This was the first WNO event of 2022 and I know I was excited for it. It has been about a month since there we have seen any big BJJ events and I've been waiting for some grappling action. I guess this is called Tezos WNO because of the sponsor, but I prefer the numbering scheme because it is easier to keep track of.
New Champions
This show featured 2 matches for championship belts and 1 title defense. Craig Jones and Pedro Marino fought for the lightheavy weight belt. Pedro beat him by decision in a somewhat lackluster performance by both. I've seen worse matches, but I think most people expected much more from both of them. There were a few good exchanges however and I'll go into those more below. This win gave Pedro the WNO belt and I imagine quite a bit more publicity. This is a great feather in the cap for him even if it wasn't so nice to watch.
The second title match was for the welterweight belt between Tye Ruotolo and Levi Jones-Leery. Going into this Levi seemed to be a bit off mentally, but during the match he seemed to be able to keep his focus and perform. Tye came out as he normally does, very aggressively and threw the kitchen sink at Levi which eventually got him the submission and the belt. Tye now holds the welterweight and middleweight belts. The Ruotolos currently hold half of the men's belts and there is talk about them fighting for the welterweight title.
This card also featured the first title defense in WNO history. Mikey Musumeci defended his belt against Estevan Martinez. This was a short notice match, so I doubt either of them had time to come up with a strategy for each other. This was a high paced matched where they went through a lot of positions, but Mikey was getting the best of Estevan during the exchanges. This was an exciting match that showcased a lot of attacks and escapes, but Mikey came out with the win and defended his belt.
How people won
The only submissions were leglocks this time around. We got 2 inside heel hooks and 1 kneebar/outside heel hook. The kneebar came from an outside heel hook grip by Tye Ruotolo and Caio Terra did a great job breaking this interesting sub down at the end of the broadcast. Some of the decision matches were good, but others didn't really feature much action. I've seen worse on WNO(Hinger vs Rocha), but I still think they need to be a little more aggressive with stalling penalties.
Trends
Obviously leglocks are still quite popular with many of the matches that ended in decision still featuring leg attacks. Although 2 subs were by inside heel hook we saw people venturing away from this technique and trying other leg submissions, which I think is a good thing.
Jacob Couch caught his heel hook from the false reap position which seems to be becoming more and more popular. I remember hearing about this position about 3 or 4 years ago, but dismissing it because every time I saw sometime try it in a high level match it failed. This isn't the case anymore. Couch, Deigo "Pato", Cole Abate and others have been having success with it. Craig Jones even came out with a free instructional that goes over it. I think we'll be seeing more of it in 2022.
More people are working their wrestling, but the current trend seems to be hanging on the head to wear down your opponent. There was quite a bit of hand fighting in the Rodriguez vs Cruz match and the Jones vs Marinho, fight however this strategy seemed to make the matches very boring and didn't seem to help anyone. This hanging off the head for extended periods wore both people out and just caused stalemates. I love seeing standup, but this isn't it. I hope more competitors start incorporating foot sweeps to counteract the upright stances of their opponents and not rely on trying to "wear down" their opponents. 2-3 minutes is fine, but 10-12 minutes of pushing, slapping and clubbing doesn't make for a good viewing experience. It also doesn't seem to be a reliable winning strategy as there was little to no offense in either of those matches.
Speaking of leglocks, for some reason women love toe holds. This isn't really a trend because its been going on for years, but for some reason I've noticed many women are quick to go for toeholds, but there are few women that go after heel hooks. I have no idea why this is, but its just an interesting observation I noticed.
What to watch for in each match
Kemoy Anderson vs Geno Morelli (Morelli via Dec)
This match had some interesting passes, but was mostly uneventful. Geno did a few interesting things with pinning the wrist, but mostly this was a somewhat lackluster win from Geno. Don't feel bad about skipping this one.
Jessica Crane vs Alexa Yanes (Crane via inside heel hook)
You can watch the match above. It was basically a leglock shoot out the whole match in which Crane came away with the win via inside heel hook. Yanes spent the entire match going for toe holds, but couldn't get the finish.
This is a great example of waiting and not panicking when dealing with leglocks. Yanes never had a really good position to finish, so Crane stayed calm and worked her way out of danger slowly and gradually. This made the start of the match a bit boring, but it paid off in the end when she got the finish. Also this illustrates the dangers of 50/50 and why you always need to keep your feet in good position . Yanes is mostly a gi competitor and I believe and she brought that style of game to WNO. She was focused on the toe hold and didn't worry about the more powerful inside heel hook Crane was setting up. She was able to get out the first time, but you can't give someone multiple chances to setup submissions on you like that. I feel her lack of experience with heel hooks caused Yanes to lose here.
Michael Pixley vs Camron Reed (Pixley via Dec)
This match had some great examples of body lock passing. In my recent blog I went over this and Pixley used it serval times in this match to pass Reed's guard. Pixley also showed how you could use passing to north-south with front headlock attacks to finish passes. Reed almost hit a gogplata and one point also This wasn't the best match and it didn't end in submission, but it wasn't terrible. Give it a watch if you're interested in body lock passing.
Mikey Musumeci vs Estevan Martinez (Musumeci via Dec)
This was a fun match that had constant movement with lots of attacks and escapes. The reoccurring theme of this match was Estevan initiating a guard pass and then Mikey countering with an attack. Estevan must have tried the cartwheel guard pass at least 10 times, but each time Mikey countered into a leg lock or back take. Mikey threw the kitchen sink at him and tried to catch him with ankle locks, mikey locks, armbars, inverted armbars, omoplatas and more. He also took his back twice, but Estevan was just too elusive. Through a combination of short limbs, technique and heart, Estevan was able to wiggle out of everything Mikey came at him with. This match is definitely worth watching and studying if you have any interest in submission escapes or attacking from guard. It is also a fun match just to watch for enjoyment.
Jacob Couch vs David Garmo (Couch via inside heel hook)
This was a nice match with a good amount of action and a finish. Watch some of Couch's triangle setups. The overhook cross wrist grab from closed guard was really interesting. He had a nice setup for a flying triangle too. He eventually ended things with an inside heel hook from the false reap after Garmo tried a rolling guillotine. As I said above, the false reap is becoming more popular and this match shows a great use of it which lead to a quick finish.
Brianna Ste Marie vs Amanda "Tubby" Alequin (Ste Marie via Dec)
This was a great fight with lots of back and forth action. I thought Brianna would be going for pressure passes on top and Tubby would be trying to submit from bottom, but they both tried a little bit of everything. Tubby showed great flexible guard work and some toe hold attacks from unusual angles. She did a great job defending leg drag passes and generating offense from the De a Riva and reverse De la Riva guards.
Brianna showed some nice pressure passing, which I expected, but also leg locks and guard work, which we haven't seen much from her before. All areas of her game looked solid and both women were constantly attacking. Brianna showed some great work from the inverted stack position to counter Tubby's flexible guard. It was interesting to watch Tubby helping wipe Brianna's face and remove the blood after the vicious back in forth match they were having. Great sportsmanship and performances from both women. I honestly thought this match was a draw, but I'm not mad at them for giving it to Brianna. I hope to see both of them back on WNO soon. Give this match a watch.
Elder Cruz vs Nicky Rodriguez (Cruz via Dec)
This match basically turned into a stalemate. Both had the same strategy and it didn't really work well for either of them. The match mostly consisted of hand-fighting and clubbing. There were some attacks, but they weren't as frequent as I would have liked. Cruz pushed the pace a little more and seemed a little more in control during the match. There was no ground work and none of the takedowns were completed. It wasn't the worst match I've ever seen, but you can skip this one.
Levi Jones-Leery vs Tye Ruotolo (Ruotolo via kneebar)
This was probably the best performance on the card. Tye was all over Levi from the gate and did in fact have a "bolo" battle against Levi. There was a lot of leg pin passing, berimbolos from the top and the match ended with a kneebar.
I'll definitely give this match a few more watches to see how Tye was setting up the berimbolos and study how he has improved his leg pin passing. He was pinning leg, arms and everything else and basically surfing on Levi. To Levi's credit he was able to prevent his guard being passed and stopped Tye from completing the berimbolos. The Ruotolos are really pushing the envelope when it comes to setting up berimbolos from the top position. I know I'll be watching all their future matches for details on how they do it. This was a fun scrap that everyone should watch. These are the types of matches we need more of on WNO.
Craig Jones vs Pedro Marinho (Marinho via Dec)
This match was mostly standup, but with very little action. In the Cruz vs Rodriguez match they weren't able to complete their takedowns, but they were trying hard. This match was mostly just hand fighting, clubbing and pushing. At one point Craig pulled guard, Pedro passed his guard and then it returned back to standing. At the end there was a little bit of action for about 10 sec, but then the time ran out. The guard pass was interesting and the last sequence had some interesting stuff, but overall it wasn't good. I can't recommend watching this one, watch the Levi vs Tye match again instead.
Matches To Make Afterwards
I hope now that all of the weight classes have champions, the focus will change to creating challengers and competitive divisions. I'd like to see Oliver Taza vs William Tackett. I think this would be an interesting match up as they both have similar styles and are around the same weight. I think Richard Alarcon vs Lucas Pinheiro would be a good match with 2 competitors that like to push the pace. Give Brianna Ste Marie a title shot against Ffion Davis and have Pedro Marinho defend his belt against Mason Fowler. Roberto Jimenez vs Mica Galvao would be a fun match too. Of course re-book the matches that fell through this time for the next card.
I think it is hard to find a good balance between keeping things exciting and not using the same people all the time. The Ruotolos always have great matches, but of course you can't use them on every show for every weight class. On the other hand having too many new untested people could create a card full of stall fests and non-engagement. It is a bit of a balancing act, but I hope they try to use some of the lesser known people that have put on good performances in pervious WNO events.
Overall
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