Victory in Boston! At the BJJ Fanatics 170 pound tournament tonight junior squad members oliver taza and Ethan Crelinsten defeated some very tough and talented opponents to get to the finals while Gordon Ryan defeated Pat Downy in a submission grappling match via submission and lost the return freestyle wrestling match via tech fall. Obviously Gordon Ryan can quickly and easily win via submission against a wrestler and no one would be impressed by this, so instead Mr Ryan's main mission tonight was to show that a Jiu Jitsu athlete can be very competitive with even an elite wrestler in the standing position within an ADCC/IBJJF type rule set – this he certainly did. under ADCC rules he did not concede a takedown and took down his distinguished national champion opponent twice. Mr Downy appeared very tired (wrestling matches are a very fast paced six minutes while Jiu Jitsu matches like the one tonight have a totally different pace and look). At around fifteen minutes Gordon Ryan applied a move commonly used in wrestling, a power half Nelson and Mr Downey strangely submitted, probably from fatigue as there was no actual submission hold in place. It was an impressive thing to watch a Jiu Jitsu athlete score in the standing position against such a distinguished wrestler. In the freestyle match of course it was a different story as Mr Downey expertise in pressure and pace got him quick push out and takedown points and then turns on the ground in par terre. For Oliver Taza, this was his career best performance tonight – defeating the very talented PJ Barch and John Combs via submission en route to the final. Ethan Crelinsten was the smallest man of the tournament, weighing only 145 pounds in a 170 pound tournament and showed tremendous heart to win his way to the final against substantially bigger and stronger opponents. It was a great night for the squad and a fun mix of rules from around the grappling world! Hope you enjoyed the show!! Wishing you all the best from Boston!
