We had the pleasure of witnessing the return of Fight 2 Win with their 160th event, our sport’s most active professional promotion.
The event headlined two of America’s most exciting grapplers, John Combs (Studio 84) and William Tackett (Brazilian Fight Factory), with plenty of other exciting clashes on the card, including the Gracie Barra’s powerhouse Pedro Marinho, who faced Checkmat’s berserker Gabriel Almeida as well as the return of Junny Ocasio, the promotion’s bantamweight champ.
29 Recorded Adult BJJ Matches 10 submissions (34% sub rate)
12 Gi Matches: 5 submissions (42% sub rate)
17 No-Gi Matches: 5 submissions (29% sub rate)
TACKETT VS COMBS
When a promoter adds William or John to their card, he is guaranteed excitement and as expected, these two middleweights left it all on the mat. This was a back and forth match filled with nail-biting moments that could have gone either way and – if there was such an option on the table – should be laid out as a draw. Without a doubt one of the matches of the night.
Tackett played from the bottom, a smart strategy against the former wrestler, Combs, using his guard to attack the legs of John. The California native, on the other hand, played mostly from the top, using his much-improved leg-lock defense to avoid the submission on a few deep entries by William.
From the top position, John looked very impressive, always looking for the pass or/and the neck of Tackett, placing the Texas-based grappler in dangerous waters.
MARINHO VS ALMEIDA
Another high point of the Fight 2 Win show was the clash between Almeida and Marinho. Although “just” a brown belt, Pedro has had tremendous success on the professional jiu-jitsu circuit against seasoned black belts and was expected to be a very tough match for Gabriel.
Staying true to their nature, both athletes came forward for 10 minutes, trying to take each other down and pressing the action with a hefty number of head-cashes.
Although very evenly matched in all aspects of the game, both athletes ended up nullifying each other for most of the match. In these dynamics, Gabriel was more committed to taking chances to press the action, but, although commended for his forward-moving attitude, he did expose more of himself to Marinho, who cleverly used these attacks to apply counters of his own. In the end, Pedro’s counters were worth more than Gabriel’s willingness to attack, in the judges’ eyes, and victory went for team GB.
BLACK BELT MATCHES
No-Gi Match:
– William Tackett def. John Combs via split decision
Gi Match:
– Jonnatas Gracie def. Hugo Marques via split decision
No-Gi Match:
– Pedro Marinho def. Gabriel Almeida via decision
No-Gi Match:
– Junny Ocasio def. Adam Ferrara via inside heel-hook
Gi Match:
– Shawn Ambrosino def. Justin Brunet via decision
Gi Match:
– Alexandre Dantas def. Jeremy Diaz via decision
Gi Match:
– Felipe Amarante def. Gabriel Sacramento via knee attack from half-guard lockdown
No-Gi Match:
– Yuri Villefort def. Eric Alequin via decision
No-Gi Match:
– Kenny Berman def. Alex Jutis via decision
Gi Match:
– Joaquin Torres def. Kalil Nascimento via decision
No-Gi Match:
– JZ Cavalcante def. Justin Renick via decision
Gi Match:
– Alexandre Pimentel def. Guilherme Neves via omoplata
Gi Match:
– Daniel Fundora def. Jim Alers via injury
No-Gi Match:
– Jason Valle def. Forrest Giovanni Moyano inside heel-hook
No-Gi Match:
– Mauricio Gomez def. Frank Rosenthal via RNC
No-Gi Match:
– Rodrigo Francioni def. Andrew Franco via decision
Gi Match:
– Sean Joseph def. Glauco Lima via decision
