble inducing submissions Najmi is known for, then a backtake to a very quick RNC.

Referees thankfully were much quicker to award some penalties this event and the chorus of boos typically heard at Kasai from guys circling and resetting and playing the boundary was prominently less noticeable.

Tinoco scored 2 takedowns in 10 minutes against Romulo, would then not attempt to move forward (which was obv the gameplan) and Romulo frustratingly did not shoot once despite some attempts to body lock and handfight and wrist control. Tinoco started crying I guess due to this extremely high work rate of a win in a 10 minute match marred by basically no other grappling other than pommeling for underhooks and over/under body lock by Romulo which both times led to an ouchigari takedown by Tinoco. I guess it I hadn't played Judo for as long as I have 2 takedowns in 10 minutes would strike me as more impressive.

The undercard produced a good number of finishes even in the purple belt matches. Rey Leon picked up a win with 4 takedowns, showcasing a part of his game unseen in many other matches.

Vilas vs Ferreira in a superfight showed the real meaning of golden score as Vilas scored a kneebar attempt point, then Ferreira looked to escape and score points, but it's "Golden score".....not overtime period man.

Athos Mirando did the usual flailing around side to side, occasional double knee slide and backstep/flop attempts to avoid actually stepping into pass for virtually his entire match with LeClerc and picked up a takedown in golden score to get the win.

Bastos rather quickly swept, passed, got the back, set the body triangle, then worked for the RNC against Fiona Watson.

Stanley Rose showcased solid leg entanglement transitions to pick up a narrow win with a late in the game submission attempt kneebar that got him the win. 

Kasai LHW Grand Prix Pools Announced

Money talks. Guys like Pena, Jones, Sousa, Duarte, Tinoco, and others all on the same card. Thank God for patrons of JiuJitsu bankrolling these events so we have choices other than just IBJJF format..

BJJ Scout's BJJ Digest: Tonon quick Turnaround and Cell Phone Conspiracy, Pena and Romulo visit Renzo NYC, Kasai Card et al

For those who haven't heard, Rustam is out (Thank God, would've led to some points-less matches/draws to be sure....

Feb 23rd/24th - 3 Pro Grappling Events: Finishers Sub Only, GrappleFest 4, & BJJ Stars

This coming Saturday there's a plethora of grappling options (what a time to be a grappling fan):

Saturday, February 23rd
BJJ Stars, Sao Paulo on BJJStars.TV
Erberth vs Preguica
Meregali vs Lo
Buchecha vs Rocha
Bahiense vs DJ Jackson
Gaudio vs Spriggs
Celso Vinicius vs Palito
Basilio vs Nicolini

Saturday, February 23rd
GrappleFest 4 will be streaming on FloGrappling for those of you who care enough to support the growth of the sport by actually paying for a streaming service. If you're one of those guys tagging all your posts "JiuJitsu lifestyle" but don't even bother signing up to pay $10 or $20 a month to make events possible, then re-evaluate "how much JiuJitsu changed your life" and "saved your life" blah blah blah. You'll pay $3.00 for coffee at Starbucks but won't sign up to pay for events to be made possible each month:
"Main Event: Craig Jones (Absolute MMA) v Gabriel Arges (Gracie Barra)

Co-main event: Lachlan Giles (Absolute MMA) v Bradley Hill (GB) u80kgs
Ffion Davies (ECJJ) v Christine Martin (GB) u65kgs"

Sunday, February 24th
Finishers Sub Only EBI format event: 
I was scheduled to compete but as I'm recovering from ACL/meniscus surgery, that's a no go. The day before, on Saturday, they host an Open tournament for the submission grapplers wanting to do EBI format, which is great for the sport. The pro bracket on Sunday racket features Keith Krikorian, Frank Rosenthal, and JM Holland amongst others. It also features a number of superfights, It will stream live and free on YouTube. I was super excited to compete EBI format again. I've beaten 3 of the guys in the bracket previously, but alas, the life of competing is marred by injury at times.

2018 - The Year of Not so Super Superfights in Submission Grappling

Well, the results are in...and we've got some repeat offenders. Don't even get me started on some of those ACB matches in the Gi, or some Worlds matches. If you disagree, come hit me up over on my Instagram @zegrapplez

Frank Mir vs Satoshi Ishii  - Ishii unable to pass despite having the physicality to outclass Frank Mir. Would rather pour bleach in my eyes than watch again.

Frank Mir vs Forrest Griffin - Griffin was visibly frustrated as Frank Mir made it a non-match. Frank Mir showing up to collect a paycheck.

Craig Jones vs Palhares - Rolles was even pissed as I was at the event and saw him speaking to Palhares moments after. Palhares literally refused to engage in any capacity...and the dude is supposed to be one of the most fearsome leg lockers out there.

Cyborg vs Ryan* Not a superfight but had to make it on the list
- a terrible look for the decade plus black belt who initially said he exaggerated collar ties, then backtracked and said Ryan deserved it et cetera

Satoshi Ishii vs Dan Strauss (Strauss is a previous offender for that match with Jake Shields)
For being much bigger, coming from a more competitive background, Ishii basically can't pass guard. See also the match with Frank Mir.

Canuto vs Eddie Cummings - Canuto burns nearly 9 minutes off the clock with only 2 actual extended periods of touching Eddie in the first 10 minutes total. Loses on a penalty or because they awarded Eddie for actually attempting a submission whilst they were touching. I can't exactly recall.

Vagner vs Akbari - literally the last minute Vagner pulls a technical sit but otherwise I think Vagner shoots once in 9 minutes, but Akbari for his part also barely shoots for almost 9 minutes.

Vagner vs Lutes - circle, aggressive collar tie, circle, post on the head, shove the chest. Repeat.

Vagner vs Canuto - minutes and minutes of Vagner borderline fouling and Canuto circling and breakdancing and hip faking. Both guys will say things like "make my opponent uncomfortable" and "bring the pressure" and "come forward always" in the lead up to the match. I guess, bro.

Werdum vs Barbosa - let's stand up and collar tie and pretend to handfight for 10 minutes. This match was pretty obviously a work.

Honorable Mention *
Diniz vs Strauss but Diniz at least got to the back
Mansher Khera vs Lachlan Giles 

Quintet 3 Team Orders & Brackets Announced

This is basically Avengers Infinity War of Submission Grappling. I'm hard pressed to think of an event of any format with this varied a legion of competitors.
Yo. Can't. Wait.

Quintet 3 - 10/5: Team Line-Ups Finalized

BJJ Digest 22-23 - BJJ Scout

Kasai 2 Results & Recap

Canuto did his best stall job for the first 10 minutes. The above is basically about 8 1/2 minutes of the 10 minutes submission only. There was much (I'm not exaggerating) him clapping his hands in Eddie's face, some occasional foot stomps but mainly a lot of walking around and an occasional cartwheel pass. The match might as well have just been 5 minutes of points b/c Canuto made no illusion in the 10 minutes sub only portion he wanted to engage. The crowd grew restless at points with Boos and cat calls and smart remarks. Eddie got deep on a couple leg lock entries (one in the first 10 minutes and one in the 5 min points or sub overtime) with Canuto also being penalized for refusing to engage and circling Eddie as though he thought you can improve position without making physical contact with your opponent for more than a few seconds at a time. For his part, I guess he had some semi deep passing attempts later in the match with Eddie inverting to retain guard, but not at a point was Eddie inverted completely or were his hips and lower back very far off the mat that could've results in a legitimate passing attempt. A frustrating performance to see (though not the likes of Chantre and his run job awhile back). At any rate, it's interesting to see the dynamic of guys negotiating a 10 min sub only period but then literally wasting upwards of 9 minutes of it. I guess it's saving face to face Eddie of sorts instead of avoiding him, but ultimately, when the vast majority of the round looks like the Wonderboy vs Woodley fight with them looking at one another, I'm just confused as to what I'm supposed to think or say after a match like that. Do we call it tactical? Do we blame the athlete? As a spectator and as a promoter, do you penalize athletes who show up to do a match and do very little to even physically engage? I don't know honestly. 

Rosenthal taking the win with an inverted heel hook against Maslany of 10th Planet. There was some jockeying for position with Maslany mainly on his knees and driving a knee in the middle to prevent butterfly hooks and being elevated but on the second clear leg lock entry, Rosenthal kept him trapped, got belly down on the heel hook with the feet trapped, hand fought/pommeled and secured the heel for a precise finish. 

Nicky Ryan fended off some rolling/diving kimura attempts to pull out a decision win. Geo seemed intent to tie up Nicky's legs late in the match and drain time, but a late deep back triangle while fighting the hands as time ran out seemed to sway the judges to Nicky's favor who walked away with a decision win. At times both Nicky and Geo played top and both looked to pass, Nicky looking to standing pass and Geo opting to pass low and on the knees. It's a question of Geo throwing out some rolling/diving kimuras versus a clearly deep/locked position at the end of the match, and a lot of positional changes and reverses with both guys looking to pass throughout. I'm sure both sides of the fence think what they think about the decision.

The grand prix played out with Craig Jones hitting several finishes (after hitting several at Quintet this week in Japan), and Matheus Diniz even getting a submission on his side of the bracket. Boogeyman hit an omoplata/gogoplata to armbar finish against Mota, Dante Leon got heel hooked by Mike Perez, and Calvanese got RNC'd by Leon, amongst other action. This bracket definitely had it's fair of submissions (as opposed to the lightweight bracket they did previously). It was an interesting contrast of styles overall. Craig Jones missed out on the final due to some questionable reffing (also sadly reminiscent of some moments at the first Kasai event) but overall picked up more highlight reel finishes and even a huge hip toss on Dante Leon. Probably leaving a few details out but it was by far the biggest name pro event of the year thus far in Jiu-Jitsu/submission grappling with even AJ Agazarm somehow picking up a submission (hell has really frozen over, I know). TBH, I left before the finals of the grand prix as I figured Diniz would grind out some positional points or passing over Perez and take the top spot. Interested to see if they match him up against Jones as Jones has the Polaris MW belt and as to what the format will be. Diniz did a good bit of hips super far back, head low, diving and hips wildly jumping to pass (worked against Boogeyman's omoplata set-up, and Diniz will prove almost impossible to takedown. Anyhow, it looks like Kasai's next event will be a 170 lb grand prix and hopefully Craig Jones will face off against Diniz in a middleweight belt/title showdown. 

A great night of Jiu-Jitsu to see in person, and proof that we're really in a golden age of seeing grappling events throughout the year. 

Kasai 2 Middleweight Grand Prix Groups Set:

Not quite accurate.

DJ Jackson says he can't compete because he has car trouble (seriously) so LeClerc out of TriStar/RGA is in (he took second at the Kasai MW Qualifier). 

Quintet - Full Event Breakdown Match by Match Results - Team Polaris Wins it All

No kani basami, no closed guard, no neck cranks. Also no jumping guard. No stalling, warnings for lack of attacks are penalized

TBH, I think heel hooks are out because you'd never get the Judo guys and even some of the other competitors to come into an event with heel hooks. 

Omigawa vs Nakamura - relatively uneventful, a nice Haraigoshi to open from omigawa then ineffectual guard passing attempts, thank god closed guard disallowed, lack of points at this point having me wonder how a winner will be determined 

Then some very ineffectual guard pass attempts and feet on hips 

Some near back takes by omigawa due to lazy backstep attempts and back steps by Nakamura 

With a last second kimura to armbar transition Nakamura ends fighting for the submission but walks away empty handed. So it's a draw. 

Sakuraba vs Debana

Debana throws up some armbars with active hips, Saku looking mainly to pass, curious why no ankle or kneebar attempts from the legend, Saku hangs well considering the age difference and looks better than he did against Renzo at Metamoris (then again Debana is of course not in the same galaxy of skill at Renzo so...). Match ends in a draw. I begin to have the creeping suspicion that we'll see a lot of these semi positional battles. 

At this point the commentary is pushing the Quintet is about being dynamic angle and commenting that Saku felt after his match against Renzo that the rules made it boring, though I wonder how this is much different minus the banning of heel hooks and closed guard. 

I think in marketing something as being dynamic, you can confuse ineffectual movement and action with actual effective progression of attacks and position. 

Kim vs Tokoro 

Tokoro spins to his back with a flying armbar in 14 seconds 

Tokoro stays on the mat and faces Yoon

Yoon diving forward looking for and scores a nogi Ezekiel within the guard. The ole' throat punch Judo inside the legs finish by surprise. (From what I've read, a Brazilian Judoka came to Gracie Barra way back in the day in Brazil and submitted a bunch of guys with the sleeve choke from inside their guard and his name was Ezekiel so it was thus named). 

Yoon vs Souza 

Yoon with smooth door sweeps and Souza sweeps to top and passed quickly with ease. Spins to kimura, Yoon on his side, Souza to the back then back to the armbar, loses it then back to heavy on the pass to 3/4 mount, then passed again, positionally all over Yoon on the mat. 

5 minutes to work, still on top, Yoon unable to effectually recompose inside position with his feet, belly down to try and turtle by Souza gets back to mount. 

Works to arm triangle but loses it, works to high mount and gets the armbar 

Souza stays on to face Ishiii. Yoooooooo haha, after I started thinking it would be draws we get 3 submissions. 

Souza vs Ishii

Hoping Souza loses so we can see Barnett vs Ishii....30 seconds in & Souza still on his feet. Way longer that I would have. Souza hits a Haraigoshi and knocks Souza down, then head down and attempting to walk around, Souza closes his guard but not penalty, Ishii onto an over under style pass with what must feel like a concrete dump truck of pressure. It's a 4 minute match so Souza just has to survive and Barnett will come on. Souza bravely shoots in for a double but Ishii stuff it and is back on the pass. He briefly passes but with hips square to the mat Souza recomposes. More hopping around to pass from Ishii, but not time enough to chase a submission. A draw. 

Haleo takes it in a competitive battle with Judo Dream Team. 

Up next is Polaris vs Sambo

Jones vs Verzbickas

Jones immediately on single leg X, inverts to leg lace/sankaku, goes for the kneebar and stuffing foot for toe hold, Jones get the kneebar with the foot stuffed behind the armpit grip. 1:58 seconds 

Jones vs Grecicho

Jones to his Z knee shield then almost a triangle, Grecicho staying down on both knees so you know he'll be in trouble again soon. 

Toe hold to kneebar attempt but too far down the leg. Jones on top then passes. Threatens a no gi Ezekiel but no dice. Jones to mount, more top position retention, overreaching for a toe hold, back to bottom position, chasing the foot, legs laced, back to the kneebar, ineffectual scrambling. Ends in a draw. 

Marcin Held vs Tomasevic

Held pulls guard then sweeps, to the attack with a crunch armbar, Tomasevic over under pass and gets the pass. Held to the darce attempt ish, Tomasevic heavy on the pass, Held inverts and gets the kneebaaaaaaah! Held doing well chaining together his upper body submissions to get to the leg lock. His opponent also had time to defend the kneebar early but lacked the information to do so. 

Held vs Teodoras

Held gets outside half guard and rolls through and hits a half kneebar type finish. Teodoras taps very early to this. Again, lack of basic leg lock info does someone in. 

Held pulls ahead of Jones with two leg locks (and against a heavier opponent, and things look grim for Team Sambo. 

Held vs Zaromskis

Held dives for an Imanari roll to sit, then back to the feet, Zaromskis shoots but stuffed, Held stuffs the shot, front headlock to the back take. 

Held hunting for the Twister then banana split then gives it up to get to top position. Deep armbar but Zaromskis survives. Held all over him and Zaromskis tough to finish and escapes another armbar. Held doing the chasing, Zaromskis doing a good bit of dancing and not really in a position to pass or even begin to threaten Held. Zaromskis survives for a draw. 

Polaris Team Moves on: Team Haleo vs Team Polaris for the final

Gregor Gracie vs Josh Barnett 

Standing up in the clinch, 4 minute match due to the weight difference. 

90 seconds left, Gregor picks up a single, Barnett not really committing to any takedowns. Arguing over the starting on the referee position, Barnett deep on an ankle lock but Gregor defends, Barnett dives on a low single, match ends. Draw.

Strauss vs Nakamura

Hoping to god it's more exciting that Strauss' Polaris match with Shields.

Strauss jumps to an armbar, a lot of semi closed guard here, wondering when the penalty comes. Allegedly a timer is going. Strauss back to closed guard. I start to doze off in recollection of his terrible Polaris match. Nakamura diving head low to try and pass but Strauss has butterfly hooks set. Strauss comes to top and chases the back after a lazy Nakamura dive over top to pass. Strauss takes the back and gets a body triangle then finishes with an RNC. 

Strauss vs Tokoro

4 min match due to weight difference. Strauss tries to sit without contact but they make him stand up. Lazy shot from Tokoro. Strauss almost takes the back, a lot of movement on the feet. Handfighting. Strauss looks winded after one match. Strauss pulls to open guard. Tokoro stepping in to pass. Finally. A penalty awarded to both. Minute and 15 seconds left. Strauss on a front head lock. Step over to mounted arm in guillotine for the Win. Strauss tied with Held for two submissions wins so far. 

Strauss vs Sakuraba

Strauss sits about a minute in. Sakuraba jumps over, Strauss sweeps to top, looking to stack pass, gets north south, heavy on the pass and settles in. Looking to lock up a kimura, Sakuraba defending. Strauss looks for a wrist lock but no dice. Strauss heavy in too, Sakuraba reverses and chases a leg lock, Strauss escapes, Sakuraba on top. Strauss lifts him up, comes up on the single and they separate. Remaining 2-3 minutes largely ineffectual on both sides. Draw.

Souza vs Uno

Delay early on due to eye poke. Low single to sits Uno down, immediate pass to armbar Bc Uno turns away and leaves his arm behind. 

Souza vs Jones 

Souza lets Jones bring the foot across the hip, then transitions to the kneebar and gets the tap. 

Jones now tied with Held and Strauss for two submissions for the day. 

Team Polaris shuts it down with a bunch of submissions and takes the inaugural Quintet title. Despite no heel hooks, I'll admit, this was a lot of fun to watch.
Strauss, Jones, and Held each picked up two submissions apiece repping Team Polaris as the real submission hunters of the event. 

Finally Got Around to Watching Polaris 6

Ffion Davies beat an undersized opponent with pretty one-dimensional smash passing, advancing to 3/4 mount, re-passing, hunting for the head-arm choke but then transitioning to S-mount for an armbar. 

Matuda finished her outmatched opponent after she stuck her foot basically into an ankle lock. Marcin Held had a quick leg lock transition then knees hikes guard he used to transition to an armbar nearly lifted off the mat but adjusted the bite with his legs and got the armbar finish. Benson Henderson kept the heat and takedowns on AJ Sousa who seemed to wilt a bit under the physical bullying and talk of Benson Henderson. Benson dominated with forcing AJ to turtle and driving him out of bounds and off the stage multiple times. AJ shot some low singles and doubles in efforts to then reverse but Benson was

Having none of it and minus a semi close armbar-kimura transition, didn't have much to show for his half of the 15 mins of the match. 

Craig Jones utilized his z guard briefly to transition to a leg lock and it looked like Shields hesitated between deciding. Where playing legs or just bailing and that cost him. 

There was another match between Grimshaw and Canha that was positional passing and side mount et cetera but that I skimmed through almost to the end.   

Kasai Confirms Craig Jones, Matheus Diniz, DJ Jackson, & Boogeyman Martinez for April MW Event

They'll also be hosting a qualifier as they did for the 155 Grand Prix.

Upcoming NoGi/Heel Hook Grappling Events Through Mid April 2018

February 3rd - Show the Art/Finishers Sub Only:
What began as a small east coast invitational event has really grown over the past few years into a feeder for EBI and showcase for up and comers willing to try the EBI format. Several of my teammates have won it, and it's actually one of the first places where I saw Gordon Ryan competing and picking up wins before I even considered moving to NYC or transitioning to NoGi. The previous 170 lb champ, Serra BJJ's James Gonzales (who most recently put on a grew showing at the Combat JiuJitsu Worlds 1 Event) will face a bracket containing Gary Gioni, Chase Davis, David Porter, Alex Nemeth, Jon Blank, Pierre Leclerc, and a number of others. Every event these guys has put on has been amazing and I've rewatched several of the streams as they are all available on youtube. They put on a great event and put money in the pocket of the competitors and have featured both Teens and Women's superfights. If you're a fan of NoGi Grappling and EBI format, you'd be remiss to miss this event in person or streaming online. I've trained with a numebr of guys on the card either at RGA or previously and I'm excited to see how the bracket plays out. It also features a superfight between Jason Rau (Rise Invitational Champion) and Serra BJJ representative against Marcel Goncalves.

February 10th - Fight2Win Pro  Jake Shields vs Kit Dale: always one to stay busy, Jake Shields is going to face Kit Date at F2Win Pro 62 in California a week before he takes on Kit Dale's teammate Craig Jones for Polaris.

February 17th - Polaris 6 - features a stacked Pro event featuring: Jake Shields vs Craig Jones, Agazarm vs Benson Henderson, Gezary Matuda vs TBD, & Marcin Held vs Fishgold, preceded by an undercard which includes: "GI MATCH – Emilia Tuukkanen X Leoni Munslow
GI MATCH – Jay Butler X Sean McDonagh
GI MATCH – Santeri Lilius X Bradley Hill
GI MATCH – Tommy Langaker X Charlie McDonald
GI MATCH – Jake Mckenzie X Yousuf Nabi
NO GI MATCH – Ross Nichols X Tommi Pulkkanen"

February 17th - EBI 15: Featherweights
In addition to the bracket of competitors looking to dethrone Eddie Cummings (and Geo Martinez coming up from 135 to Eddie's weight class after Eddie cut down to 135 to attempt and detrone him there, Nick Honstein (Combat JiuJitsu champion) will face Ben Eddy who recently defeated Wilson Reis in a Combat JiuJitsu rules match. According to BJJEE.com, the bracket will include:
"Joe Soto- UFC Fighter. Former Bellator and Tachi Palace champion.
Sergio Hernandez -Baret Yoshida Black Belt.
Kevin Berbrich – Eddie Bravo Black Belt 10th Planet Oceanside Jiu Jitsu Coach
Jason Hayden – BJJ brown belt. Leg-Lock enthusiast. Rodrigo Lima – black belt from Caio Terra Association, Joe Baize, Rafael Domingos, Mike Davila, Ashley Williams, Joao Alfredo Tavares Marinho, John Battle, Sergio Perez and Edwin “Junny” Ocasio". 

As the sport and EBI format spreads, it's cool to see guys with more and more experience competing in this format making the rounds and bouncing between EBI format events and such. Battle I've seen in some superfights, at a previous EBI and from Show the Art Finishers. Sergio Hernandez I've seen compete at Ultimate Mat Warriors and actually got to train with when I visited California last fall at Baret Yoshida's gym (also got to roll with Baret, everyone at their gym was very welcoming and great to train with). Sergio is a previous EBI competitor. Rafael Domingos has competed in EBI before winning some matches then losing to champ Garry Tonon). Mike Davila has competed at Finishers Sub Only, and EBI as well (previously losing to champ Eddie Cummings).

April 14th - Kasai Middleweight - 185 lb Tournament

March 3rd - Qualifier for 185 lb Kasai Event scheduled for April 14th. As much for the bracket of Middlweights, I'm excited to see who they get for the superfights. They pulled together Gordon Ryan vs Yuri Simoes and a rematch of Murilo Santana vs Craig Jones from the ADCC to headline the card at their inaugural event. Amazing event. The production was top notch, the card moved smoothly, and I got to see a ton of top flight competitors all in one evening.