Upsets Galore At Spyder Invitational In Korea, Brown Belt Showcase Over Roster Of Black Belts

The Spyder Invitational taking place in Korea held their quarterfinal on July 20th, featuring nine matches between some of the worlds best in a timed point-based tournament format.

Spyder quarterfinals
**indicates brown belt

Matheus Godoy (Alliance) vs. Kaynan Duarte (Atos JJ)

The 2017 champion Godoy pulls a quick guard after a fake guard pull by Duarte. He negates a sequence of aggressive passing by inverting, Duarte doubling down and putting the heat on with a stack pass. The position is held for a moment until Duarte dominates hip control landing in side control and securing the points. Godoy recovers quarter guard off of Duartes’ mount attempt, recovering knee shield and working his De La Riva guard. Godoy feeds the lapel and enters worm guard, Kaynan maintaining solid grips and base. The commentators are verbalizing their curiosity of guard selection given Duarte is a training partner of the worm guard master. Godoy swims under looking to take the back, recovering to X guard from Duarte’s neutralization. Duarte dominates sleeve control, however backstops into a more established x guard. Godoy grabs the leg getting to his feet, landing in a front headlock forcing him to recover guard. Kaynen nearly passes by controlling the same side lapel and leg grip before time runs out. Kaynan advances on with a 3-0 victory.

Kaynan Duarte WIN via points against Godoy

Charles Negromonte (Roger Gracie Academy) vs. Vinicius Ferreira (Alliance)**

Ferreira is coming in as a 2017 brown belt world champion. After a stalemate on the feet, Negromonte pulls full guard about a minute in. Charles tries controlling the cross sleeve grip while battling for posture. Negromonte tries entering Williams guard but is negated. He reestablishes a two on one grip, however Vinicius holds the lapels to maintain balance and posture. He gets his posture broken and nearly lands in an omoplata but reestablishes his posture and grips. Vinicius attempts to pass on the feet but keeps getting broken down. From there they engage in a back and forth grip fight. Negromonte attempts an omoplata once he clears a hand to the mat, Ferreira manages to create a scramble and lands in half guard. They are stood up at 0-0, no advantages. With little action on feet, Negromonte drops for a single and looks to close the distance as time runs out.

Charles Negromonte WIN via Ref decision against Vinicius Ferreira

Tommy Langaker (Kimura academy) vs. Victor Hugo (Ribeiro Jiu Jitsu) **

Hugo pulls a quick guard on the runner-up at the worlds, Langaker posturing to maintain a knee in the base of the spine causing Hugo to open and enter spider lasso. Hugo pulls off an impressive armbar submission attempt via a rolling omoplata by lasso, keeping the position and sweeping to the top. Hugo scores 2 points as well as lands an advantage. Langaker establishes a half guard and cross collar control while Hugo maintains his base and grips. Hugo tries for an X pass, Langaker’s dexterity however is able to maintain guard. Hugo showcases more of his athleticism and quickness in his attempt to pass, Langaker spins back to guard with an impressive recovery. Hugo lands in half guard, Langaker is looking for an inverted kneebar from a tornado guard setup, they nearly scramble to their feet before Hugo slams Langaker back down to mat with a thud, landing in half guard. Langaker is being aggressive with his guard and Hugo looks to break grips and maintain posture. Hugo attempts a drop step pass which Langaker recovers, then performs another X pass and explodes past Langaker’s guard straight into a triangle. Hugo finishes the job with an armbar variation from the triangle setup. The crowd cheers the impressive finish for the brown belt Hugo.

Victor Hugo WIN via triangle armbar against Tommy Langaker

DJ Jackson (Team Lloyd Irvin) vs. Craig Jones (Absolute MMA)

Craig Jones is entering the match with relatively minimal gi experience compared to DJ Jackson. Jones pulls a quick full guard, not choosing to engage on the feet with the wrestler Jackson. Jackson secures grips attempting an amassa pao choke to try to open Jones’ guard, Jones looking to break the grips to little effect. Jones however displays a significant length advantage playing to his favor in closed guard. Jones reaches over DJ’s shoulder securing a cross belt grip. Jackson however maintains rock solid base, squaring the two back up. Jones is choosing not to risk opening his guard, as his legs are long enough to accommodate DJ’s grip establishments. Jones continually works the underhook on the leg, Jackson sprawling out to negate any sweep or kneebar attempts. DJ secures an underhook in closed guard and begins working a Sao Paulo pass, having trouble opening the long legs of Jones. He finally opens the guard and attempts to stuff him to half guard while Jones is battling for a triangle as time expires.

DJ Jackson WIN via ref decision against Craig Jones

Eduardo telles (99 jiu jitsu) vs. Benson Henderson (MMA Lab)

Turtle guard master Telles squares off against a legendary MMA fighter in Benson Henderson. Henderson shoots a beautiful double leg to open, scoring a quick 2. He gets Telles on his side going for a head wrap, Telles artistically recovers with his shoulder and base mobility entering turtle guard. There appears to be no way Henderson is catching the guillotine against the savvy Telles. Telles fakes a half guard pull to reestablish his turtle. A snap down by Henderson sparks an inkling of hope however he is having a noticeable struggle controlling the positional master. Telles enters a dogfight type half guard after securing a quick lockdown, double hand gripping the opposite leg for an attempted old school sweep. Henderson neutralizes as neither can maintain a dominant position. Eduardo recovers to turtle guard after a monstrous display of base and scrambling ability by Henderson. These appear to be two clashing styles, making for an interesting fight. Telles’ head is under Henderson’s body, Henderson front headlock attempts are futile. Telles pulls deep half thinking about waiter sweep, Henderson pins his wrist and attempts step around pass. He gets locked up with lockdown, the tentacles of Telles putting Benson in an obscure position similar to what Eddie Bravo references as Stoner Control. Henderson’s hips are dominated as they battle for subtle dominance of the grips. Telles goes for a quick dogfight attempt which turns out fruitless against the wrestler, entering coyote half guard though Benson’s sprawl shuts down any hope of a sweep. Eduardo pulls back to half guard, Benson secures an underhook as Telles is on his side, Benson looks for back however Eduardo turtles and recovers. securing an advantage for Henderson. Benson nearly collapses Eduardo’s neck in for d’arce which is well-defended by Eduardo’s frames. A scramble ensues as Telles enters deep half. Benson continually fishes for the head, fully expected by Telles as he seems perfectly unfazed. Another waiter sweep sweep happens but his knee gets stuffed, his back take gets stuffed, though it becomes very clear that Benson is not passing any guards in this match. A rolling kneebar attempt of Telles is stuffed to bring the time to an end. Although there were no submissions, a visibly pleased audience cheers loudly for both competitors.

Benson Henderson WIN via points over Eduardo Telles

Shane Hill-Taylor (Team Lloyd Irvin) vs. Johnatha Alves (AOJ)**
Both athletes pull guard straightaway, battling for grips and foot position. Shane wraps Alves’ foot and feeds the lapel, no immediate danger is eminent however he looks to transfer to the leg drag. They land in modified 50-50, Alves triangles them into standard 50-50. Shane finds for spider guard grip, holding a handle on position. No one as of yet has been given an advantage. They roll back and forth, a pseudo back take angle allows Hill to lock up a kimura grip, a subsequent scramble allows Alves to rip it away. Hill is still controlling the arm grip and seems to be dominating the position. The 50-50 is broken and Alves begins crab riding until Shane is able to re-entangle the legs. The action causes the referee to stop the match while Shane reties his pants. Shane controls a straight footlock, aborts looking to leg drag to the top, controlling the pant grip to stand up. The commentators did not agree with the ref decision to not award an advantage to Shane standing up in the 50-50. Alves attempts a beautiful waiter sweep that allows him to swim under, scrambling to the feet and getting behind Shane, Shane scrambles back into Alves’ closed guard. The fight is stood up and Alves is awarded an advantage. A couple refs signals two points however only an advantage is awarded. Alves wins by one advantage and is embraced by Rafa Mendes on the sideline. Shane can be seen arguing with ref after the match, confused of the interpretation of standing up in 50-50, mirroring the commentators disagreement. A big win for the recently minted Brown Belt.

Johnatha Alves WIN by points over Shane Hill-Taylor

Masahiro Iwasaki (carpe diem) vs. Hugo Marquez (Soul Fighters)

Marques attempts a quick slew of judo takedowns before Iwasaki pulls half guard. Iwasaki is coming in with notable wins over Edwin Najmi and Renato Canuto. Stubbornly on his side in half guard, Hugo is able to feed the lapel and achieve a reinforced cross face grip. Iwasaki has his arm under the leg and a tight half guard squeeze. Marquez has his head on Iwasaki’s chin with blistering cross face keeping Iwasaki on his back. Iwasaki exhibits exemplary patients as he reestablishes the underhook, causing Marquez to abort the lapel grip. Iwasaki gets a belt grip and is back on his side. A strong base and retraction of his upper body keeps Marques safe. Iwasaki pulls on the belt and gi hard enough to have the ref stop the match and readjust Hugo’s kimono which had gone over his head. It is noticeably frustrating for Iwasaki to setup a sweep as Hugo reestablishes the cross face. Hugo switches to a knee slice instead of a reverse half guard pass. Both work the lapel and sleeve grip. Hugo takes a back step and Iwasaki blocks it with his trailing leg. Hugo does not make his way all the way around to the 4-11. Iwasaki locks up a belt grip, Hugo drifts just a hair too far and Kawasaki is able to get his hips under Hugo and tomahawk him for the sweep. The match ends just as Iwasaki is awarded points, garnering a spectacular show of emotion once the buzzer hits. Iwasaki’s match winning sweep represents the highlight of the tournament.

Masahiro Iwasaki WIN via point over Hugo Marquez

Inseong Jang (Wire Jiu Jitsu)** vs. AJ Agazarm (Gracie Barra)

Big cheers erupt for the local favorite Inseong Jang, appearing as if he has home court advantage against the mercurial wrestler turned jiu jitsu fighter. AJ is represented by baseball choke legend Magid Hage in his corner. AJ shows level changes early, Jang shows focus managing the distance.. Both fighters receive a negative advantage for passivity. A quick double guard pull cause both to scramble back to the feet. Both are considerably more aggressive with gi grips, AJ looking to sit guard, both neutralizing each others grips. AJ pulls open guard looking to feed the lapel. AJ is working his De La Riva, Jang controls AJ’s collar, AJ feeds the lapel improving his position, looking to pull to elevate Jang however Jang maintains his base. AJ is looking to off-balance Jang to open up an option. Jang underhooks the leg shutting down AJ coming up on a single. AJ continues looking for an opening maintaining the lapel grip under the legs. Jang neutralizes his attempts and sits back for a slick kneebar, AJ didn’t seem to be very fazed. The opponents are stood up, Jang being up one advantage for being on top in an earlier double guard pull. The athletes retie their belt and reset from an open guard with no points of contact, AJ being on bottom. They mostly grip fight, AJ looking to snatch a leg or lapel, eventually pulling half guard. Jang stays technical on top, exhibiting no explosive pass attempts but maintaining good neutralization of AJ’s attempt to off-balance him. AJ comes up on a single but Jang is able to rip his knee away. Jang pulls a quick guard and AJ begins putting the heat on to pass before the clock runs out. The crowd cheers for the hometown hero, AJ shows class in holding up Jang’s hand in a show of sportsmanship.

Inseong Jang WIN via points over AJ Agazarm

Paulo Miyao (Unity) vs. Matheus Gabriel (Checkmat BJJ)

2018 Brown Belt World Champion Matheus Gabriel has his work cut out in one of his first experiences as a black belt going up against the elder Miyao. After a quick double guard pull, little action causes the refs to stand the match up and award a negative advantage to each side. Another double guard pull occurs right away, Gabriel sits in his open guard, Paulo is on top however is not granted an advantage. Gabriel is looking to enter reverse De La Riva guard and work a series of sweep, Paulo neutralizes with the pant grip and eventually rolls to the back. Gabriel is wise to Paulo’s tactics and uses the momentum to ride to the top. Paulo quickly reverses the position, the refs stand them up awarding no points and only one advantage to Gabriel. Gabriel enters the same game, riding to the top and securing two points. He sits back respecting Paulo’s grips. Paulo reverses and it becomes tied with Gabriel up one advantage. Gabriel enters with a slick single leg X guard entry into 50-50, Paulo however showing great use of pressure, forcing Gabriel to recover to open guard. The match is paused as the competitors re-tie their belts. Gabriel pulls half guard again, a very dynamic guard it appears as he seems to give Paulo some trouble. The match is stood up after three instances where the pair are forced to reset to the middle. Another double guard pull happens, both have a leg grip with leg drag available, the refs however stand them up for passivity garnering a negative advantage to each. Gabriel visually displays confusion over the score before the match is restarted. The match is started standing, both shoot double guard pull, Gabriel nearly comes through to mount, however Miyao’s legs find the inside of Gabriel’s torso. Miyao secures a quick get up securing two points. He receives another two from a guard pull attempt earlier of Gabriels. Miyao holds a 6-2 lead. Gabriel reverses while they are stuck in 50-50 to get two more points, Miyao comes back up for two, Gabriel up for two more. Miyao appears to be winning the cat and mouse game in 50-50. Gabriel locks up a tight toe hold, the flexibility of Miyao’s ankles though are stuff of legend. The clock runs out and Miyao joins the group of semifinalists.

Paulo Miyao WIN via points over Matheus Gabriel

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