Metamoris 6 Review - Part 1

Last month (better late than never!) I watched Metamoris 6 via their PPV livestream on their website. This is actually the first time I have ever watched one of their events live. I didn't watch any of their previous events mostly due to the time difference, but I thought I would put sleep deprivation aside in this instance. 

I will conduct this review just like I did with my Polaris review back in January. The review will be split into two parts. The first part will cover only the matches and at the end I will give my suggestions for future matches I would like to see. 

In part two I will cover things such as the stream, the production, the rules, the price etc. I will also comment on anything I thought could have been done better and any adjustments I would make. 

There were in total eight matches that night. Two matches were on the prelims and six were on the main card. I will cover all of them in this review. 

Without further ado, let's jump straight into this!

Metamoris 6 Prelims

Michael Liera Jr. vs. Morgan Neidlinger

I'm glad that Metamoris is starting to showcase some great young talents. I'm a big fan of Michael Liera Jr. and his game, so I was very happy to see him be added to the card on a very late notice.

I must say that I had never heard of Morgan Neidlinger prior to this event. He is a black belt under Kron Gracie, so I knew that he must be pretty good. 

I think this match was an excellent way to kick of the event. The quality of Jiu-Jitsu on display in this match was great. 

Michael really displayed how good of a guard player he is. He started off with the closed guard and transitioned to de la riva and spider guard. Along the way setting up multiple omoplata, triangle and sweep attempts. 

Morgan's defense was excellent, however. He gave Michael a very hard time all the way through the match, escaping from a handful of really bad spots. But Michael really dictated the pace of the match all the way through and Morgan never really had many opportunities to get going. 

The match ended in a 'draw', but Michael was the clear winner in this match. 

Francisco 'Sinistro' Iturralde vs. Greg McIntyre via submission armbar

Again, another great match to kick of the show before the start of the main card. Sinistro did a tremendous job against a very experienced competitor. 

All the way through the match, Sinistro made everything look so easy and smooth. He was constantly attacking and transitioning all the way through the match. Greg was never really much in it to be honest. Just like Neidlinger, he never got a chance to get going. 

Sinistro gets Greg right off the bat with a triangle, waits for his opportunity and transitions into an omoplata. Although, Greg does a good job of defending the omoplata, he gives Sinistro the chance to attack a reverse armbar, before switching to a standard armbar to get the victory at around four minutes into the match. 

The first submission of the night and an awesome one!

Main Card

Jimmy Friedrich vs. Evandro Nunes

This is actually a rematch, which I was surprised to find out whilst watching. The two fought previously in a submission only match with no time limit and Jimmy was victorious in that encounter with the match lasting over an hour!

Of course, Evandro was a replacement for Jeff Monson at the very last minute. Jimmy was the winner of The Road to Metamoris show and won the chance to face Jeff Monson. 

After you saw how the match was going after the first five minutes or so, you just knew it wasn't going to end by submission. Don't get me wrong, there were lots of submission attempts, and Jimmy endlessly went for the heelhook over and over again. 

Honestly, I couldn't wait for this match to be over. 

Clark Gracie vs. Roberto Satoshi

I thought this match had the potential to be the match of the night. It wasn't, but I certainly enjoyed it. 

Both of the competitors are super technical with excellent guard work, passing and submission attempts from both. 

A lot of nice de la riva guard work from Clark in this match which I enjoyed. Satoshi showing his guard passing skills with some lovely near x and torreando passes. Clark also had an omoplata attempt before the restart.

Once they restart on the feet, Satoshi attempts a flying triangle which was pretty cool. From here it was really the same as explained above with Clark in de la riva and Satoshi attempting to pass. There were a few signature omoplata attempts by Clark thrown in the mix there but nothing much different. 

Xande Ribeiro vs. Keenan Cornelius

I remember when I first saw Keenan vs. Xande in Copa Podio back in January of 2013. Man, I so wanted Keenan to win that match! To be the best brown belt in the world and to take down a legend would have been phenomenal. Sadly, Keenan didn't win that match, but the hype behind it at the time was unreal. 

However, I knew this time it wouldn't be the same. The fact that it is no points and no time limit is the obvious reason, and also Keenan is not as much of an underdog anymore. I still thought it was one of the best matches on the card though. 

I found Keenan's use of the worm guard with Xande's belt very interesting. He almost swept him and made a transition to the back as well. 

Keenan's passing in this match was great. Xande is notorious for never getting his guard passed, but on a few occasions, it looked like that might have been possible. Throughout the match, Keenan used the long step pass and at one point almost gets Xande in a leg drag. 

I thought Keenan would have got the armbar at one point, but the experience of Xande is second to none. 

For me personally, Keenan won. Technically it is considered a 'draw' but he really did the majority of attacking in the match. Even though I enjoyed the match I would still love to see it in a match under IBJJF rules. 

Dillon Danis vs. Joe Lauzon via submission by D'arce choke

Personally, this was my favourite match of the night. I've been a fan of Dillon since I saw him dominate at the Pan Ams in 2014. I thought eventually he would submit him, but never in fashion like he did. 

Joe Lauzon is an excellent grappler in his own right, and has tons of experience. However, Dillon made it look so easy.  

He instantaneously shoots for a heel hook but is unsuccessful, then catches him in a guillotine off Lauzon trying to pass. Dillon transitions to the back and locks in the body triangle. Joe is hand fighting with him and prevents Dillon from getting the choke. After 2-3 minutes, Dillon lets go and works the pass before getting the d'arce choke.  

Super slick work by Dillon Danis! Definitely one to look out for in the black belt division over the next year.  

Chael Sonnen vs. Renato "Babalu" Sobral

I thought it was a little weird putting an MMA vs. MMA together when I first heard about it. I could see why they would do a BJJ vs. MMA type match, because it's a cool concept. I don't know why they put this one together though. I would have preferred it if either of them competed against a BJJ competitor. 

To put it bluntly, this match was so boring! The entire match was just Chael in Babalu's guard. Now and again Babalu attempted a kimura, but nothing ever came of any of them. It just seemed like Chael wasn't even trying to pass the guard. It looked like he was sitting there hoping that his guard would magically open so he could start to pass.

It may simply be just a clash of styles, but whatever it was, it made for a terrible match. The worst match of night in my opinion.    

Josh Barnett vs. Ryron Gracie

Wow! I was shocked at this one. I really didn't think that Josh would dominate Ryron, never mind submit him. Holy s***!

It was a little bit slow on the feet at the very beginning. They didn't actually get to the ground until 3.5 minutes into the fight. Once they hit the ground, it's still a little slow with Barnett really using his size and weight advantage to good use by completely smothering Gracie with incredible pressure!

Barnett is in Ryron's half guard for a while and on a few occasions passes to side control put Ryron quickly brings him back to half guard. Off an attempt to transition to mount by Barnett, Gracie escapes to a single leg x-guard position. I thought Ryron would have attempted a heel hook or straight ankle lock here, but Barnett just pushes his legs down like they're nothing and we're back to half guard again.  

It's not long and Ryron gets Josh into his closed guard. He tries to bring his guard up high but he has little success with it and struggles to break Josh's posture. 

Once Josh breaks open Ryron's guard, it's really the beginning of the end. Josh passes and Ryron attempts an inverted triangle but Josh escapes and rolls through for a mega tight toe hold which Ryron taps to. 

Man, I was shocked! A good way to end the show I personally thought. I think it more than lived up to the hype. It will be interesting to see who they pair Josh up with next. They might do a match with Cyborg again, but who knows. 

Metamoris 7 Recommendations

Female Matches

Honestly, I find the lack of female Jiu-Jitsu at the majority of professional Jiu-Jitsu events appalling. On Metamoris 2, I personally found Mackenzie Dern vs. Michelle Nicollini to be the best match of the night. I also thought Angelica Galvao vs. Michelle Nicollini at Polaris to be the second best match of the night. 

Especially now, there is so much young talent in the female division. Marcelo Garcia black belt, Dominyka Obelenyte, is totally on fire at the moment. She has only been a black belt since January and a few weeks ago became World absolute champion. Also, she is only 19 years old! 

I mentioned this under my 'female match' heading of my Polaris review, but Tammi Musumeci is another great fighter. She shows so much heart during her matches, especially when she had her arm broken by Michelle Nicollini in the finals of the World’s last year and still carried on fighting. 

Throughout Metamoris, you have often seen the BJJ vs. MMA theme throughout the card. I guess that would be a cool idea to do with female competitors. 

The obvious choice here would be Ronda Rousey, but I seriously doubt that will be happening. But I guess prominent MMA fighters such as Miesha Tate or Cris Cyborg would be great opponents for the likes of Dominyka or Tammi. 

Other Matches

I think people such as AJ Agazarm, Dillon Danis, or Garry Tonon really embody what Metamoris is all about, and that's putting it all on the line and going for the kill. However, it doesn't always play out that way, as we have seen in past events. 

Sometimes you put two big names together thinking it's going to be great and it's a total snooze fest. Then again it could also be amazing; Roger Gracie vs. Buchecha from Metamoris 1 is an example of this. It just seems that sometimes peoples styles and strategies clash and make for a boring fight. 

The truth is that everybody is going to have an opinion on what matches they think would be great for the show. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying mine are any better, they're just simply my opinion. I would definitely like to see recent black belts such as Tim Spriggs and Erberth Santos be utilised in a future card. I would also like to see the Miyao brothers be used at some point, also. 

Some matches I would like to see include:

• Keenan Cornelius vs. Roger Gracie
• Rafael Mendes vs. Marcelo Garcia
• Ryan Hall vs. AJ Agazarm
• Paulo Miyao vs. Victor Estima
• Joao Miyao vs. Dillon Danis
• Erberth Santos vs. Leandro Lo
• Tim Spriggs vs. Otavio Souza

Of course, fell free to give me your suggestions; I would love to hear them!

This concludes part 1 of my review of Metamoris 6. I hope you enjoyed and I will see you either tomorrow or Monday for part 2.

Catch you later,

Giordano