OCTOBER 24, LAS VEGAS, NEVADA, US, housed another edition of the EUG last night. Short for Evolve ‘Ur Game, EUG is a fresh jiu-jitsu professional jiu-jitsu promotion, famous for its Grand Prix style tournament set-up. Last night the show had on offer 10k US dollars for the winner of its championship, a number that caught the attention of 8 pro-athletes of the American circuit.
Among these 8 athletes, 3 stood out as the front runners, they were veteran Marcelo Garcia black belt, Gianni Grippo, ZR Team scramble machine Gabriel Sousa, and the rising star of Cicero Costha’s crew, Diego “Pato” Oliveira.
The aforementioned trio did prove their favoritism throughout the tournament, reaching the final 4, but it was Diego Oliveira who truly stole the show. “Pato” (duck) as he is commonly known in our sport, was once looked at as strictly a gi player. More recently, particularly since arriving in the US during the last few months of 2021, Diego has been focussing on improving his no-gi game, with a solid emphasis on his wrestling, a recipe that is proving fruitful due to the heavy no-gi emphasis currently dominating the American grappling circuit.
Diego came into EUG with fantastic scrambles, very solid leg-lock defense (and offense) while showing solid signs of proficiency in the stand-up game for BJJ standards. This well-rounded game allowed him to challenge the cream of the crop in Las Vegas and take home the EUG belt and cheque. Below are the results of the latest EUG 70-kilogram tournament in the no-gi ruleset.
QUARTER-FINALS:
– Gianni Grippo def. Damion Anderson via 6×3
– Liam Hill def. Kieran Kichuk via decision (2×2)
– Diego Oliveira def. Alika Villatore via 9×0
– Gabriel Sousa def. Danilo Moreira via 5×2
SEMI-FINALS:
– Gianni Grippo def. Liam Hill via 13×2
– Diego Oliveira def. Gabriel Sousa via decision (0x0)
FINAL:
– Diego Oliveira def. Gianni Grippo via decision (2×2)
