meZYNbrink

I think we get lost in the fandom and the accolades of the sport that we forget these are real people. Everybody gets burnt out from their job from time to time, but at my job I'm not tearing MCLs and leaving with bruises, cuts, and black eyes. If he wants to do something else, all the respect to him. I've also heard him say he wants to go into fighting at some point, but I'm not sure if that's still a priority. A lot of people think he left wrestling for BJJ but I also don't think that his sole focus is to win ADCC or CJI. I think he's having fun and obviously has an aptitude for combat sports. Would be awesome to see him in the cage and I feel sorry for whoever would draw him in DWCS.

Famously invented the eponymous half nelson technique.

Which obviously paid off when AB called Muhammad a false prophet.

I've noticed this too over the years, I think a lot of it can be attributed to a relative lack of media training. Because of that, when athletes are put in situations that are public facing, they manifest a lot of the personality, mannerisms, and talking points of their coaches, which I no doubt they've internalized as they've watched their HC/AC deal with public speaking to the team, donors, and media.

Sounds like he is.

He seemed to confirm it in a breakdown of the bracket in a video posted to Twitter. Looked like he was addressing media.

Not grasping for straws, Sad didn't cheat at Senior Worlds. But a lot of people don't believe he was eligible at his age level championship competitions. Also, I don't love the grey shirt, but everybody has the same ruleset and access to eligibility deferment in the NCAA. In the end I don't have a problem with it. Wish Beard and Sadulaev nothing but the best (not that they should give a rip what I think). I do think you're comparing apples to oranges there with the NCAA eligibility to age level eligibility thing.

Yep, that's about it. The Lance comparison is really to show that I don't care. He was still the best in the world against the best competition. When he competed at age levels, he had an advantage, that's all. Now he just has to deal with the fact he peaked a few years before the public thought he would based on his ostensibly young age.

To me, it's kind of like the Lance Armstrong doping scandal. Do I believe he was the best in the world? Yes. Do I believe he was a cheater? Also yes.

Couldn't agree more that Indianapolis would be a great destination. Centralized city, great venues, many food/drink options, proximally close to other hotbeds (IA, PA, OH, WI), and a great airport. NBA All Star Weekend was hosted there last year and proved the city can show up to host great events of and above the scale of D1 championships. The USA Swimming OLY trials were there this summer as well. Denver would be great too, selfishly.

Would love to see DT go 92. You have to think he's the favorite, but after his performance against Brooks, not sure what to expect. Granted, Brooks was a hair away from the Olympic finals. All said, my mouth is already watering for a DT/Sad supermatch.

Population is their advantage, a strong history of traditional wrestling is another. But their facilities, developmental programs, and access to high quality training from a young age is a detriment. I'd say they are doing very well.

I think the answer is somewhere in the middle here. Easy fix is that you have to transition to a different move to score on the same sequence. Like in folkstyle

From all accounts, Danaher chose to stick with Gordon during the split. A fair amount of athletes stayed to create New Wave, but Nicky Rod, Nicky Ryan (Gordon's younger brother), Craig Jones, Ethan Crelinston, etc all left to create B Team. Nolf has said he wants to train with both teams as well as Fight Factory (Tackett bros) and even 10P Austin. Interestingly, he said he hoped to help the DDS group toward reconciliation. Would be hilarious if he was the one who brokered that IMO.

I don't necessarily disagree with you, but the rationale for Bradley winning is there. From the BJJ perspective, the ruleset rewards 'initiating grappling exchanges' which Downey only did when securing top position. From there, he basically ran from BJJ exchanges while trying to maintain top position or resecure it. While it may not have looked like Bradley was doing much at all, he was looking to find some BJJ offense that is tough to see with an untrained eye. That said, I'd still have scored it for Downey, all things considered. In my opinion, even though Downey was 'stalling' in the BJJ exchanges on the ground, I'd like to see Bradley actually get to a real submission in order to overcome his concession to bottom position. Edit: I am extremely biased towards wanting to reward wrestling exchanges in BJJ, especially in BJJ communities. FWIW. A lot/most BJJ guys would disagree with me. Also, would have loved to see a rematch from 2019(?) WNO between PD3 and Nicky Rod in the semis at CJI.

Agree it's still a title, and there are always a ton of tweeners shut out due to stupid Olympic weights. If he wins it, I hope we don't discount it like Stieber's 2016 title.

The event was super fun. As an ex wrestler in BJJ, I totally get both sides of the argument against and for a guard-centric combat sport. While guard can be extremely effective and lead to much submission offense, it shouldn't be considered a dominant position. If there's a takedown to guard and no other action, the player initiating the takedown should be rewarded. If a player wants to concede to guard, there should be an impetus on the guard player to overcome a deficit. My 2 cents.

This one is kind of crazy. Two weights that basically 0.01% of the world population can make? I feel that we'd be better off starting at 60kg.

Somehow Chael is wrong every time

I train at one of the best gyms in the West, I'm pretty familiar. Obviously the bjj guy will be advantaged once in the guard, but from a scoring perspective, it has at least been communicated that taking someone down and getting stuck in their guard will be rewarded in the scoring. Round scoring is definitely weird but I'm excited to see how it goes. My favorite rulesets are EBI and ADCC, but neither are perfect. Maybe this will be closer?

I think this scenario would be scored in favor of the wrestler, but it would be nice if the scoring emphases would be released prior to the tournament.

Nolf vs Ty is a really bad matchup for Jason. I don't think he'll get this one out. PD3 almost certainly going to run into problems with Rockhold. All accounts is that his grappling is world class. I seem to remember a video of PD3 lasting a while with Gordon, but could be wrong. Out of all the wrestlers, I think Kerk has the best chance to do damage. I did see a picture of him in the gi last year and it looked comical, not that swag has anything to do with performance. Now I just wish the grappling community could get his freaking name right.

Preliminary rounds are 3 rounds with judges scoring (similar to UFC but with scores announced publicly prior to the next round). Championship bouts are 5 rounds with the same judges scoring. Much more subjective than ADCC and definitely moreso than IBJJF.

Certainly could have. The beauty of it is we will never know. Brooks beat him fair and square (in a fairer and squarer system than most countries have). I think DT is happy with his 7M contract.

All I'm saying the ankle ride maintains control, as boring as it can be to watch. Eligibility rules in NCAA are broken too, don't get me wrong. I remember a time when you'd get 4 years and graduate at 21/22. 7 years in college is too long, take it from me.