Last night saw the Combat Jiu-Jitsu worlds take place in Cancun, Mexico due to the current restrictions in California. The scene was quite picturesque and a welcome change from the classic black mat inside a theatre.
Much like regular EBI tournaments (which no longer run) due to CJJ taking their place. The ruleset is very similar, although obviously you’re allowed to use palm strikes to the upper body – hence the name combat jiu-jitsu.
Kade Ruotolo tore through the field, only taking a single match to overtime against Danny Collazo. Other than this, Ruotolo was able to defeat all his opponents by either submission or strikes, including a kneebar, guillotine and finally a rare buggy choke against PJ Barch.
Ruotolo has wasted no time since his recent promotion to brown belt, already ploughing through a seasoned list of black belts to win his first CJJ lightweight title.
In the 3 superfights:
Keith Krikorian defeated Ivan Rodriguez by TKO which was palm strikes from the back during regulation time.
Derek Rayfield defeated Elias Anderson by rear naked choke in the first round of overtime.
Cris Lencioni defeated JM Holland by rear naked choke in the first round of overtime.
