Royler Gracie vs. Eddie Bravo II worth the hype at Metamoris 3
DALLAS, TX, April 2, 2014 – Fans of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu were recently treated to a long-awaited rematch between Eddie Bravo and Royler Gracie this past weekend at Metamoris 3. Fans have been clamoring for the bout since Bravo’s upset submission victory over Gracie at ADCC 2003 in Sao Paolo. The result of that match, Royler tapping to a triangle choke, shocked the world. It was a long road getting here but they would finally face each other for the second time with the whole world wondering who would get the better of the other.
By now the results of the rematch have been widely publicized. It was a draw given the 20-minute submission only rules. Nonetheless, the prevailing public opinion is that Bravo had the advantage, able to impose his unorthodox game on a resilient legend that, this time, refused to tap.
Following the bout there have been many pundits and BJJ experts chiming in to dissect the matchup. The same goes here in Texas and so we asked Brandon Quick to both score the fight and analyze the match in order to give his own breakdown of the techniques Eddie and Royler were using while also sharing his own opinion on the match itself. For those of you that are unfamiliar with Quick, he is a BJJ black belt under Jamie Walsh, who is also very familiar with Eddie Bravo’s 10th Planet JJ system. All three men are part of Jean Jacques Machado’s lineage and have trained together before so he’s able to provide some unique insight that you won’t perhaps get elsewhere other than the combatants of the match itself.
For the rake of respecting copyright, we won’t repost the match itself here but you should be able to purchase it still on Metamoris.com. Watch it then see the scoring below.
Here is how Prof. Quick scored the points of the match under IBJJF rules:
- 12:50 adv electric chair EB
- 12:15 2pts electric chair sweep EB
- 10:56 3pts Cradle Pass EB
- 10:15 adv back take EB
- 10:06 adv pass to half guard RG
- 7:55 adv Electric Chair EB
- 7:16 2pts Electric Chair Sweep EB
- 7:05 2pts Half guard sweep RG
- 5:45 2 pts electric chair sweep EB
- 5:26 adv half guard sweep (Eddie fell back to half but immediately came back up in Stoner Control) RG
- 3:50-0 adv Vaporizer calf crank from stoner control
Final Score: Eddie Bravo 9 points 4 advantages vs. Royler Gracie 2 points 2 advantages (1 possible penalty for refusing to reposition).
It is important to note that Royler might have taken a completely different approach to the match had it been fought under different rules like the IBJJF set, but the original match was fought under ADCC rules and Royler’s strategy for the Metamoris fight did not seem to undergo a major overhaul between the first game plan and their rematch. When discussing fight strategy Quick noted:
“Royler looked dang near the exact same as 2003 but why wouldn’t he? The pass he was trying for him worked on Eddie back then so maybe that was the strategy for the guard pass again. Eddie did 10th Planet basics & used his Lockdown game. In 2003 he got his guard passed & didn’t use Lockdown. Royler didn’t try to pass quarter guard any other way for 6.5 minutes & tried no Lockdown passes either. In my opinion, a change of his half guard pass would have possibly mixed things up a bit. We can’t forget that the Brown Belt Eddie of 2003 is a 3 stripe Black now too so Eddie had the most room for growth, especially since he has a system he plays. He explored those new positions for 11 years.”
Here’s an in-depth video breaking down the fight even further:
TXMMA Technique of the Week – Brandon Quick breaks down Eddie Bravo vs. Royler Gracie II
Special thanks to Brandon Quick and Levi Mowles for taking the time to breakdown the fight for us. If you liked what you saw of Quick make sure to check out his upcoming seminar in Trinidad and Tobago. Quick will be taking a group of people to train in BJJ and MMA in the Caribbean Islands along with UFC fighter Brutal Johnny Bedford. Check out this video for more info:
