In his submission-only debut Helton Jose Jr. defeated NorCal local Tanner Rice at Fight 2 Win 116 and Marcos “Yemaso” Torregrosa became the F2W 155lbs Masters champion. 

It is amazing to see how jiu-jitsu has brought so many people from so many places to the same stage. Helton Jose Jr. (Atos), originally from the state of Amazonas, Brazil met California local Tanner Rice (Rice Bros BJJ) in a submission-only heavyweight clash. Although they were raised worlds away they both grew up with one thing in common: jiu-jitsu. That single commonality united them in the main event of Fight 2 Win 116. 

The match began with an early guard pull by Helton. Tanner forced 50-50  guard to defend Helton threatening his legs. From there, it was a battle at each other’s ankles, exchanging leg attacks and sweep attempts. In the last two minutes Helton was able to secure some convincing ankle locks, while Tanner retaliated with a compelling knee bar, perhaps the most threatening submission attempt of the match. But it was too little too late. The match ended with a split decision awarding the victory to Helton Jose Jr.

Helton– who comes off a silver medal at the recent ADGS Moscow– says that he felt great in the fight he did have to adjust to the ruleset. When the match was forced into 50-50 he refused to let that slow down his attacks. He’s looking forward to providing more action in his next fight on the F2W stage. This is the second loss in consecutive Fight 2 Win appearances for Tanner Rice, but he admits that decisions go either way, so next time it won’t be left up to the refs. 

The Masters division showed up at F2W 116 with a match featuring possibly the most sub attempts of the main card. The Masters 155lb black belt title fight between Marcos “Yemaso” Torregrosa (Yemaso BJJ) and Pete Shoemaker (Precision BJJ). 

After a year off competing and overcoming knee surgery, “Yemaso” came to the stage hungry for a submission, just like he promised. Every move he made in his title fight bout was in pursuit of the finish. We are talking omoplatas for days, turning them into triangles, from top, bottom, whatever the position the attacks were constant, and the transitions were seamless. 

But, for every action Torregrosa attacked, the number one contender, Pete Shoemaker, had an equal and opposite reaction. The match ended with a hard fought, unanimous decision victory making Marcos “Yemaso” Torregrosa the F2W 155lbs champ. 

Although the new F2W champ is already prepared for the next challenge (with his sights on Baret Yoshida as a top prospect), he says he doesn’t look at it as defending the title. 

“Today I am the champ, tomorrow I’m just another contender. That keeps me hungry”.

Miss the matches? These matches, plus 40 more are already available online. Click to re-watch the event in the Flograppling archives.