Capping off a stacked card of grappling singles and tag team matches, Craig Jones overcame a massive weight disadvantage to submit Anthony “Rumble” Johnson at Submission Underground 9. Alongside the main event were standout performances by UFC Alums Kevin Casey and Gabriel Gonzaga against returning SUG competitor Micah Brakefield and fellow UFC vet Fabiano Scherner.
Casey and Brakefield wasted no time testing the waters with collar tie attempts that took them all over the octagon before Brakefield pulled half guard. Casey was able to capitalize on the roughly 30 lbs. he had over the 10th Planet black belt to prevent any hip movement and eventually pass to side control. Here Brakefield would make two reverse triangle attempts that Casey was able to slip his head out of. Casey responded by threatening some shoulder locks of Brakefields’s left arm. Brakefield managed to re establish his guard at the end of the round, and the match went into overtime.
Both men opted to start in the spider web arm bar position, but Casey was able to both submit Brakefield and quickly escape the position to earn the win. Casey then revealed in his post fight interview with Chael Sonnen that his grandmother had unfortunately passed away that morning. “I pray that she was received by angels,” Casey said.
Next up two former UFC rivals would finally face off for the first time in over a decade. Gonzales started strong with an early arm drag to back take. From there Scherner is forced against the cage and taken down with a twist throw into half guard. He proceeds to pass, but over extends on an arm lock attempt and Scherner is able to stand up. Gonzales retains head and arm control and jerks him back down to the ground and flips into mount. The rest of the match consisted of Gonzales maintaining mount and attempting two triangles before repositioning to maintain top control.
Both fighters enter over time and like the previous match both men opt for the spider web position with Gonzales first escaping from Scherner in just 11 seconds. Next Scherner worked to escape from Gonzales by stacking him up, but Gonzales was eventually able to extend and get the tap. Gonzales would then reveal that at the time of his accepting the match he had no idea what EBI rules were and had to ask one of his students.
Compared to the last two matches, the main event didn’t even make it out of the first minute. Jones sits down almost as soon as the match starts and moves to get a butterfly hook in the now kneeling Johnson. Johnson attempts to collect Jones’ right leg for an over under pass but Jones Turns it into a triangle attempt before being forced to reposition. Going in again Jones gets into deep half while Johnson is sitting into his base and manages to collect his right leg and turn into a heelhook, securing the win at 48 seconds of the round.
“Shout out to Rumble for stepping into my rule set, I’ll never return the favor,” Jones said in his post fight interview. During the discussion Sonnen revealed that Jones may have a fight lined up with UFC Fighter and former Strikeforce Middleweight Champion Ronaldo “Jacaré” Souza, to which Jones eagerly agreed. Turning to Johnson, Chael asked if this match was a possible warm up for a return to MMA and what his plans were. “If the price is right,” was his only response.
Replays of all the matches are available on UFC Fightpass.
