Eduardo Telles is what made a good EBI great.

[Arman Fathi]

Let me start by saying, there have been questions and mixed reactions as to the style of jiu jitsu that Eduardo Telles displayed on Sunday. Some people question whether this aligns with what EBI is trying to do, which is gather mass market appeal. The simple answer, as long as you limit it to one guy, it's a net positive. Is it appropriate to have this as the basis of the tournament? Absolutely not. If however EBI is to be the premier grappling tournament in existence, it must continue to display different brands of jiu jitsu. Different strategies.

A lot of the fights at EBI 8 were done within the first few minutes or so. Telles's first match that went to overtime was a far more entertaining overtime match compared to that kid with the missing tooth. We witnessed jiu jitsu at its purest. A defensive display. Now some would argue that it is against the spirit of the tournament, that his style doesn't fit into the mode of 'going for the kill', that he was working the rules to win on escapes and try to win by riding time. Anyone who watched him though knows deep down that they were witnessing beauty. Now again, this shouldn't be every guy, or even 2 or 3 guys. The bracket should ALWAYS however include ONE old school brazilian, one dude who's an OG, one guy who has like a 4th or 5th degree Royler/Jacare/Sauer/etc. black belt that might not be the best athlete, but has substantial mat time and that old school 'feel' that we all know and love. One guy. Not two. One. One old school Brazilian at each EBI, surrounded by your usual Danaher squad, 10th planet asssassins, hot shot brown belt, new black on the scene. To any organizer reading this, for the GI crowd, you gotta include that one old school Brazilian. One. One per EBI. Not two. The payoff in uniting the old school fans into this new school brand of jiu jitsu is and will continue to go a long way. There are plenty of young, up and coming, hot shot athletes that are going to get their shot. You have to preserve some semblance of respect for the guys in their late 30's/early 40's. Guys with some juice left in the tank. I've seen a number of posts from GI guys on social media that spell out that Telles was by far their favorite part of EBI. One of these guys from now on has to be a part of EBI. Just as a throw in, a black horse. The trademark Brazilian. Every EBI.
That one old school legend that has that novelty factor. This is why you can't have two.

One guy.

A simple request, one that I feel will benefit everybody.

[brianspinaltap]

What happened??

[Arman Fathi]

What happened??

It does not do it justice to describe it in words, I would highly recommend jumping onto fightpass and checking it out. Long story short, he basically completely gave up turtle position and evaded a series of attack after attack by being hyper-efficient on the bottom in defending. It was a breath of fresh air from the strategies commonly employed by a majority of EBI competitors.

[brianspinaltap]

Well, that's his game! I love turtle too so I need to watch him - being able to avoid leg locks is tricky from turtle so I imagine it would be a masterclass. Can you just buy ebi on flow grappling or do you have to buy the whole thing - or can I get it in ufc fight pass?

[Arman Fathi]

Im not too sure

[Pat Campagnola]

Well, that's his game! I love turtle too so I need to watch him - being able to avoid leg locks is tricky from turtle so I imagine it would be a masterclass. Can you just buy ebi on flow grappling or do you have to buy the whole thing - or can I get it in ufc fight pass?

EBI is on UFC Fight Pass

[Brian Debes]

Telles IS in allot of ways one of a kind. Its hard to control just how many people will stall and stall strategy's are contagious, especially if a guy like that were to win. That it could cripple the event. A huge part of the excitement level of this event is the type of people invited. We've had a guy like Joe Sotto come to win on overtime before. I feel like the event was saved by him being submitted and not becoming champion.

That said, Eddie is constantly trying to get guys like that in the event, most of them just wont do it. Eddie hunts for big names for this for sure.

[NelsonLucca]

Props to Eduardo for entering the event. A lot of high level grapplers won't put their name on the line in EBI, as we've seen in the past. I knew who he was prior but never watched any of his matches. After watching him, I became a big fan. It's all in the details.

[Craig Murray]

I LOVED watching how that style played out against the other competitors. I only wish I got to see him against Gordon Ryan.

I see no risk of this becoming some trend. You really think that even if he won that Cummings, Tonon, and Ryan would suddenly start working on their turtle guard? No way. They might start working on techniques to pop it open though...

Let's wait until EBI is full of stalling before we worry about that. This EBI was by far the lowest total match time, the action was faster and more furious than ever before. I loved watching it and I don't see a problem with it become some kind of epidemic.

[Ben Eddy]

What you're really getting at is people enjoy seeing style vs style matchups. I think EBI needs to get away from being seen as a BJJ promotion and just be submission grappling. Who can win if no strikes are allowed?

Now you get to market the event with styles in mind. The catch wrestler, the mma guy, wrestler, sambo. Styles of attack like Danaher leg lock guy vs ryan hall leg lock guy etc. etc. This is how the UFC hyped their fights in the beginning. It was the big question on everyone's mind. What is best? And it's still how the UFC hypes fights today outside of bad blood drama.

Metamoris had a good thing going with Josh Barnett calling out the BJJ guys and saying catch wrestling was best. We need more of that.

It's hard for someone to feel the desire to learn a new sport. When they hear "BJJ", if they don't know the sport, it turns them off. They hear that EBI is interesting and "worth watching", but many won't feel like watching because they don't feel they know the sport. However, everyone can understand the concept of "who can win without strikes". It's an instantly relatable concept and provides a framework for people to understand and enjoy what they're watching as well as a framework for the commentators to inform the viewers.