EBI 12: The Female Flyweights

10:24 PM Moo 0 Comments

To say I was excited about this EBI would be an understatement. There is so much female talent out there and I knew it would be an extremely technical display of skill by women from all over the world.My favorite first round fights:

Talita Alencar Vs. Ffion Davies- Alencar via RNC

This was a fantastic opener for the night. Alencar was the number one seed, in the tournament and unsurprisingly pulled out a win in technical dramatic fashion. Alencar is a force to be reckoned with and blew through her weight class tournament, after tournament this year! That being said, I was extremely impressed with the heart and skill of Welsh flyweight Ffion Davies. Her style is aggressive and unrelenting and she is definitely going to be a phenomenal black belt.

Crystal Demopoulous vs Rachael Cummings- Cummins Via Dead Orchard

First of all, both of these women are absolute physical specimens. Crystal took the match on late notice and put up a tough fight against MMA fighter Rachael Cummins. This was an extremely athletic, highly skilled match and an excellent show by Rachael Cummins who ended the bout with a very impressive Dead Orchard.

Pati Fontes vs. Katherine Shen- Shen Via Armbar

This is one of matches I was most looking forward to as I've heard a lot about 10th planet phenom Katherine Shen and the absolute legend Pati Fontes. From the beginning, this was a fascinating match up. Fontes held position and played a great pressure game the first half of the match with Katherine making an epic comeback and submitting Pati Fontes in overtime. Shen has generated a lot of talk leading up to this match and proved she's worth the hype!

Lila Smadja vs Olympia Watts- Smadja Via Guillotine

One of the fastest submissions of the night, Lila Smadja defeated Olympia Watts in 23 seconds via guillotine choke. Lila is fast paced, opportunistic and has a strategy from every position. She was one of my favorites to watch over the course of the evening with her meticulous game and quick finishes.

Round 1
Talita Alencar Vs Ffion Davies- Alencar via RNC
Rachael Cummins vs Crystal Demopoulos- Cummings via Dead Orchard
Gabi McComb vs Kayla Patterson- McComb via RNC in overtime
Gabby Romero vs. Kristina Barlaan- Romero via RNC in overtime
Katherine Shen vs Pati Fontes- Shen via Armbar in overtime
Erin Blanchfield vs Livia Gluchowska- Blanchfield via RNC in overtime
Lila Smadja vs Olympa Watts- Smadja via Guillotine Choke
Nikki Sullivan vs Fiona Watson- Sullivan via Scissor choke
Quarter Finals
Talita Alencar vs. Rachel Cummins- Alencar Via Armbar with seconds to go
Gabbi McComb vs. Gabby Romero- McComb via Armbar
Erin Blanchfield vs. Katherine Shen- Blanchfield via Kumura
Lila Smadja bs Nikki Sullivan- Smadja via Heelhook

Semi Finals
Erin Blanchard Vs. Lila Smadja- Blanchfield via Armbar
Gabi McComb vs Talita Alencar- McComb via fastest escape time

The Final Match

McComb (19) and Blanchfield (18) was an amazing match up. McComb is the student of legendary Leticia Ribeiro and plays a solid, unrelenting game. Blanchfield, herself, attacks from every angle and is consistently going for submissions. This was a hard fought victory for Blanchfield who won in overtime with the fastest submission escape.

Combat Jiu Jitsu:

Semi Finals
Llima Lei McFarlane vs Brooke May- McFarlane via fastest sub in overtime
Celine Haga vs. Amy Montenegro- Haga via fastest sub in overtime

Finals
Llima Lei MacFarlane vs Celine Haga- MacFarlane via Kimura

Overall: I must admit, I was skeptical about the combat jiu jitsu but I seriously loved it! EBI 12 was definitely one of the best tournaments I've seen in a long time! I love women's matches because I find we are always going for the kill and as promised, this tournament did not disappoint. I am so thankful Eddie Bravo put this together, next time I'd love to see some lady heavy weights!