Grappling Rewind: Breakdowns of Professional BJJ and Grappling Events

This week on the show Maine and Miranda recap Main Character Jiu Jitsu 2 event, Midwest Finishers, and Finishers WNO qualifier we also preview the IBJJF Crown, and Grapplefest 17.

In the recap section of the show we talk about Main Character Jiu Jitsu 2 185 pound bracket that saw Ryan Aitken vs PJ Barch in the finals, plus  Sophia Cassella Vs Jasmine Rocha rematch this time for the MCJJ title.  We talked about the crazy tight and extended armbar Jasmine had and the adjustments that Sophia was able to make to escape and secure her own armbar in overtime for the belt. 

In the recap of Midwest Finishers we talk about Peyton Letcher vs Catilin Murdock that saw Peyton winning the womens absolute title with a modified straight ankle lock.  Plus the mens 205 pound final between Abe La Montagne vs Andre Porfirio that saw Porfrio winning with a modified Aoki lock we also discuss the lack of knee control that has been creeping into high level finishes recently as athletes refine their submissions. 

In the Finishers we talk about all the title matches and Evan Leve winning the WNO qualifier, Plus Pat Shagholi vs Ryan Roth and the evolution of pats wrestling and his leg lock finish to keep the double title at Finishers and SOGI.

In the preview section we talk about being unable to pick who will win any of the 6 IBJJF crown brackets, and in the Grapplefest preview talk about all the Tackett's being on the UK card. Plus Kody Steele also being featured along with the stacked European talent that Grapplefest always brings. 

In the outro we talk about a potential trip to Iceland. 

Recorded 11-13-2023

This week on the show Maine and Miranda recap Polaris 26 headlines by Craig Jones. Craig Jones vs Gerald Meerschaert plus Kendall Reusing retaining her absolute title against Leticia Cardozo.  We recap the inaugural Middleweight One FC Grappling match between Tye Ruotolo Vs. Magomed Abdulkadirov. As well as F2W 240 headlined by Dante Leon in the Gi.

In the recap section we break down the Polaris 26 Main event Craig Jones submitting Gerald Meerschaert with a quick Rear Naked Choke. Kendall defending her absolute title by decision. Tommy Langakker fantastic late stage heel hook defense vs Oliver Taza. Plus Owen Jones ADCC Trials winner showing some reverse mount and leg locks on the card. 

In the recap of One FC we talk about Tye domination on taking the inaugural Middleweight belt for grappling at One FC. Plus some potential matchups that he called out and the logistics of getting those matchups to happen. 

In the recap of F2W 240 we talk about Dante Leon putting on the Gi and playing with some Gi grips before passing and finishing a side choke in the main event of F2W Cleveland. 

In the preview section we take a look at Main Character Jiu Jitu Stacked mens 185 pound tournament. Featuring PJ Barch, Hunter Colvin, Oliver Taza, Davis Asare, Achilles Rocha, and more. 

We talk about midwest finishers upcoming event and Finishers Open WNO qualifier registered names.  

Recorded 11-5-2023

This week on the show Maine and Miranda recap F2W 239 in Baltimore MD that the Grappling Rewind crew did commentary for we also talk abnout Max Hanson SOGI 155 title run.  

In the recap section we talk about the main event of Fight to Win 239 Tadiyah Danforth vs Estevan Martinez, and the action in the match. 

In the preview section of the show we talk about Polaris 26 Craig Jones vs Gerald Meerschaert and how the UFC lno leg locks rule may play a factor in this match.  We also discuss Kendall Reusing vs Leticia Cardoso, and Oliver Taza Vs Tommy Langakker.  Plus some of the No-Gi IBJJF euros action.  

We also briefly talk about Grapplefest later this month. 

Recorded 10-30-2023

This week on the show Maine and Josh recap ADXC 1 the inaugural event.

We also talk about the weeks BJJ related news. 

In the recap for ADXC we talk about the matchmaking and the event production as well as some of the decisions and clarity we need from the scoring and judging criteria for the 3 minute rounds much like ACBJJ. 

We also recap the Main event for F2W 238, discuss Polaris 26 stacked card, and Toro Cup 27.

Recorded 10-23-2023

This week on the show Maine and Miranda recap the 2023 ADCC North American Trials that took place this weekend in Atlantic City NJ. 

We talked about being at the event live and the feeling of the entire event. Plus recapped the entirety of day 2 of the world qualifying event. 

We talked about the Quarter finals on in all the divisions starting with Mens -66kg and all the upsets that Dorian Olivarez and Dominic Mejia had in their run to the finals.  We also discuss the finals match between Dorian Olivarez vs Dominic Mejia for the ADCC -66 kg spot in the 2024 ADCC world championships. 

In the -77 kg division we talk about the run that multiple time ADCC world championship veteran and former West Coast trials winner Nicky Ryan up until the finals where he would run into dark horse Elijah Dorsey in the finals.  We talk about Nicky Ryan vs  Elijah Dorsey in the finals and how Dorsey was able to stay composed and take the -77kg slot.

In Mens -88 We talk about the finals between Jacob Couch vs Elder Cruz and the Cinderella story of Jacob Couch hitting 7 subs in 7 matches on his way to win his ADCC Worlds spot.  Plus his post fight celebration that had the arena loud. 

In the Mens -99 kg division we talk about the most winning trials champion ever as Paul Ardila once again won his division at ADCC Trials In Paul Ardila vs Alex Grandy we talk about the strategy and how Paul was able to hit a Heel Hook in the finals. 

In the mens +99 kg division we talk about the division seeding and some of the point racking by John Hansen. Plus dark horse Amir Allam surprising the event with a gogoplata in the quarterfinals. We talk about Big Dan Daniel Manasoiu vs Damon Ramos in the finals where he was able to hit another signature smother choke to take the +99kg spot for 2024. 

In the women's -55kg division we talk about the close match between Alex Enriquez vs Jasmine Rocha that saw the longest judges deliberation of the event leading to a decision for Alex after imposing a top pressure game. We also talk about the coaching of Vagner Rocha. 

In the Women's -65kg division we talk about Morgan Black vs Helena Crevar vin a tactical match that saw Mo Blacks wrestling come into play late for 2 points to take the match 2 to -1.

In the Women's +65 kg we talk about Amanda Leve vs Bridget Mceliece with Leve taking a fast Belly down RNC to take her second ADCC trials gold, and win an expenses paid trip to ADCC West Coast Trials early next year March 2024. 

In the outro we discuss the event as a whole and our excitement for ADCC West Coast Trials in Las Vegas in 2024. 

Recorded 10-16-2023

This special live on location of Grappling Rewind is post day 1 of the ADCC North American Trials 2023 East Coast Trials.  Maine and Miranda recap the days action that we were able to see live at day 1 from Atlantic City New Jersey.  

We discuss some of the  best matches and moments we saw and some of our most anticipated matches for the final event day tomorrow. 

We talk about who is still left and who had bye's in -66, -77, -88, -99, +99, for the men and the new women's -55, -65, and +65 kg divisions.

Recorded 10-14-2023 

This week on the show Maine and Miranda recap One FC Mikey Musumeci versus Shinya Aoki we also recap Fight to Win 237, as well as talk about the dates for the ADCC World Championships that have been announced for Las Vegas, as well as ADCC West Coast trials that has been announced for the beginning of next year.

In the news section of the show we discuss all of the upcoming announced dates regarding ADCC.  Then we move right into discussing the format for the week's show kicking it off with some recaps

In the recap section of the show we discuss Mikey Musumeci retaining his One FC title hitting Shinya Aoki with his own Aoki lock then giving a very heartfelt speech after about the student becoming the teacher and the student and the master.

After that we move into a recap of F2W 237 that was local to us in Philly also discussing the move back to Flograppling for the organization.

In the preview section of the show we discussed the 2023 ADCC East Coast North American trials. We talk about all of the men's and women's divisions running through some of the top names in the under 66 kg division as well as some of their accolades all the way through the under 77 kg division the under 88 kg division including some notable weight class changes specific to that division. We then talk about the under 99 kg division and the over 99  kg division that features the only returning trials champion John Hanson, aiming for his spot at the world championships for the third installment in a row.   After that we discussed the women's North American championships including all of the notable names in all three of the new women's weight classes. We discussed the under 55 kg division followed by the under 65 kg division then finished it off with the over 65 kg division.  

We then discuss some of the media coverage that we intend to do out in Atlantic City this coming week, and a couple of the interviews that Maine is looking to coordinate for media coverage.

Recorded 10-9-2023 

This week on the show Maine and Miranda recap the Polaris absolute GP and WNO Night of Champions that featured a men's 145 lb bracket, a men's 170 lb bracket and two women's title fights along with a title fight for the men's heavyweight belt featuring Gordon Ryan and Patrick Gaudio.

In the news section of the show we discussed the IBJJF No-Gi Pans and some of the finals matches over the weekend. As well as discuss Dante Leone going up 40 to 50 lb to compete in the super heavyweight division and winning gold despite giving up the weight.

In the recap section of the show we take a look at One FC the Atomweight title between Danielle Kelly and Jessa Kahn. We talk about the decision as well as some of the cage craft and cage work that Danielle Kelly implemented in order to take the inaugural women's Atomweight title.

In the recap of the Polaris absolute GP we discuss Fabricio Andre's fantastic Judo versus Owen Livesey and Kaynan Duarte putting on a pace that we have not seen him put on before scoring points in the opening seconds of each one of his three matches during the Grand Prix. We discussed the fantastic and potential match of the year candidate match between ADCC -88 kg Champion Giancarlo Bodoni and Fabricio Andrey; with Fabricio being able to take the victory despite giving up over 11 kg in both his first round and second round matches.  We also discussed some other matches on the card including Rosa Walsh black belt debut kneebar submission. 

In the recap of WNO Night of Champions we discussed all of the exciting matches in the men's  featherweight and welterweight tournaments we talked about Keith Krikorian taking on Baby Shark Diogo Reis and a phenomenal match we also discussed Jay Rodriguez taking on Mica Galvão and Jay Rodriguez's fantastic armbar defense being on display again.  We discussed the match between Andrew Tackett and PJ Barch in a master class in how to use pace as a weapon,  and the unfortunate injury that Andrew suffered that took him out of the finals match.   We also discussed the finals match featuring late replacement PJ Barch taking on Micael Galvão and the unfortunate headbutt flash knockout that Barch suffered followed by a flying armbar from Galvão.   We discussed the rematch between Elizabeth Clay vs Brianna Set Marie  in a phenomenal women's featherweight title fight, as well as the women's heavyweight title being on the line and being won by Nathiely de Jesus vs Rafaela Guedes.

We also recap the main event between Gordon Ryan versus Patrick Gaudio in a phenomenal display of positional control and passing.   We also discussed the very interesting grip break that Gordon used to finish the arm bar and the arm bar instructional that he dropped as part of his marketing campaign associated with the match.

In the outro for the show we briefly discussed ADCC North American Trials 2023 and doing some event coverage associated with the event.

Recorded 10-2-2023

This week on the show Maine and Josh preview Gordon Ryan versus Patrick Gaudio for the Heavyweight Championship on WNO 20 Night of Champions  Plus we preview the Polaris Absolute GP and recap Enigma Invitational 13.

We kick off the show with the previews discussing The previous match between Gordon Ryan and Patrick gaudio back in 2018 and why it's probably not that relevant nowadays anyway we discussed some of the recent activity of Gordon  contrasted with that of gaudio in No-Gi  we also discuss the small margin of victory during the first matchup in the IBJJF  prior to heel hooks being added to the organization many years ago we discussed some potential strategies that could be employed during the match and possibly some strategies Gordon might decide to implement based on interviews he's done the leading up to the rematch. 

In the preview of Rafaela Guedes vs Nathiely de Jesus for the Women's Heavyweight Championship we discuss both women's major victories and possible avenues for Rafaela to retain the title.

In Brianna Ste-Marie vs Elisabeth Clay for the Women's 145 lbs Championship,  we talk about their previous match back in 2019 when they were both purple belts and how much like in the main event that's probably not that relevant to this matchup we discussed some of the tactics that clay may use including repeated leg lock attempts that contrasted with Brianna's passing and back taking ability.

We also discussed the fantastic men's tournaments, a 170 lb men's welterweight bracket of four featuring some of the most exciting and top-level Grapplers in the sport Mica Galvao, PJ Barch, Andrew Tackett, and Jay Rodriguez.  We talked about Mica  potentially having the most pressure on him going into this and being the one to beat plus we talked about how all of these Grapplers have that something special and ability to turn it on when needed and upset anyone in the bracket.   We talked about everyone's ability to capitalize on very small mistakes and turn anything into a major victory.

In the men's 145 lb bracket we talked about some of the rematches that are possible in the tournament we also discussed some of the seating with current ADCC -66kg champion Diogo Reis, Certainly in the FrontRunner position as he takes on Ash Williams, Keith Krikorian, and Gabriel Sousa.  We discussed the recent match between Ash and Keith as well as the match between Keith and Gabriel.  

In our preview of Polaris 25 the absolute we discussed The men who have been announced for the bracket including Kaynan Duarte, giancarlo Bodoni, Izaak Mitchell, Jason Rau, Roberto Jimenez, and Fabricio Andre, We discussed some of the first round matchups and possible matchups and broke down why current -99 KG ADCC champion Kaynan may have to be on his toes in his first round matchup vs Rau.  We also discussed some of the announced undercard Grapplers including ADCC European Trials champion Owen Jones. 

We also reviewed how Deandre Corbre ran through Enigma Invitational and how he used the triangle from the back and armbar combination to finish most of his matches.

In the outro section Maine  talks about taking some time off to heal injuries.

Recorded 9-25-2023

This week on the show Main and Miranda recap the 2023 ADCC European Middle Eastern and African trials kicking off the ADCC 2024 cycle and crowning our first trials winners of the 2024 season.

In the news section of the show we discuss ADCC's new rule for trials allowing athletes to weigh in the night before competing and then we also discuss some of the new and up-and-coming Grapplers that excite us on the show.

In the recap section we run through the finals matches for all of the men's and women's finals at ADCC Euro trials 2023 discussing some of the other notable non-finals matches as well.

We kick it off with the men's over 99 kg division that features two former European trials winners going head-to-head trying to win their spot for another round at the ADCC world championships.  In Daniel Manasoiu vs Heikki Jussila We discussed the penalty that big Dan received for pulling guard and the two stalling in activity penalties that were for both athletes resulting in Heikki  being crowned the European champion for 2023 and winning the first trial spot of the season.

In the men's under 99 kg division we discuss South African Luke Griffith taking on Mraz AvdoyanIn another battle of the former trials winners we discuss Luke's phenomenal duck under for a man who is 6'5 and Mraz great transition to being mounted followed by Luke once again passing and finishing on top with a smother choke and take the trials spot for ADCC 2024.

In the men's under 88 kg division We talk about Santeri Lilius vs Tuomas Simola with Santeri  still being undefeated at ADCC trials and in his finals match securing a fantastic fall off from the back triangle belly down armbar sequence.  

In the men's under 77 kg division we discussed Josef Chen  the 19-year-old B Team Prospect once again shows us that he is absolutely on the level in his finals match versus Oliver Taza where he was able to deal with the leg lock attempts and knee bar finishes of Taza in order to pass the guard and take the back on the turtle earning him a fantastic points Victory win in overtime we also discussed how much of Chen we've been seeing recently and how absolutely phenomenal his trajectory looks at this time. We also discussed a few of Chen's earlier matches including his quarterfinal match with Tommy Langaker,  and his rematch with Mateusz Szczeciński.

In the under 66 kg division we discussed two newcomers in the finals B Team Prospect Cameron Donnelly vs Owen Jones In a battle of the Young Guns with both prospects moving through former trials medalists and winners we discussed the phenomenal gas tank of Owen Jones and his great back taking ability Plus competency in the Tactical and Technical aspects of the rule set in his 3-0  points victory during the finals.

In the women's matches we discuss all three of the women's weight classes and discuss how this is the first trials event for ADCC that has had the three women's weight classes.  In the +65kg we discuss Jessika Torttila vs Ane Svendsen, that saw Ane take a dominate points victory.  

In the -65 division we talk about the finals match with Sani Brannfors vs Injana Goodman, that saw Sani Brannfors thake a 3-0 back take victory after a -1 from goodman for the pull early. 

In the new -55 kg division we talk about the finals match between Josefine Modig vs Anna Berg we saw Josefine Modig hit an interesting rear naked choke finish after a wrestle up attempt from Berg in the dying seconds of the match. 

In the outro section we discuss the upcoming WHO event and the IBJJF Pans. 

Recorded 9-18-2023