Eddie Bravo vs Royler Gracie - Metamoris 3, my quick personal recap!

Sooo i can start with my prediction: “Eddie is gonna wrap around Royler like an evil christmas present and then proceed to have his way with him until he taps out…”

Think i might have become a psychic after all my secret ninja training and meditation, because this fight was pure domination on Eddie’s part. They started out with Eddie quickly pulling Quarter Guard, which any other sane man would not do since Royler is known for his effective kneeslice pass. Anyway, after weathering the early storm of Royler trying to pass quarter guard to sidecontrol, Eddie beautifully transitioned from the Quarter Guard to Halfguard Lockdown…all 10p tec. From that point on, all Royler did, or had a chance to do, was to defend himself as he was completely shut down by Eddie’s game. Not a single submission attempt from Royler throughout the match. Just pure domination by Eddie, and Royler certainly got schooled by 10th Planet Jiu Jitsu techniques right there. Beautifully done, and mad props to Eddie for backing up his claims. I never doubted you or the awesome 10th Planet system!! This was down right DAMN impressive!!

Now for some Royler shame. There's been some controversy before this fight regarding Eddie’s choice of outfit for the match. The match was set up as an NoGi Submission Only bout, with a 20 minute time limit. In NoGi Jiu Jitsu it’s strictly forbidden to grab your opponents outfit at any point during the match. Eddie posted a picture a few weeks before the match wearing grappling tights instead of his usual Gi-pants and announced that this was what he would be wearing in the match. This because JJ Machado thought Royler might be able to manipulate Eddie too much with the pants. The day after he posted this picture he got an email from Royler’s attorney saying if Eddie decided to drop the pants for tights, Royler would pull out. He also added this insane demand: Royler can grab Eddie’s pants, but Eddie is not allowed to grab Royler’s shorts. Any of these demands not met on fight day, the fight is off. Now, theres nothing in the Metamoris contract stating this, it’s all Royler bullshit. Anyway, Eddie said: “Fuck-it, im doing it anyway… waited 10 years for this rematch and I’m not gonna let this opportunity pass one more time..”. Similar shady moves has happened before, folks. ADCC 2005, rematch was on, then Royler demanded 50000USD more from the Sheikh to do the fight. The Sheikh, of course, denied Royler’s claim and the fight was pulled. Seems to me like the Brazilian honor is way out of touch with reality.

At the end of this awesome rematch you see Eddie sweep to end up in a position half way between stoner control and side control. You see him push his forehead in to Royler’s face to make him start pushing back, lifting Eddie’s head off him. This is a setup from Eddie. He paitently waits for the right moment and booom: rolling Vaporizer right there. Royler did not see that coming and is now in some serious trouble. The Vaporizer is a nasty leglock, a calfcrusher with a twisting of the ankle/knee as well. Most people would have tapped there, and I would be surprised if no dammage was done to Royler’s leg also. Anyway, since Royler demanded the insane rule of grabbing the pants he was able to keep some of the pressure of the lock by grabbing the pants and controlling the right leg of Eddie. If Royler had not been a pussy with this and just gone with the regular nogi ruleset, I’m almost certian Royler’s leg would be broken in several pieces now. Royler would not have tapped anyway, but still it would have been over...done deal. By the way, this is just another stupid honor thing, not tapping when it’s over…

But wait, there’s more (belive it or not)... In the middle of the match you see Royler and Eddie being stopped to reset in the middle of the mats because they where heading towards the edge of the podium. When going back to the position you see some discussion going on regarding the position they initially were in, and Eddie by right, just stood up and demanded they look at the replay. After they checked, they tangled up again and you see Royler trying to position his leg to start off in a better position for him. Also, he grabs Eddie’s arms in a way he was not at the stoppage. There`s a statement from Metamoris showing before the match starts, that goes “The time won't stop if the submission is close”. Need i say more? Very strange to stop the fight with Eddie bringing heat to Royler’s leg...

Anyway, I’m glad Eddie had his way with Royler and set things straight with regards to the awesome 10th Planet Jiu Jitsu system. But if all you Royler fans out there are not crying with shame after all this, and start giving Eddie the respect that he quite obviously deserves, i’ll lose all respect for you guys starting from now until eternity. This kind of behavior is just fucking ridiculous...and you all know it! It's clearly not 1993 anymore, so stop living in the past.

Having said that, Metamoris 3 was the greatest Jiu Jitsu event I’ve ever witnessed, no bullshit, just honest, simple and down to business like it should be! Also loved the live tribal drumming at the walk-in. That alone set the stage for some mad seriousness and action. Submission Only is the future, stop with this silly pointfighting already! People say you need the points to make Jiu Jitsu more technical... if this event doesn’t change your mind about that, nothing will.

10th Planet Jiu Jitsu is a great organisation and a beautiful family, one of which I’m very happy and proud to be in, that’s for DAMN sure!!! Dont get stuck in tradition, be a part of evolution... the times they are a-changin! ;)

PS: I still regard Royler as one of the top BJJ players of all time, don’t get me wrong. He’s still a great practitioner and athlete, but I think it’s a shame he needs to fuck around like this to get things going. If all this is about fear of losing honor, then I actually think he just made it worse for himself by behaving this way. Also, many of the traditional BJJ players I’ve personally talked to over the years has laughed at 10th Planet and Eddie, saying all he does is great marketing and so on. I’m hoping this match puts a stop to some of these rediculous opinions, though I fear it will continue. In that case, a most sincerely and heartfelt fuck you to all of them from me.

Frode Nilsen