Midwest Finishers Sub Only 1: The Lightweights

This Saturday, March 2, 2019, will be the inaugural event for the new Midwest Finishers Sub Only to be held at 10^th Planet Lombard in Illinois beginning at 3:00 p.m. CST.

Founded by Omar Ocasio, owner of 10^th Planet Lombard, the Midwest Finishers Sub Only is another branch of the east coast Finishers Sub Only, giving more competitors across the country a chance to compete under EBI rules.  The main feature, like most Finishers Sub Only events, will be a 16-man EBI rule tournament and this first event will feature lightweights at 155 pounds.  The winner of the lightweight tournament will take home a $1,600 cash prize and a custom championship belt.  The Midwest Finishers 1 will also feature 6 superfights to break up the rounds of the 16-man bracket.  Event sponsors include FUJI Sports, FUJI Mats, RMBR Club, BlackBelt CBD, the Grappler Union Podcast, Dude Wipes, and the Finishers/Show the Art Sub Only.  You can tune in to the live stream for free at the Midwest Finishers youtube page when the event begins and you can subscribe to get notifications about when the stream goes live.  You can also follow along with live results of the tournament bracket here.  The day after the Midwest Finishers Sub Only will be a seminar at 10th Planet Lombard featuring the one and only Renato Laranja.  You can check out the details on the that in the flyer below.

Anyone who follows the jiu jitsu competition scene should be able to tell at first glance that this lightweight tournament is absolutely stacked with experienced competitors.  One of the top seeds is the young standout Andrew Tackett.

At only 15 years old and training out of Brazilian Fight Factory/Checkmat, he managed to place 2^nd in the 135 pound adult division at the Onnit Invitational X.  He also recently made Flograppling’s list of the top 31 submissions at the west coast ADCC trials, where he performed extremely well among much older and more seasoned competitors.  It’s time people stop underestimating this teen and you can expect him to go far in the tournament this weekend.

Jordan Holy is another one to look out for in this tournament.  A black belt representing the Darkside in Texas, Holy is also an Onnit Invitational veteran.  Jordan is the 10th Planet Jacksonville Invitational Champion and the Submission Hunters Pro Champion and has been tearing up the competition scene lately with his fiancé, Alana Kai.  Alana is a purple belt and an Onnit Invitational veteran as well, as the two seem to regularly compete on the same cards.  She will also be competing on this event in a superfight match against Nabila Martinez.  This power couple will be sure to entertain this weekend.

Looking at the other side of the bracket, another one of the top names in the tournament is Emilio Hernandez, who just competed in the Finishers Sub Only 8 on the east coast this past weekend.  A brown belt training out of Tennessee BJJ, Hernandez made it to the Finishers 8 finals by submitting his first three opponents in regulation before falling to Keith Krikorian.  He has some absolutely nasty leg and ankle locks so you’ll want to be sure to keep your eyes peeled when he steps on the mat.

Those are only a few of the top seeds in the tournament, but really it is anyone’s game considering how impressive this line up is and other names such as Alex Hodi and Pedro Serrano in the bracket.  All of the competitors are regularly out there competing and have the credentials to make for an extremely entertaining event.

SUPERFIGHTS

John Pontarelli (Fit2Defend) vs Isaac Cordova (10th Planet Orange County)

Nick Macellaio (Bodhi Collaborative) vs Tom Higgins (Higgins Conspiracy)

Alana Kai (The Darkside) vs Nabila Martinez (Workshop BJJ)

Nate Pena (TAC Team BJJ) vs Andrew Alexander (10th Planet Grants Pass)

Justin Renick (Travis Moore BJJ) vs Michael Carpenter (Workshop BJJ)

Blake Klassman (Fit2Defend) vs Mike Dewitt (10th Planet Springfield)

LIGHTWEIGHT TOURNAMENT FIRST ROUND MATCHES

Andrew Tackett (Brazilian Fight Factory/Checkmat) vs Hashir Azam (10th Planet Lombard)

Alex Seaver (Carlson Gracie Team) vs Andrew Birnhak (Foundation BJJ)

Kyle Perkins (Team Curran ) vs Michael John (10th Planet Orange County)

Dylan Falduto (Valko BJJ) vs Jordan Holy (The Darkside)

Pedro Serrano (Gracie Barra) vs Matt Ferran (Teknica Jiu Jitsu)

Chris Orozco (Travis Moore BJJ) vs Kurt Chase-Patrick (10^th Planet Fairfield)

Alex Hodi (Roots Jiu Jitsu) vs Jimmy Morgan (10th Planet Burbank)

Kyle Thomison (Team James Clingerman) vs Emilio Hernandez (Tennessee BJJ)

Laura Kent

Laura Kent is a 10th Planet jiu jitsu brown belt who trains at 10th Planet Bethlehem and 10th Planet Allentown under the Finishers MMA banner. She competes regularly and is an avid follower and fan of the submission only competition scene. Laura tries to make an effort to cover some of the local submission only events that get less coverage from mainstream MMA and jiu jitsu news outlets and will regularly cover the Eddie Bravo Invitational and Combat Jiu Jitsu events. Laura is an MMA fan as well, which is a large part of what led her to start her jiu jitsu training.

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