Kron Gracie taps Shinya Aoki; Brendan Schaub refuses to grapple at grappling event
Ralek Gracie’ Metamoris Pro jiu-jitsu promotion held court with their second event at UCLA’s Pauley Pavilion in Los Angeles, CA this past Sunday June 9th.
With all eyes on Metamoris 2 just a week after the 2013 IBJJF Worlds, the event featured six total fights headlined by the continuation of a long-running rivalry of sorts between Brazil and Japan in the main event as Kron Gracie took on Japanese MMA star and Shinya Aoki.
That match lived up to top billing as far as this submission-focused event goes with Gracie finishing “Tobikan Judan” with a mounted guillotine choke around the five minute mark after some early jostling between the two. It didn’t take long after he pulled guard that Kron went to attack Aoki’s neck as his posture was broken down. Despite a valiant attempt at escaping the move, Aoki ran out of space along the edge of the mat for the one – and only – submission of the evening.
As for the rest of the event, it featured some great matches despite the lack of submission. Nearly all of the bouts lived up to top-billing otherwise with highly-anticipated matchups like Rodolfo Vieira taking on Braulio Estima and Andre Galvao taking on Rafael Lovato Jr. all going the full twenty minutes and ending with a win by judges’ decision for Vieira and Galvao but not without a valiant effort from their counterparts.
Likewise, two out of three draws in matches featuring Mackenzie Dern vs. Michelle Nicolini (in the first women’s match in Metamoris history) and Victor Estima vs. Jonathan “JT” Torres also featured an impressive display of attacking Jiu-Jitsu.
In the end, the only black mark that would come from this event came in the third bout of the evening featuring Roberto “Cyborg” Abreu taking on UFC fighter, former NFL player, and BJJ brown belt Brendan Schaub – who refused to engage with his grappling champion of an opponent minus some love taps to his head and sprawls here and there – choosing instead to avoid the fight in lieu of running the risk of getting submitted.
…Shame on Schaub but certainly not anyone’s fault but his own. One can only guess that organizers will likely stay away from this type of novelty act from now on.
As for the future of Metamoris, it was announced at the event that the third edition of the event (date TBD) will feature a long-awaited rematch nearly ten years in the making between Royler Gracie and Eddie Bravo. Could lightning strike twice here or will Gracie gain revenge for the triangle choke win Bravo gained over him at ADCC 2003?
In addition, it was also announced at the post-event presser that Kron Gracie is now exclusively grappling for Metamoris, so more IBJJF competitions for him. One can only assume with near-certainty that he too should be prominently featured on the third event.
Stay tuned for more on Metamoris 3 as its announced here on TXMMA.com.
Metamoris 2 – Quick Results from June 9, 2013
Kron Gracie defeats Shinya Aoki Gracie via guillotine choke
Rodolfo Vieira over Braulio Estima by judges’ decision
Roberto “Cyborg” Abreu over Brendan Schaub by judges’ decision
Mackenzie Dern vs. Michelle Nicolini – Draw
Andre Galvao over Rafael Lovato Jr. by judges’ decision
Victor Estima vs. Jonathan “JT” Torres – Draw