The Finishers 9 was our first ever all female event featuring 11 superfights and a 16 female grapplers at 115lbs vying for the $2500 cash prize. The tournament was highlighted by the up and comer teens Randi Miley, Mona Bailey, and Trinity Pun making waves against more seasoned competitors.
The Finishers Submission Only Tournament was created to bring the excitement of sub-only jiu-Jitsu featuring EBI rules to the East Coast. The event strives to get the most talented up and comers along with seasoned veterans to compete for cash prizes and submission bonuses. We want to Show the Art of jiu-jitsu to the masses.
The Finishers 9 was our first ever all female event featuring 11 superfights and a 16 female grapplers at 115lbs vying for the $2500 cash prize. The tournament was highlighted by the up and comer teens Randi Miley, Mona Bailey, and Trinity Pun making waves against more seasoned competitors. The Finals of the tournament pitted EBI veteran Danielle Kelly and Renzo Gracie purple belt Katya Leontyeva. The match ended by quickest escape time, coming down to the wire with Kelly attacking a brutal arm bar but Leontyeva was able to withstand and escape and take the cash.
Back to Pure MMA. 18 plus superfights and the return on the 145lbs division. Killers in the division Frank Rosenthal, JM Holland, Sheridan Moran and more. Keith Krikorian became the second athlete to win Finishers titles in two different weight classes. We also featured 3 main event superfights highlighted by John Battle getting a quick arm bar to submit Rey Deleon.
For this event we decided to feature the 125lbs weight class which is often neglected on bigger shows. We also moved the event to 10th Planet Bethlehem and featured only the 16 man division and only 3 superfights. $1600 was on the line and also a plane ticket and entrance fee to the Ultimate Mat Warriors ran by Boogeyman and Geo Martinez in San Diego, California. Austin Daffron won all his matches in regulation and also went on to win the Mat Warriors effectively winning coast to coast.
This event we moved locations to Subforce BJJ in Lyndhurst NJ. We also ran our first Open tournament open to the public. The two day event was a success with the pro superfights and 155lbs division wrapping up on Sunday. Keith Krikorian took the cash in the pro division and made a successful come back after getting tapped first round at the Finishers 3 adding to an insane year he had with over 100 wins in sub only competition across the country. The main event superfight was John Battle and Ashley Williams.
Format change for this event. We started the show with a superfights and only featured one EBI Rules division. We also had a main event superfight as Marcel Goncalves defeated Jason Rau in an unprecedented 4 overtime round after 3 rounds ended in a tie. The 170lbs division was taken by storm by an undersized Ethan Crelinsten who became the first two division weighing only around 150lbs.
We added our first ever women’s division for this event and the ladies did not disappoint. Amanda Leve took the under 150lbs title by finishing all opponents by submission in regulation. Second place went to Jess Feliciano with a strong performance. We also had our first Absolute division and the finals was decided by Dan Martinez holding out on an armbar by Jesseray Childrey in overtime. Highlight of the event was a match between Grace Gundrum and Jasmine Johnson in a special teen match.
The third event had the standard two divisions and added some special matches featuring Grace Gundrum, Cora Sek and Randi Miley. The 135lbs division forced several guys to cut the weight for a chance at cash. Jon Calestine leg locked his way to victory in all four matches and over John Battle in the finals. Matt Serra black belt and pro mma fighter James Gonzales stepped up on a days notice and took the title in the 170lbs division. Event Highlight JM Holland defeats Ethan Crelinsten by dead orchard armbar.
The second event was held at our main location for events Pure Mixed Martial Arts in Rockaway, NJ. With both the 135lbs and 155lbs divisions up for grabs we saw two break out stars emerge. At 135lbs Tristar’s Ethan Crelinsten defeated Frank Rosenthal in the finals and in possibly the greatest finals in our short history, 10th Planet San Diego’s PJ Barch defeated Pat Sabatini in overtime by 3 seconds.
The inaugural finishers event was held at Maxiumum Athletics in Dunellen, New Jersey and was billed as the east coast EBI – The tournament was stacked with some of the world’s best grapplers. John Danaher black belt Gordon Ryan won the 170lbs Division with all submissions and Marcelo Garcia black belt Mike Davila took the 155lbs division in a similair fashion.
