Last night saw the return of Submission Underground in the form of SUG 17. This came after the previous SUG 16 event just a few weeks ago.
Since the Covid 19 lockdown, SUG has continued to put on regular shows and is one of the few events which has continuously kept grappling fans entertained since the start of the year.
Looking back at SUG 16, the event ended in controversial circumstances. Here, brown belt Mason Fowler successfully beat Australian legend Craig Jones. This happened through the use of the SUG rule set which follows EBI rules. Fowler avoided submissions from Jones and then beat him whilst attempting a Rear Naked Choke submission upon re-starting from the back mount position. However, the controversy is that the ref believed that Jones had screamed which resulted in a verbal tap. Whilst these are the rules, it wasn’t clear whether Jones did actually scream and the event was criticized as a result.
Step forward SUG 17 and it was meant to be the come back of Craig Jones who would have a new ref and another 5 minutes to defeat Fowler. This didn’t happen, and Fowler once again submitted Jones from the RNC position in over-time. This time it was conclusive and Fowler retained the SUG belt, in less controversial circumstances too.
The result came as a shock for grappling fans as Craig Jones has achieved so much since bursting onto the scene with his historic ADCC 2017 run. However, even though Mason Fowler won through clear means, some fans were still unhappy. Some of these fans accused Fowler of playing to the rules, by avoiding Jones for the 5 minutes and then finishing him whilst on the back position. These fans called for SUG to extend matches from 5 to 10 minutes to allow more natural positions.
However, this criticism has always been part of sport BJJ. Since its inception people have played to the rules and you’d be stupid not to. This develops a more interesting question as to whether there is such a real thing as perfect BJJ rules whilst competing. Regardless, the result stands and praise should be given to Fowler who has only added to his name and is continuing to put his name out there as a top grappler.
