Ticket prices have been discounted, so come to the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium to watch some great grappling! Or tune into www.MMALive for a live radio broadcast! LA Sub X Preview Rico Chiparelli’s Professional Submission League hosts its inaugural event tonight, LA Sub X. Ticket prices have just been greatly reduced, so if you’re a fan of Submission Grappling or Combat sports there is no reason in the world to not come to the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium to check out the action of what is sure to go down as one of the greatest submission grappling events in history. The rules are different from any submission grappling event. Action will be divided between two four minute rounds, with a two minute overtime if necessary. Points are awarded for takedowns, mount or taking of the back (1 point), or near submissions (3 points). A TapOut will naturally conclude the match. The officiating team are American Black Belts Shawn Williams (head referee), Andy Wang, and making his submission grappling debut, perhaps the most well respected referee in the MMA world Herb Dean. Megumi Fuji vs Michelle Mills Megumi Fuji from Japan is an ADCC veteran and a celebrated MMA fighter in Japan. She is also a sambo champion. I’m not going to name names, but at all of 115 pounds she rolled with a lot of the big boys at the R1 gym in the last week and impressed everyone. Michelle Mills trains out of New Mexico with Jackson Gaido camp and has actively been competing in both the submission grappling camp and in MMA. Look for he wrestling ability and her to battle for the underhooks. This is going to be a great opener for the inaugural LA Sub X card! Jeff Glover vs Robson Moura Jeff Glover recently received his black belt in BJJ from Ricardo “Franjinha” Miller after taking first in the brown belt division of the Pan Ams for the second year in a row. Jeff (alternatively know as G-Lover, J-Glo, or the Pipelayer) may be the most active high level American competitor on the scene right now, and he improves with every match. While he is constantly attacking and has some unorthodox and even seemingly crazy maneuvers under his belt, one mistake against him will often end the match. Robson Moura has been training in Brazilian JiuJitsu since the age of 10. Robinho has numerous BJJ titles to his credit, and has been on the winner’s podium of he Mundial 6 times now. Robson has decent takedowns and like to play a tight, controlling game from the top, but also has a variety of submissions he can work from any position. Leozinho vs Naoya Uematsu Leozinho brings a pedigree that would be the envy of any competitor, having won or placed in the very highest levels of competition for the better part of a decade now. He is very hard to score upon, is feared for his guard and has among the most effective passes in the game. He demonstrated a huge heart in route to winning his second ADCC title in a row, battling through a forty five minute war in the finals, while he had entered the tournament with a severely broken foot. Coming out of K’s Factory is Naoya Uematsu, black belt in both Jiu Jitsu and Judo. Although he is a relative new comer to the international competition scene, what he has displayed so far in the United States has been extremely impressive displays at the Pan Ams 2006, and a dominant performance at the Tournament of Champions. Naoya has devastating takedowns and an incredible base. LA Sub X will mark the first time that Leozinho and Naoya have r faced each other in competition. Neither competitor likes to give up points, so the keys to this match will be who brings this match to the mat first, and who is able to remain on top, that person will likely be the one who is winning the match. I don’t see a submission coming from the bottom in this match up ordinarily, but remember that under PSL rules submission attempts are awarded 3 points while guard passing is worth nothing, so both competitors have the incentive to open up their games. Despite the fact there is only a seven day difference in age between the two, Leozinho has far more experience in this type of competition, likely giving him the edge. Naoya is an X-factor here, what we’ve seen of his game is impressive so far, but has he shown us all his tricks? Saulo Ribeiro vs Jake Shields Saulo Riberio is a six time World Champion of JiuJitsu, and an ADCC champion as well. Saulo may well be the top competitor this sport has seen yet. He has a mastery of the most basic things that make for a successful grappler, and is among the best tacticians in this sport. He changes his strategy and game plan depending on his opponent. Jake Shields recently won the Rumble on the Rock Welterweight championship. He took third at ADCC in 2005, and despite never wearing a gi prior, won the Pan Americans purple belt division. Jake is toughness personified, and the win in ADCC came despite suffering a severely dislocated elbow in the second round. Jake started off as a wrestler, but is now a brown belt under Cesar Gracie. Saulo actually weighed in at 176 pounds for this competition, which is quite frankly the lightest (and most cut) I’ve ever seen him. This likely means that we could see the fastest Saulo on the mat yet. Jake Shields has a way of grounding the most dangerous grapplers. This is actually one of the most intriguing match ups on the card and this could play out a number of ways. Vinicius Magalhaes vs Robert Drysdale Vinicius “Pezzao” Maghalhaes is a black belt from Gracie Humatai who is currently teaching for Cesar Gracie’s camp in Northern California. He is the Mundial brown belt Absolute Champion in 2005. Since that point he has been very actively competing in the United States, and has a Grappler’s Quest Pro division title under his belt as well. Vinicius has a strong, traditional jiujitsu game, but also has a wide array of leg attacks he likes to use in competition. Robert Drysdale is a black belt under the Brasa team who is the 2005 Mundia and Copa da Mundo Black Belt Heavyweight champion. Robert is also an Abu Dhabi veteran. Drysdale has a very aggressive style of jiu jitsu, and when on the offensive is very hard to deal with. Here we have a Brazilian who teaches in America (Vinicius) against an American who teaches in Brazil (Robert). Should be a classical jiujitsu match up here. Vladamir Matyushenko vs Xande Ribeiro Vladamir Matyushenko is a wrestler and MMA fighter out of the R1 gym. He has wrestling titles out of his native Belarus. Vladamir is extremely strong and everyone who has grappled against him notes not only how hard it is to do anything to him, nut how physically sore they are afterwards from doing so. Xande Riberio is easily one of the top grapplers and jujitsu stylists on the planet right now, and was selected the 2005 OntheMat JiuJitsu fighter of the year based on his activity and accomplishments, which includes the Copa da Mundo 2005 absolute championship. He has submitted the unsubmittable in this sport. While dangerous from all positions, against larger opponents he has particularly been dangerous from the guard and half guard. This is about as close to the classical wrestler vs jiujitsu match up we’ll have on the card. Xande Riberio should have a huge edge in experience in this format, but what he’ll be able to do against an opponent he is submission savvy and extremely strong in Vladamir under these round system remains to be seen. In additon, this may be the match we’re most likely to see a powerful slam in (from Vladamir)The winner should be the one is able to take advantage of the rules. Lyoto Machida vs Rafael Lovato Jr Lyoto Machida enters as one of the hottest free agents on the MMA market right now, and has victories over BJ Penn and current UFC middleweight champion Rich Franklin. Although he has rumored to have participated in events jiujitsu and submission grappling events in Brazil many years ago, this marks his most major submission grappling appearance to date. He possesses formidable wrestling skills, but has been working very hard on his submission skills as well. Rafael Lovato Jr. enters as one of the top American competitors right now. He recently won the 200 and under division at Grappler’s Quest against a stacked field, and emerged as the lone American champion at the Rickson Gracie Budo Challenge. Lovato may be among the most technical American competing right now, and his guard work is a thing of wonder. Lovato enters every submission grappling match with something big to prove; despite being among the top of his weight class with and without the gi for sometime now, he didn’t even get an invite to the ADCC North American Trials. He was later officially asked to be an alternate at the actual ADCC show, but wound up not actually having a match. Now he looks to make a statement with each match he has. This is billed as a heavyweight match, and where Machida weighed in around 225 pounds, Lovato weighed in at well under 210 wearing his street clothes. In his MMA matches at least Machida has demonstrated an excellent base and an ability to dictate a match from the top, where as Lovato has no problem working his guard (either opened or closed) so there is plenty of reason to expect to see the match progressing from there. Jeff Monson vs Pe de Pano Jeff Monson was the OntheMat Submission Grapper of the year 2004, and concluded a very active span of grappling titles with the win at the 99 and over class at ADCC 05. Monson may be the most powerful grappler on the planet, but has worked very hard on all aspects of his game and has evolved from a takedown and crush type wrestler (which he was very successful at) to a complete jiu jitsu fighter complete with excellent guard work. Marcio “Pe De Pano” Cruz is the 99 and over ADCC champion of 2003 and a Mundial Absolute Champion. He initially was best known for his incredible guard, but has continued to improve on all aspects of his game including his top abilities and takedowns. After winning seemingly all there was to win Pe de Pano may have become a bit complacent and entered a few events in questionable shape. Since embarking on an MMA career he has seen a resurgence in his career as he seems to once again be taking his career and training very seriously and he was accepted into the UFC with no experience and went on to dominate former heavyweight champion Frank Mir. LA Sub X marks the fifth time these two have met in competition now, and despite all reports, the two are friendly rivals who truly respect each other. The two first met at ADCC 2003 in which Pe de Pano won on points. A few months later Monson won the rematch on points in Florida at the SWO event. This was followed up by a controversial win by Pe de Pano at an event so poorly run I’d rather not give any publicity to by mentioning by name. Most recently they met at UFC 59, where Monson got a decision victory. So aside from being the rubber match what else marks this as a memorable match? Firstly, at five matches now, this easily makes this among the best rivalries in combat sports. Secondly, the rules and officiating seem to be tailor made in order to showcase their strengths, and it provides an opportunity to make a definitive statement by getting a submission victory. Finally, with both competitors coming into more and more prominence, each competitor is entering this particular match up in peak physical condition. We should see a great one from these two awesome competitors here. Jean Jacques Machado vs Kuniyoshi Hironaka Jean Jacques Machado is a living legend in the sport and to be competitive in this sport after so many years at the top is truly commendable. He is the 2001 ADCC Champion and took second that year in the absolute, submitting all of his opponents. Jean Jacques is doing this as an exhibition match, he is sincerely looking to actively return to the submission grappling circuit. Jean Jacques favors the butterfly guard and love to takes the back,. Kuniyoshi Hironaka comes from Tokyo and is a black belt in jiu-jitsu as well. He recently knocked out Charuto in the Rumble on the Rock Tournament. He also has a strong background in judo as well as being ranked number 6 in Shooto. An interesting moment happened at the rules meeting, where as most of the competitors were asking questions about the finer points of the rules, Jean Jacques stood up, strided to the center of the room, and obviously commanding the respect of officials and competitors alike, declared that the mission of the event was the submission and it would answer all questions. Main Event: Marcelo Garcia vs Cameron Earle The main event of the evening will feature perhaps the top pound for pound submission grappler in the world, Marcelo Garcia, against the man who has proven to be his nemesis on the circuit, the American Phenom Cameron Earle. Marcelo Garcia comes in fresh from his triumph at the Brazilian Championships of Jiu Jitsu, where he won both his weight class and the absolute title. Garcia first came into prominence at the ADCC 2003, where stepping in as a last second replacement, won the title at 76 K. Marcelo continued his hot streak for the next several years, competing in numerous grappling tournaments and winning the World Championships of Jiu Jitsus in 2004. Marcelo came back to defend his title at ADCC 2005, winning both his weight division and taking third in the Absolute division. Fans of the sport have not only listed Marcelo Garcia among their favorites for his exciting style, but his humble and friendly demeanor away from the mat. Cameron Earle has long been a fixture on the national scene for the better part of a decade now, and within the last few years has risen to the very top of both Brazilian JiuJitsu and Submission Grappling scene. Cameron has won numerous superfights and professional titles, capturing virtually every title he could within the Northern Hemisphere, including the 2005 ADCC North American Trials in among the most stacked fields in trials history he submitted all of his opponents and earned the title of most technical competitor. Cameron is known for his extremely aggressive style of jiujitsu and pound for pound may be among the most athletic grapplers around and is one of the pioneers of the Crossfit model of physical fiteness. Beyond his athleticism the Ralph Gracie trained black belt is incredibly technical as well and has won a very large percentage of his matches by submission. Marcelo Garcia and Cameron Earle have met twice before. The first time was at the 2001 Mundials, where Cameron managed to submit Marcelo with a collar choke from the back. Four years later, they would have a highly anticipated rematch at the Rickson Gracie Budo challenge and under the modified rules Cameron would again prevail. This marks the first time they have met without the gi however, where Marcelo has not lost a match (in numerous attempts) at his own weight class in three years. Marcelo enters on a hot streak looking to avenge his losses, where as Cameron enters with all the confidence in the world, and furthermore having been contacted very early by the promoters, has been very prepared for the PSL rules the entire time. Stylistically the match up very well; both are extremely technical competitors and in contrast Marcelo is know for being among the quickest at the weight class and Cameron among the most powerful. Interestingly enough, both men needed two attempts to make the designated weight of 181 pounds (80 kilos), where as both fighters have competing at much lighter weights (76 Kilo or about 168 pounds) before. Both competitors are very eager to get the submission. Although both competitors are dangerous from all positions, the match up will likely boil down to Garcia’s use of his vaunted X-Guard which has mystified most opponents against the crushing, almost unstoppable pass of Cameron Earle. Look for Marcelo to possibly change up his game plan by hunting wrist locks, where as Cameron may attempt to attack the legs. There are many potential outcomes to the match up and Garcia vs Earle has all the makings to living up to the main event billing. The goal of the Professional Submission League, in addition to showcasing the very top talent in submission grappling, is to establish a professional circuit of submission grappling, which will include weight classes, league standing and champions. You can get live play by play at www.MMALive.com. PPV matches will be available very soon right here on OntheMat.com