Styles

​I watched some of the IBJJF European championship this weekend and one thing I took away was that styles and choices can determine a lot at the highest level. Guys that I thought had a good chance to win did not because they made one error or were not stylistically suited for the match they got. I’ll talk about two examples. First, Nolan Stuart, I think Mateus V. knew exactly how and what to do to make Nolan’s life hard and from almost the outset, Nolan was drowning. There are drawbacks to the specificity of what Nolan does as it makes him easier to scout and when you can avoid his positions, you stand a better chance of winning. This is true of not just Nolan, but also many high level competitors. I don’t think Nolan loses this way again, but it was very interesting and impressive how Mateus was so dominant and circumvented any offense so quickly. My second match is Mateo Cardona. I know he’s someone that a lot of people are looking at as sort of the next big thing. He was in the finals in a dominant position and was swept unnecessarily. He seemed to just be incredibly impatient while attempting the kimura from top half guard and ended up on the bottom because of it. With plenty of time left he then made no attempts to gain back the two points he was down and that ended up being the deciding factor. I realize that these are armchair quarterback observations, but it is interesting that we are seeing the small things matter more.