After a number of years Quinet has returned. Many in the grappling world were excited about this because they say it is the most exciting format. Not only that, but we got a number of high level grappler participating, so this was hyped up as being potentially the best event of the year. The format is a tournament consisting of 4 teams of 5 people each, Team Polaris(Gregor Gracie, Tarik Hopstock, Owen Livesey, Santeri Lilius, Jed Hue), Team Sakuraba(Kazushi Sakuraba, Haisam Rida, Tomoshige Sera, Daisuke Nakamura, Harry "Kimura" Grech), 10th Planet(Geo Martinez, Richie Martinez, Amir Alam, PJ Barch, Kyle Boehm) and the B-Team Bulls(Craig Jones, Nicky Ryan, Nicky Rod, Jay Rod, Jozef Chen).As you can see the names are impressive, but let's now take a look at what happened. If you want to read about each match, please take a look at the play-by-play I did for the event.
Results
10th Planet def Team Sakuraba
B-Team Bulls def Team Polaris
Haruki Ishiguro def Mei "V.V." Yamaguchi via kneebar
Taisei Sakuraba def Masato Uchishiba via kneebar
B-Team Bulls def 10th Planet
For a detailed breakdown of all the matches in the tournament, please read the play-by-play.
There were a lot of matches that went to a draw. About 70% were draws with only around 30% of the matches ending in submission. This was very surprising and a bit disappointing because Quintet is known for the crazy subs that happen, but this time we didn't get too many. The lack of subs didn't make it a bad show, but it certainly would have been better with a few more.
There were 3 leg submissions along with 1 arm and neck submission each. I was a bit surprised that leg submissions still came out on top, especially considering that heelhooks were banned from this event. This might also be what caused the submission percentage to decrease. The submissions we did get were very exciting though, so I can't complain about what we did get.
We got 2 kneebars at this event and both came from the non-tournament matches. There were actually quite a few attempted as well, but people were generally able to escape. The most attempted submission was the ankle lock. This is a submission that you see a lot, but it seems like it was ususually popular here. I believe this is due to the lack of heelhooks, with many people who tried to substitute anklelocks in situations that they would usually use heelhooks. However, in my opinion, anklelocks are much harder to finish than heelhooks and if you don't use them regularly you will have trouble finishing them in a competition. There was also a nice armbar out of the rear triangle from Craig Jones as well as the unusual toe hold he hit. PJ Barch had a very nice RNC as well.
There were a lot of passes at this event and the most common one was the half guard pass. This was followed by the knee slice and then the bodylock pass. Often times once someone got their gaurd passed, the passer figured out their guard and then passed them again and again. This was fun to watch and made the matches more exciting. It also made them useful to watch for technical study as well. Seeing the more unusual passes being used here such as float passes, 50/50 arm passes and high step passes, was great as well. There was a good variety of passes which always makes things more interesting.
There were a few nice sweeps in these matches as well. There were some traditional sweeps such as hip bumps and scissor sweeps, but also wrestle ups. The submission sweep also worked very well and that has been fairly consistent this year. Using submissions to open up chances to come on top is turning out to be a good strategy this year, especially from leglocks.
This is one of the few times the single leg isn't the most attempted takedown. Even more surprising is that the deashi barai tied for the number one takedown. One was hit by Owen Livesey, who you'd expect this from, and the other by PJ Barch. It seems his training with Justin Flores is paying off. There were also some interesting takedowns such as the throw by, ankle picks and knee taps. Gregor Gracie sent Craig Jones flying with a harai goshi as well.
Side control was achieved the most as you'd expect, but the back position gathered the most submissions. The mount is becoming more and more popular, but very few seem to be able to use it to actually submit people. Hopefully next year the level of mount submissions improves, because in the last 2-3 years the ability to get there and hold the position has become much better. Leglock positions such as 50/50 and the saddle were less common here, but I'm guessing that is due to the no heelhook rule.
The Good & The Bad
The action in this event is better than almost anything else this year. I think the stalling penalties and shorter match times made people work a bit more. If you are tired of matches with long periods of half guard stalling or clubbing standup, give these matches a watch. They were even standing people up from mount.
Unfortunately, the people in bad positions weren't being punished as much IMO they should have. I think they should have penalized the people on bottom more to try to get them to open up. Many people stuck in side control or mount, just defended and waited for the top person to make a mistake. Forcing them to open up more by threatening penalties, would make things more exciting.
Another thing that is very obvious is the lack of submissions. Considering the amount of dominant positions that were seen, it was disappointing that people couldn't finish from there. People weren't able to show off their submission skills and that is what we want to see in an event like this.
Luckily there was still a lot of technique on display in these matches though. These matches had great examples of passing, back takes(especially berimbolos from the top), and takedowns. There was a lot of technical grappling in these matches. Not only were they fun to watch, but they are also worth studying. I wish all events showed this level of technique and action per min.
If you want some recommendations for matches to watch try these
PJ Barch vs Tomoshige Sera
Craig Jones vs Geo Martinez
Craig Jones vs Richie Martinez
Jay Rogriguez vs Jed Hue
PJ Barch vs Kuzushi Saukraba
Jay Rodriguez vs Amir Allam
Here is Craig Jones giving his breakdown of the event.
Overall
This was a really good event despite the lack of submissions. What I loved most about it was the constant action and high pace. It seems like there were more techniques attempted per minute than any other event. There was little to no stalling and there was tons of activity from all positions. I was also happy that it seemed like almost everyone was trying to grapple and show off their skills instead of eek out a win. Even PJ Barch tried to wrestle up and sweep Nicky Rod. The production was also good and everything ran smoothly and on time. Everything was very professional, except ironically Sakuraba, who brought some fun to the event. I'm hoping they do more of these and that they can continue featuring top level talent. I don't expect to see a team as stacked as the B-team in the future, but seeing 1-2 big names per team would be good.
I love how they kept the action going in these matches and the format itself made stalling tolerable(although there really wasn't much of that). I could complain about the lack of submissions, but sometimes that happens. This might be one of the best events this year. I think it is between this, WNO 19 and the Polaris women's GP. However the WNO night of champions and the Polaris men's absolute GP are coming soon and they have some great names on them. Please come back and check out my coverage of those in a few weeks.
Year To Date Stats
Here are all the submissions I've collected this year up until the present moment for pro nogi grappling. At the end of the year I'll compile this and the stats for takedowns, passes, etc.
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