Renzo Gracie vs. Kazushi Sakuraba at Metamoris 5 Phto by Scott Hiran/Metamoris
Metamoris 5 had the lowest count of submissions of all prior events along with Metamoris 2.
Only Gary Tonon was able to get a tap on Zak Maxwell in the first match of the program that went down this Saturday, at the Long Beach Convention Center.
After three tries, Tonon finally was able to get the heel hook in place to win.
“We train it a lot and I am glad that I managed to make it work here,” said Tonon after the match.
The second fight was the beginning of the series of draws.
Vinny Magalhães faced last-minute opponent Matheus Diniz, a brown belt under Marcelo Garcia.
With two triangle attempts, Vinny was more dangerous but could not get the finish.
In the third match of the day, Keenan Cornelius and Yuri Simões put on the gi for the most action-filled match of the card.
Yuri first had a kneebar in place, but Keenan was able to escape.
After that, Cornelius was more active and passed guard sometimes and also was able to get a body triangle in place from the back.
The fight went on until the final second with both fighters going for the submission.
The forth match of the evening was the secret match and put UFC’s Jake Shields opposite to WPJJC three-time champion Roberto Satoshi.
Heavier and more used to no-gi competition, Shields controlled the actions and passed guard many times.
The match ended with Shields having a armbar in place, but Satoshi slipped away one more time.
The co-main event of Metamoris 5 was another MMA vs. Jiu-Jitsu type of match up.
Rory MacDonald, UFC’s welterweight #1 title contender, was against IBJJF no-gi Jiu-Jitsu world champion JT Torres.
Unlike the Satoshi-Shields fight, JT put was much more used to no-gi competing and put his game to work against Rory.
Both fighters tried heel hooks and both defended well.
In the end, JT managed a inverted triangle with kimura in the best submission attempt of the match, but could not finish.
The main event was that kind of match that makes the crowd feel that they are witnessing a historical event.
Renzo Gracie and Kazushi Sakuraba was once again face to face after 14 years their first fight at Pride 10, in Japan.
After sometime standing, Renzo went for a guillotine and pulled guard.
Renzo stayed in closed guard for around five minutes until Sakuraba tried a catch wrestling neck attack that ended with Renzo on top position and passing moments later.
After passing, Renzo got to side control and tried to work a kimura lock, what would be his ultimate revenge.
Despite his tries, Sakuraba was able to resist and another draw took place.
“He is great! I tried to do my best!” said Sakuraba.
“Before I got the call, I was without doing a single push up for three years and now here I am, 27lb lighter. This match lit up my internal flame and now I want to make two MMA fights before my next match, against Matt Hughes, at 2015 ADCC, in Brazil,” said Renzo.
The Gracie also revealed a last-day injury that made the match even harder: “I pulled my knee out yesterday, while rolling With Roberto Gordo. Even so, I took a pain killer and came to fight.
Here are the full results fo Metamoris 5.
Metamoris 5
November 22, 2014
Long Beach Convention Center, Long Beach, CA
Renzo Gracie tied with Kazushi Sakuraba after 20:00
JT Torres tied with Rory MacDonald after 20:00
Jake Shields tied with Roberto Satoshi after 20:00
Yuri Simões tied with Keenan Cornelius after 20:00
Vinny Magalhães tied with Matheus Diniz after 20:00
Garry Tonon def. Zak Maxwell by heel hook
Here’s a phot gallery of tonoght’s event (all photos provided by Metamoris).
