A Bangkok ready guide to the CJI -80kg division
A million dollars is life changing money, money that is scarcely seen in bjj competitor’s purses. You can win an IBJJF world championship and still be down $150 just on entry fees. With 10k just to show up Craig Jones has given his athletes a great opportunity to showcase grappling to the general public. Be it hobbyist practitioners looking to get into watching the sport or mma fans dipping their toe into the sport, the fact that the event is free to watch (unlike the egregious flograppling sign up price) means that anyone is able to watch the biggest and baddest competitors on the planet scrap it out for the possibility of a million dollar prize. With so many competitors it can be difficult to keep track of who is competing and who to watch, so I am writing this article as a guide for would be watchers to give them an idea of the stars, what they will be looking to do, and how they match up with each other. For this momentous event in grappling history I present to you a complete breakdown of the CJI under 80kg division.
Tye Ruotolo vs Jason Nolf:
The Ruotolo brothers have been a near unstoppable force in grappling to this date. Starting at age 4 they’ve finally grown up and they have been subbing people left and right. Tye has an aggressive top game coupled with a seemingly endless gas tank. He will go after snatch singles and will constantly scramble until he gets to top position. From there he will look to pin your shins and pass, either pinning your shins down with his hands or feet, trying to get a superior angle to shelf the leg or move to North South. This allows for Kade to constantly make passing attempts with little to no risk of a counter, forcing his opponent to make big movements to retain their guard. Either you keep making big movements to keep your guard or you give up position, from which kade will immediately look to submit. Either you overextend a limb and he catches an armbar, or you try to go to turtle or front headlock to get up, from which position you will be threatened by a patented Ruotolo brothers d’arce choke.
Many expect the Ruotolo brothers to meet in the finals, however Craig’s first matchup for Tye is deceptively even. While Jason Nolf’s lack of jiu jitsu experience definitely makes him the underdog in this matchup, his ridiculous wrestling credentials mean that he is almost guaranteed a chance at securing top position, from which he has shown glimpses of a good pressure passing game from his recent jiu jitsu match. When put on his back Kade tends to look to scramble back to his feet, threatening with heel hooks or using butterfly guard to elevate and stand up. With three D1 NCAA national titles Nolf will likely be able to effectively utilise wrestling rides to keep Ruotolo down. In his rolling footage he has even used some pinning moves as submissions, using head scissors to attack the arm for a kimura, or even catching the rarely seen spladle. Nolf’s world class skill at putting people on their back, coupled with Kade’s eternal scrambling will make this match a must watch.
Roberto Jiminez vs Levi Jones Leary:
Roberto Jiminez is a bit of a wildcard for this event as he is normally facing giants. Jiminez is willing to take on anyone of any size, having two competitive matches with the enormous Nicky Rodriguez at Fight Pass Invitational and winning an IBJJF absolute championship in 2023. However, Jiminez is going to be monstrous at -80kg, where traditional smash passing style will likely be even more powerful. On top Jiminez will usually be looking to pull knees down and get a chest to chest connection, looking for a double underhook pass beneath your legs if you raise them in response to the threat. Jiminez is primarily a back taker and will look to scramble, content to fall to bottom position if his opponent manages to shake him off. This pairs well with his closed guard game, normally being given the position by his opponent when they get on top from escaping back control.
Craig Jones has matched Jiminez with another great back taker, and someone who can potentially punish Jiminez’s aggressive style. Levi jones Leary has been a notable gi competitor for a while, but has already made a splash in the no gi scene, upsetting Jozef Chen in the polaris grand prix and having a dominant performance at the ADCC Asia and Oceania trials. Leary’s game is based around mixing the de la riva, reverse de la riva and k guard, using all three guards to spin into berimbolo and crab ride attempts. As you try to counter one, he will just spin the opposite direction into another, making it a matter of time before he is on your back. Jimenez’s aggressive passing style will make Leary’s game quite difficult, as he will likely be going head first into his passing attempts. Leary makes good use of the arm drag against opponents like Jozef Chen who look to control the feet and stop his leg entanglement entries, a tactic that could be very useful in this matchup. No matter the outcome it is almost guaranteed that someone is going to end up with their back taken.
Lucas Barbosa vs Kenta Iwamoto:
Lucas Barbosa has made a name for himself on the ibjjf scene, winning four no gi world championships and picking up two ADCC medals. Years of eating acai and praying to Jesus have made Barbosa into a physical specimen worthy of the nickname “Hulk”. Winning Bronze at ADCC 2019 in the -99kg division, it will be interesting to see what kind of shape Barbosa will turn up in. Having faced criticism for his gas tank, a potential drained weight cut will not do much to help, or maybe a decrease in muscle mass will allow him to go for a lot longer. No matter how his weight cut fares, Barbosa is always looking to get on top and stay on top. He will slap collar ties until he decides to shoot for a head inside single, looking to reach to the other leg for a barzegar style finish, or go for a tackle in open space with his head on the chest. While his takedown game can lack sophistication, his passing game is a lot more technical. Barbosa will look to hold onto your ankles and try and get an angle in a very traditional torreando style, but instead of trying to cut an angle to North South he will look to pin the heel to the opponent’s thigh, similar to a body lock pass, from which he will then try and swallow the knee with his own hips to pass to side control. From this leg shelf position with the shin pinned he will often look for side bodylocks from which he can pass.
Kenta Iwamoto is not nearly as credentialed as Barbosa, but in terms of his game he is another side of the same coin. Iwamoto, while not being afraid to go to his back, utilises a wrestling style with heavy top pressure once he gets on top. Like Barbosa Iwamoto is a big single leg fan, favouring the same finish of switching to the double. Iwamoto differs in the fact that he prefers the head outside single, from which it is easier to switch to the double leg as it allows you to turn the corner on the double, while running the risk of the guillotine from which he is very good at escaping. Once he is able to get in on the leg he has taken down the likes of JT Torres, however Torres was able to exploit Kenta’s tendency to go for shots with little set up, making them a lot more telegraphed and easy to counter. Iwamoto’s strongest part of his wrestling game is his counters, possessing a great sprawl and an ability to scramble to the back. Like Barbosa Iwamoto prefers a heavy style of passing, but usually goes with a more tight passing orientated style, favouring body locks from butterfly guard and half guard. Iwamoto’s counter wrestling makes him the perfect opponent to deal with Barbosa, and his ability to utilise K guard and the 50/50 guard to prevent Barbosa’s heavy top pressure means that he can make up for a potential size difference. Overall, this is a great matchup between two wrestlers who are looking to get on top and stay on top.
Andy Varela vs Jozef Chen:
Jozef Chen is the big new deal in the jiu jitsu world. At 19 he managed to win the stacked ADCC European trials, going through a murderer's row of contenders to get a shot in the world championships. For over a year now people have been trying to crack the secret of his tripod passing system, this almost mythical passing he used to run through ADCC trials. With this pass he will look to pin your upper body and then pommel his feet past your butterfly hooks, ending up in mount or side control. While his passing has had a lot of attention he is not a one trick pony. Chen is a great back taker and just as good at escaping it, putting on a clinic against Oliver Taza in the finals. He has also shown competence on the feet, taking down a solid wrestler in Elijah Dorsey and submitting him.
Andy Varela is a showman, known for flying submissions, bad sportsmanship, and a solid wrestling game. While he seems to be more at place in a power slap competition than a submission grappling match, failing to understand that a collar tie is meant to be for controlling posture and setting up attacks instead of dishing out CTE, it is undeniable that he is a tough opponent to deal with. While he isn’t great off his back, he has a good getup game, utilising classic mma getups such as wrestling up with the underhook, elevating from butterfly guard to make space and the classic feet on the hips. He will also do a double donkey kick off the chest, a violent but effective way to make space and get back up. While this is in a grey area in terms of legality, it doesn’t help that Varela has blatantly slapped a young purple belt at ADCC trials for doing the same to him with only one leg. If you’re getting tko’d in your MMA fights, maybe practising striking in a grappling match against children isn’t the best way to go about it. Despite his behaviour on the mats Varela will likely get in a scrappy and exciting match against Chen.
Kade Ruotolo vs Matheus Diniz:
Kade Ruotolo is the current guy to beat under 80kg on the grappling circuit. The youngest ever ADCC champion with a ridiculous and exciting gold medal run, Kade Ruotolo could convert the most dogmatic just bleed fan into a grappling enjoyer. Much like his brother he shares a similar strategy, relentlessly trying to pass you until you make a mistake that leads into a submission. In order to beat Kade you have to play perfectly. Be it the impenetrable guard of Lachlan Giles or the water tight division one wrestling of PJ Barch, if you leave any limb extended it’s going to get ripped apart. The match against Diniz will likely be won and lost depending on who can get top position. Kade’s wrestling can look awkward, his ankle pick where he reaches to the floor with no collar tie being downright silly, but the submission threat makes it all the more effective. With his extreme reach he can reach for snatch singles without even lowering his level, meaning he can constantly attempt takedowns with little fear of being punished. His dangerous front headlock game makes punishing his awkward takedown game a very scary prospect, with Kade going so far as to lift his hands and taunt you every once in a while as if to tell you that he is so dangerous with submission counters that he should not even fear the shot. Even when he is taken down he is good at getting back up. His use of the switch allows him to attack the single leg and use it to stand back up, although his insurance on taking a figure four grip instead of a high crotch grip means that he cannot take the back off of it, but for its purpose it is an effective tool.
Matheus Diniz is as athletic as they come. Much like Lucas Barbosa he is a big dude cutting down to a weight he has never touched before, competing at 97kg (213 lbs) last year. A lot of Diniz’s game is built around his incredible athleticism. On the feet he will explode into high crotch lifts and powerful double legs, often against guys who look significantly bigger. Even his “cow catcher”, a pinning move utilising an underhook from the front headlock, had the same energy as a hip throw. His passing also heavily relies on his athleticism, spinning to north south or trying to cartwheel and hip switch over the guard. Deceptively the most impressive part of his game is off of his back, looking to play deep half whenever he gets forced to play off his back where he can elevate and wrestle up or come out the backdoor. Trying to keep him down is no easy feat, which Gordon Ryan found out in their match on WNO despite having a 20 lbs weight advantage, as Diniz will constantly bridge and make frames to upset your base and create an avenue for escape, sacrificing the gas tank to avoid a prolonged period in a bad position. This is a match between an unstoppable force and an immovable object, and certainly not an easy first matchup for either.
Renato Canuto vs Tommy Langaker:
Renato Canuto is one of the most exciting grapplers you could ever watch. He is constantly looking for submissions, and will often find them from the weirdest of places, transitioning to the most impressive of finishes and diving onto legs looking for the aoki lock. In his match against Nikolas Souza he dealt with the issue of passing shin on shin guard by jumping into a flying backside triangle, from which he then seamlessly transitioned into the tarikoplata. His submissions are wild but have a technicality to them, his flying armbar a slow and methodical work from a guard jump position to bringing the leg around the head for the break, instead a kamikaze leap of faith onto someone’s limb flipping a coin to see whether it is their elbow or your spinal cord that gets permanently damaged. In terms of body mechanics he moves very well, balling up and inverting effectively to prevent guard passes.
Tommy Langaker’s transition to no gi has been almost seamless, his ability to back take carrying over masterfully despite the lack of a kimono. He will look to back take from the DLR or K guard, from which positions he is very dangerous, but is not afraid to wrestle up if you give him the opportunity in your attempts to escape him. Trying to smother his guard will not work either, as he will build height in order to threaten the guillotine if your head goes past the line of your knees. His flexibility makes passing him incredibly difficult, bending his legs in all sorts of directions to create frames, and using Eddie Bravo's jailbreak escape if you do somehow manage to pin him. His flexibility will even be used to defend submissions, as Oliver Taza found out in their match on Polaris. A guy who seems like they could submit anyone at any moment is a great matchup for someone who will simply refuse to be submitted.
Eoghan O’Flanagan vs Magid Hage:
Eoghan O’Flanagan went from an unknown name to top 5 in the world overnight in his ADCC performance, making it to the bronze medal match following two huge upset wins against Xande Ribeiro and Mason Fowler. While most of his success can be attributed to his five time olympic gold medalist and licensed surgeon coach Christian Ozbek, his half butterfly game is what carried him to success. While butterfly guard is made to elevate opponents, from Eoghan’s guard the elevator hooks are an afterthought. Instead Eoghan focuses on attacking the far leg, reaching under his opponent to pull their leg out from their base and isolate it, allowing him to go into whatever leg entanglements he prefers. Normally the response from his opponent will be to heavily crossface, at which point O’Flanagan will transition into a shoulder crunch, where he can then choose to attack the shoulder crunch sweep or more likely his patented choibar. An already large competitor for 88kg, Eoghan’s style not being too labour intensive should help with any issues regarding the weight cut, able to utilise his gigantic frame against smaller opponents.
Magid Hage’s inclusion in CJI was more of a meme than a thought out pick, with one instagrammer commenting that “we now know that Eoghan is the #1 seed. Despite the jokes Magid Hage is still a treat to watch, using a similar style to Eoghan but using a more old school style. Instead of O’Flanagan’s new tech half butterfly guard, Hage prefers to use the classic half guard, looking to underhook the leg and roll over or use the knee lever sweep for top position. Another more old school part of his game is his closed guard, throwing up triangles and even catching a shoulder crunch arm bar. While his game may be traditional, he is not a sucker for leg locks, being willing and successful with attacking ankle locks and transitioning to heel hooks from 50/50. While many believe this match to be an O’Flanagan steamroll, Hage posses the tools to make it a competitive match.
Nicky Ryan vs Andrew Tackett:
Nicky Ryan has had a lot to live up to in his career, being the younger brother of grappling great Gordon Ryan. Despite a long string of setbacks stemming from his seemingly paper thin knee tendons Nicky is finally getting the respect he deserves and coming into his own as a competitor. Ryan has an incredibly diverse game, mixing tight passing and loose passing from top and being able to leg lock and wrestle up off of his back. His wrestling is often the most touted part of his game and, while it has come on leaps and bounds in the last couple of years, doesn’t compare to his wonderful guard game that he showcased at ADCC trials. Much like Eoghan O’Flanagan, Nicky Ryan loves the butterfly guard, using elevators to create space for leg entries and transitioning to the back when you give him the choibar. His leglocks are a treat to watch, triangling his legs around his opponent and mixing up heel hooks and ankle locks from the reap. Attempting to leg lock him back is no easy feat, as Santeri Ilius found out when Ryan elegantly rolled into a back take once he had cleared the knee line.
Nicky is finally building momentum again as a competitor, but if there is anyone who poses a serious threat at halting it, that would be Andrew Tackett. Andrew Tackett’s high submission rate makes him one of the most exciting competitors to watch right now, being one of the most dangerous finishers on the back around. Tackett’s game is a built in highlight reel, loving the kimura trap and diving onto it at any opportunity. Pulling guard will not save you from submissions, as Tackett will attempt rolling kimuras and jump guillotines from top if you leave an opening. While he can be wild he is still well rounded, utilising a mix of backstepping and body lock passing quite similar to Nicky Ryan. This will be a battle of young rising talent, with both likely to go on to do great things in the sport no matter the outcome.
CJI has pitted some of the best talent in the world and is making them fight for a huge cash prize, guaranteeing a great mix of technique and hunger for victory that will be a pleasure for anyone watching with a vague interest in grappling, be it the most casual observer or the most seasoned black belt. No matter who wins this event has done great things for athlete pay and exposure for the sport, and will hopefully pave the way for greater things in the future.
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