2019 Spyder BJJ Invitational Championship Qualifier

Tim Spriggs and Matheus Lutes Beat World Champs, Shine at Spyder Tournament

Two underdogs took top honors at the Spyder BJJ Invitational Qualifier with Matheus Lutes and Tim Spriggs beating past world champs en route to gold.

Mar 3, 2019 by Hywel Teague

Tim Spriggs and Matheus Lutes Beat World Champs, Shine at Spyder Tournament

Two underdogs took top honors at the Spyder BJJ Invitational Qualifier with Matheus Lutes and Tim Spriggs beating past world champs en route to gold.

Spriggs came out the winner of the -100kg division using a trademark aggressive stand-up game he dubs the "train wreck" system. He beat 2019 European and 2018 Brazilian champ Rudson Mateus in the opening match by out-hustling the Brazilian in the stand-up and scoring a takedown. Rudson was considered one of the favorites going into the event.

Next was a match against the physical Alliance-Marcelo Garcia competitor Matheus Diniz. Spriggs was quicker in pulling the trigger and won the match 3-0 thanks to a guard pass.

Spriggs is known for his stand-up, but he had to test his skills against a legit judo black belt in Claudio Calasans in the final. The TLI representative managed to get the back of the 2015 IBJJF World and ADCC absolute champ thanks to a violent snap down that allowed him to run around and put the hooks in. Spriggs rode out the round on Calasans's back to be declared the winner, technically unsecured on in any way of his matches– the 2 points against him in the Calasans bout was via accumulated penalties.

Spriggs and Calasans Battle on the feet.

It was just the rebound Spriggs needed. He had competed against Patrick Gaudio in Brazil the weekend before and lost on points. Despite a gargantuan journey that saw him spend only two days on home and relocate continents, Spriggs battled jetlag and a series of tough opponents to come out on top.

The 8-man -76kg division was loaded with no less than four black belts, but the overall winner was brown belt Matheus Lutes. Known primarily for his no-gi success, Lutes is a veteran of KASAI and won double gold at the IBJJF World No-Gi Championship in December of 2018. Proving he's equally adept in the gi, Lutes had an interesting series of opponents. M

Matheus Lutes rose the occasion to become the 76kg Champ at Spyder.

Lutes' opening match was against the GF Team purple belt Daniel Sathler, which Lutes easily won with a savage kimura finish. From there, the matches just got tougher.

Augusto 'Tanquinho' Mendes may be 36 years of age but he's still one of the toughest grapplers of his generation still active today. A 2013 IBJJF World champion more focused on MMA in recent years, he still averages 6-8 grappling matches a year. Lutes had to grid out a decision against the veteran.

Lutes battles past Tanquinho.

The final was a technical battle with the extremely dangerous Osvaldo "Queixinho" Moizinho, who had submitted the Korean Sanghyeon Lee in his opening match and beaten man of the moment Levi Jones-Leary– 2019 European champ– in his second. Lutes and Moizinho went head to head and the match could not have been closer. Sweep for sweep, it came down to three advantages in Lutes' favor.

Lute has proved adept in both gi and no-gi tournamentsand yet his coach Marcelo Garcia is still waiting to bump him up to black belt. Surely after a performance like this a promotion can't be too far away.

The top three finishers– first, second and third place– will go through to the Spyder BJJ Invitational Finals in November.

Full results:

-76kg

Matheus Lutes beats Daniel Sathler by submission (kimura)

Augusto Mendes beats Lucas Rocha by points 6-0

Levi Jones-Leary beats Mathias Luna by advantage 3-1

Osvaldo Moizinho beats Sanghyeon Lee by submission (armbar)

Semifinals

Matheus Lutes beats Augusto Mendes by decision

Osvaldo Moizinho beats Levi Jones-Leary by ref decision

Final: Matheus Lutes beats Osvaldo Moizinho by points 2-2 3-0 adv

3rd place: Levi Jones-Leary beats Augusto Mendes by points 6-0