NOVEMBER 14, 2021, LONDON, ENGLAND. After the success of professional English grappling shows such as the Polaris Jiu-Jitsu Invitational and GrappleFest, in comes another fine production featuring some of the top jiu-jitsu black belts in the world, the Raw Grappling Championship.
The event set forth a novel ruleset (yes, another ruleset!) of strickly submission-only during regulation time (12 minutes), which was followed by an overtime round in case of a draw during regulation. In the OT round, points were scored as per standard jiu-jitsu scoring positions. If no points were scored in OT, the three referees would select the winner.
RGC featured two super fights and an 8-man Grand Prix style tournament that put forth some of the top local talents, namely Taylor Pearman, Bradley Hill, Jed Hue, and co. against international stars such as Josh Hinger, Patrick Gaudio, and Yuri Simões. The results were a series of very entertaining clashes, albeit, mostly dominated by the foreigners.
Out of the many outstanding athletes on the mats tonight, Yuri Simões prevailed. The Caio Terra representative spent a couple of years training for his MMA career but seems to be back to jiu-jitsu in 2021, arriving in London with 6 matches under his belt over the past 12 months. Playing mostly from the top position, Yuri applied his well-known passing pressure to perfection, always keeping well away from leg entanglements by passing both with body locks (on his knees) and hand-toreandos. A patient but very clever game plan to take home the tournament’s prize money.
In the super fights, Lucas “Hulk” Barbosa came in hot against Poland’s Gerard Labinski. Gerard is mostly known as a lapel guard player, but in this no-gi match, it was all about the butterfly guard. “The Hulk” attacked a lot from the body lock pass and from the top half guard position, and it was there he found a way to Gerard’s arm in a beautiful maneuver. Much more even was the clash between Rafael Lovato Junior and Adam Wardinski, a match won by Lovato by the narrowest of margins: 1 penalty from Wardzinski’s guard pull.
RAW GRAPPLING TOURNAMENT #1 RESULTS
QUARTER-FINALS:
– Josh Hinger def. Bradley Hill via decision
– Patrick Gaudio def. Thomas Bracher via split decision
– Taylor Pearman def. Steven Hill via calf-slicer
– Yuri Simões def. Jed Hue via points in OT
SEMI-FINALS:
– Patrick Gaudio def. Josh Hinger via decision
– Yuri Simões def. Taylor Pearman via points in OT
FINAL:
– Yuri Simões def. Patrick Gaudio via decision
3RD PLACE:
– Josh Hinger def. Taylor Pearman via choke
RAW GRAPPLING SUPER FIGHTS RESULTS
– Lucas Barbosa def. Gerard Labinski via armbar
– Rafael Lovato def. Adam Wardzinski via 1 penalty
