EBI 7: What It Taught Us

EBI 7 was an action packed, high stakes night of no gi Jiu Jitsu action. With the best featherweight submission fighters in the world, going for the kill, the scene was set for some memorable moments. With all of these awesome matches that were put on, we definitely learned some facts from this past Saturday. Here are five important things that EBI 7 taught us…

Eddie Cummings is the real deal:

Eddie Cummings, of the Danaher Death Squad, has been a fervently talked about competitor for the last few years. A grappler who primarily competes in submission only events, he has drawn criticism out due to his leg lock style, which is also a reason on why so many fans love him. He put all critics down when we finished every single one of his opponents quickly in regulation time. Eddie had two leg lock victories, and two victories by choke, showing that his leg attacks are not the only techniques to be feared. He took out Sergio Hernandez, Chad George, Mike Davila and Bill Cooper. Eddie once again retained his championship. People will be gunning for him after this domination.

Bill Cooper is back:

Bill “The Grill” Cooper is a pioneer of the modern Jiu Jitsu world. The man was feared competitor with a championship list a mile long. But for the last few years, Bill had been relatively quiet and had stepped away from competing. He came back to competition for this EBI and everyone (except his opponents) are glad that he did. Bill came like a bat out of hell, with his showy, crowd friendly style. The Grill submitted all his opponents up until his loss from Eddie Cummings in the final. He submitted Ian Sanders by RNC in overtime, Jose Gutierrez by heel hook, and Geo Martinez by armbar in overtime. There were a lot of questions on if Bill could hang with the newer generation of grapplers, and boy, did he ever. Looking forward to see more of Bill in upcoming events!

Watch out for Ashley Williams:

The youngest competitor of this tournament was Ashley Williams. A black belt from the UK under Braulio Estima, he was a heavily requested competitor for EBI. While he did not get passed his first round opponent, Rafael Domingos, he put on a match that is sure to be a classic. Williams showed a very aggressive style, where he never once let up against the more experienced Domingos. The battle was hard fought until the overtime, where he finally got caught with an RNC. Ashley showed his heart and skill and certainly will be back soon.

Rafael Domingos has the best poker face in Jiu Jitsu:

If Rafael Domingos was a poker player, he’d be a millionaire playing in Las Vegas. Domingos was in some scary situations in both his matches against Ashley Williams and Geo Martinez, but you’d never know it from the look on his face. One of his best examples of that, was when Williams had a leg lock put on Domingos. Domingos rested his head on one of his hands, and made a simple brush away motion before escaping the attack. Though he eventually would fall to Geo in the quarter finals, he looked phenomenal until then.

Back to the drawing board for Geo Martinez:

As a fan of Geo, it was great seeing him do so well at this event, but he didn’t seem completely himself. The current EBI bantamweight champion, he moved up in weight for this past tournament, dealing with some serious killers. While he did get to the semi finals, I hope he does go back down to bantamweight. He really shines at that weight class, and does some serious damage. I think dealing with some of the bigger guys at the featherweight class gave him some trouble. Definitely looking forward to more Geo matches in 2016.

EBI once again proved that they are the number one submission only event in the world. Many more organizations keep popping up and putting on events, which is great for the sport. But EBI still is king of the hill when it comes to submission only Jiu Jitsu. Be on the lookout for their next event in September, where EBI absolute champ, Gordon Ryan competes against some of the best middleweights in the world.

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