Finally we get to the big boys. This division had more hype around it than in years past with Gordon Ryan, Felipe Pena and Nicky Rod all in the division. This was also the first time someone did their weight division as well as the superfight. Gordon ended up winning both in dramatic fashion. It wasn't just him though, there were a lot of good matches in this division, but lets take a look at some of the stats.
I was happy the finish rate was over 50%. Often times this division is a bit boring, but this year we got some good matches. I was a bit surprised by the number of leg locks, but I think as time goes on they are starting to filter up to the big men. Chokes were most common submission though, which is inline with what we have seen from other divisions and events. +99kg has had a tendency to devolve into shoving matches on the feet that have to be decided by a judges decision, but this year there was only 1 such outcome. If you were worried about these being boring matches without any ground work and just crappy standup, rest assured there is a lot of good action in this division.
The most common sub was the RNC and the most common attempted was the outside heelhook. In the upper divisions it seems that the outside heelhook is an effective tool and can still catch people off guard. There were quite a few ankle locks attempted as well, but none were successful. There was also one kneebar, but overall I was surprised how hard the heavyweights were going after the legs.
There was also 1 tap to pressure/smothering which seems to be more common these days. I was happy to see a variety of submissions in this weight class as they heavyweights usually aren't thought of as being super technical.
The most successful sweep was a wrestle up into a single leg takedown. There were wrestle ups to bodylocks and double legs as well an armdrag. Overall it seems like at this weight class wrestling from the bottom was more effective than traditional sweeps. The classic sweeps we all know were rarely even attempted with only 2 attempts at single leg X sweeps and 1 hook sweep. There were a handfull of half guard sweep attempts as well, but the base most of these heavy weights have makes them hard to sweep from that position.
The bodylock really shined in this division. I think this was mostly due to Nicky Rod, but others were using it as well. This division is where pressure passing really shined. Some of these passes looked miserable to be in and lead to not only points, but also fatigued opponents. There were a couple of smash passes as well which IMO really suit this division since they can be used to take the back as people try to stand up. The higher weights aren't knowns for their cardio, so this type of approach seemed to be one of the preferred ways to cook opponents. It wasn't just these 2 passes however. This division had almost every type of pressure pass, so if you're looking for someone to model that type of game on, look no further than this division.
Mat returns were very successful here. I think this was mainly due to people fleeing the ground. There were also a good number of Judo style takedowns such as kouchi gari, de ashi barai, and uchimata. These make sense for people looking to save their energy and not get trapped under some +100kg monster.
This division used a variety of positions. As you'd expected the big guys wanted to use their weight and here we really see the use of the mount. Side control was even more popular, but no finishes came from there. The back was the most effective finishing position as always, but there were more people using top pins here than what you usually see.
Submissions
There was also 1 tap to pressure/smothering which seems to be more common these days. I was happy to see a variety of submissions in this weight class as they heavyweights usually aren't thought of as being super technical.
Sweeps
Guard Passes
Takedowns
I was a bit surprised there were so many of those and so few wrestling style takedowns. Only 1 bodylock, single leg and double leg. That is because of a lack of trying however. For some reason these heavyweights could finish on these takedowns.
Positions
Overall
This is a fairly good division with a lot of hype around it going in. I think most people wanted to see a Ryan vs Pena rematch in ADCC, but we didn't get it. We did get Ryan vs Nicky Rod though. In years past the +99kg division consisted of shoving matches with no points and gold medals being awarded to people displaying little skill in their matches. I'm happy to say that at ADCC 2022 this wasn't the case. This division was definitely worth watching and I think it shows that the big guys can be exciting too.
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