Tim Spriggs (TLI) upset Erberth Santos (ESBJJ) to become the new F2W heavyweight champion at Fight 2 Win 130 in Denver on Saturday night

A year that Spriggs describes as acclimating to the elite black belt level and making strides in the technical aspects of his game culminated Saturday night as he defeated 2017 IBJJF World Champion and F2W Heavyweight Champion, Erberth Santos. 

Happy with the win, Spriggs admits he could have done more with the match: “I would have loved to have opened up and attacked more.” 

The match was largely a standing battle, Santos looking absolutely grounded against all foot sweep and throw attempts by Spriggs. The athletes exchanged attempts, but it wasn’t until the last two minutes, despite his corner calling for outside takedown attempts, that Spriggs blasted for a double leg, which resulted in Erberth jumping to closed guard. Spriggs capitalized on the opportunity to land a couple of slams, which count as submission attempts under the Fight 2 Win ruleset. 

The refs awarded Spriggs a unanimous decision for the victory and the belt.

If it hadn’t been publicized no one would know that Michael Liera Jr was in the middle of relocating and opening a gym with the absolutely flawless performance he gave. 

The six-time Pan Champion executed a beautiful game. Finding success in the lower belts with his closed guard he used his trademark position to find the back and lock in a super clean, super fast bow-and-arrow choke. The entire match took only 40 seconds and improves Liera Jr's record to 3-0 on the F2W stage. A great start to a new chapter for the Atos black belt. 

In an extremely technical match, No.-7 ranked Mauricio Oliveria was unable to find any gaps in No.-3 ranked Manuel Ribamar’s game. Ribamar was looking extremely dominant and executed a patient and methodical strategy, controlling from the top for the entirety of the match. 

Mauricio was able to find his way to his feet a couple of times throughout the match, but it always ended the same: with Ribamar heavy on top, directing the trajectory of the match. It went the distance, but in the end Ribamar’s dominance gave him the nod from the ref’s to maintain an undefeated F2W record. 

Until the main event the F2W 130 card saw a ton of submissions, and fast ones at that! Here are some of the most notable submissions:

• The co-main event featured the female brown belt bantamweight no-gi title fight between Sheilah Lindsey and Mo Black. Mo began the match with an aggressive pace, searching for arm drags and guillotines, but Lindsey was able to find the back and sink in an RNC for a submission victory and the belt.

• Amanda “Tubby” Alequin has become known for her incredible pace, but Karen Antunes came to match it with a flying guillotine attempt at the start of the match. The attack led to a scramble which ultimately allowed Tubby to secure a heel hook over Antunes getting the tap in just about 30 seconds.

• From a flying triangle into an omoplata Easton’s Nick Gamez got a flashy and fast tap for the “W”.