Three Biggest Takeaways From A Wild Night at Third Coast Grappling

We saw some of the most thrilling action of the summer, here are three of the biggest takeaways from a night packed with action.

Jun 24, 2019 by Chase Smith

Three Biggest Takeaways From A Wild Night at Third Coast Grappling

The second installment of the Houston-based promotion saw some of the most thrilling action of the summer, complete with lightning-fast submissions, wild over-time scrambles, and a promise of more to come in the very near future.

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Read on to know the most important stories arising from Third Coast Grappling 2.

The Five Biggest Winners

1. Nicholas Meregali. Not much extra needs to be said here – Meregali took on the legendary Roberto 'Cyborg' Abreu and finished the match with his signature loop choke.

2. Vagner Rocha took on one of the fastest rising submission grapplings stars Ethan Crelinsten and looked completely dominant throughout. Though Crelinsten is in the perfect place to prepare for Rocha's smothering float passes and aggressive kimura traps, the Renzo Gracie / Danaher student seemed to always be on the back foot against Rocha, unable to get any real offense going.

For his part, Rocha's passing looked flawless, unitizing a nasty back step pass to cleanly pass Crelinsten's guard once.

3. Matheus Diniz's emphatic second win over Craig Jones at Third Coast Grappling proves that his game his 100% ADCC ready. Not only was Diniz able to stay out of striking range from Jone's dangerous leglock attacks, but his offensive wrestling was a shining point in his performance, he scored both in opening regulation and the winning golden score with knee tap and single leg takedowns.

4. Edwin Najmi isn't finished evolving, and after a year chocked full of injuries, the Gracie Barra athlete put on one of the most exciting performances of the night in his match against Gianni Grippo.

Traditionally an athlete is known to compete with reckless abandon while in search of the submission, Najmi displayed a keen awareness of the ruleset during in the golden score period and managed to outscore one of the finest point-players in the world to win by sweep in overtime.

5. Mike Perez scored a 30 second finished over Travis Moore, and if that isn't worthy of the big winner's list, we're not sure what is.

Overtime: The Good, The Bad, & The Confused

Overtime rules played a critical factor in Houston, and the unique twist on the format wasn't without controversy or confusion.

A Brief Overview of Third Coast Overtime Rules:

The winner of a coin toss picks any position they wish, particular or general. (ie: Half Guard, or, 'top position').
The loser of the coin toss is not without a say; they get to select the orientation of the starting position. For example, If the winner of the coin toss picks mount, it doesn't automatically mean that they start in the position, the loser could take top mount should they (wisely) choose to do so. IF the coin toss winner select bottom position, the loser to select top mount as their start point.
The first person to successfully score in any manner wins the match.

Contentious results included a bewildered Marcio Andre, who was perplexed as to how he could have scored 2-0 in regulation, survived the golden score round without being scored upon, and still lose a referee's decision to Lucas Valente.

Roberto Jimenez lost by RNC after making the strategic error of picking the back for his overtime position, failing to realize that Pedro Marinho could then select "top" (the back mount position).

Lucas Valente vs Marcio Andre

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In total, seven out of 17 main card matches were finished via a golden score.

Three wins were earned by referee's decision (only available after the golden score period ends without a point scored) and seven matches were won in regulation, either by submission or tech fall (the first athlete to earn 11 points total).

A Method To The Madness

The overtime rules, as complicated as they may be, were designed to push the action – and toward that aim, they could be called a wild success.

While the golden score format may not be the ultimate determination of who has the best jiu-jitsu, it's certainly a damn good way to find out who wants to win a match the most, and those seven golden score victories were easily among the most exciting of the night (watch the match-winning scramble from Edwin and Gianni for a prime example.)

Plus, it's great for the crowd and for viewers at home as it's easy to follow and provided a definitive answer in almost half of the matches with no submission.

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What's Coming Next

Pena vs Ryan III: In Huge news, Third Coast Grappling announced live at the show that they've booked the third installment of Felipe Pena versus Gordon Ryan for their third show coming in December. The duo has faced off twice before, with Pena taking the win both times. Gordon was measured in his interview onsite, stating that the match depends on the status of his currently injured knee.

Meregali Calls Out Keenan: Nicholas Meregali and Keenan Cornelius gave us one of the most thrilling matches of the year at the 2019 World Championships and unsatisfied by the result, Nicholas Meregali wants to run it back. Read the caption on the instagram post below for Meregali's full callout.