Objectively, Levi had 3 sweeps and 4 submission attempts. Kade had zero guard passes, 1 real submission attempt that happened as a defense when he got swept, and too many disengagements to count. Levi also dominated the grip fighting overall. Tye did more against Levi than Kade did, and Levi won that match in the eyes of the judges and commentators. I agree that the audience clearly influenced the judges in this match and they changed their scoring criteria part way through. Round 4 was particularly egregious. The modern grappling audience will have to learn at some point that in jiu jitsu, before the guard is passed, the guy on bottom has more offensive potential and I believe Levi demonstrated that perfectly.
I was also there Levi definitely won Kade making his little speech talking him down even before the mach was dirty as shit plus all his other antics just to get the crowd on his side. Both the Rutolos like to play this chill surfer one love type of personality but the more i watch them the more they are starting to seem like angry children who's parents never told them no
yeah i was rooting for them at the beginning of the tournament but by the end i wanted them to loose. gross behavior and antics. but today's crowd.....they love it
@@russelesmail he didn't really. He took a big swing at Levi and most people didn't see it. It was after his leg was hurt and Levi went to a leg entry it hurt for Ty and he went to punch Levi and opened his hand last min. If it hurts that bad that you can't control yourself then you should tap
When he hit that one leg drag it was the closest to passing the guard that was seen all match. He even came up did guard passing almost hit it then went back to the guard and still the judges favored Kade.
Levi’s guard was incredible and dominant the entire tournament. Jiu jitsu wise Levi won, but Kade used showmanship to his advantage to sway the judges. Unfortunate for Levi that pure Jiu jitsu wasn’t rewarded
You love passing guard but dislike guard pullers? Doesn't make sense! ;) Thank you for this breakdown, I'm looking forward to future material. Subscribed!
Yeah this match was ridiculous. I think that the pressure actually got to Kade somehow although he's always looked like a level headed guy in other tournaments. I would say that the Ruotolo's are definitely the better grapplers in general but this specific tournament Levi was on fire and his game plan was something they weren't entirely prepared for. The rule set also didn't help here and the fact that the whole thing was nogi, disengaging open guard is so prevalent that a lot of the matches either look like this or then it's just two guys grinding in half guard making no progress. All in all an incredible event even if the finals were a bit of a let down and I'm glad Levi is finally getting some recognition outside of just his gi antics!
I understand where you are coming from but as others have pointed out, a major component of CJI was introducing BJJ to a more mainstream audience. Whether or not anyone thinks that's good thing or not doesn't matter, that was the overall goal of the promotion (among others like athlete pay etc). As amazing as Levi is at jiu jitsu, his style is not entertaining to a "UFC" type audience Craig was trying to tap into. It makes sense to me that for a promotion like this with such a high emphasis on action and entertaining styles , would reward the more entertaining player after a very close match where neither was able to get much done. Politically, its not a great look for the promotion that advertises itself to be all about action is won by a butt-scooting guard player. I totally understand why they gave it to Kade and overall I think it sets a better precedent for the next CJI than if Levi won.
Yeah I understand why they gave it to Kade too, like I said in the video this was their first showing and it wouldn’t be a good look for it to go to Levi but objectively speaking from a pure BJJ standpoint Levi won.
I think it depends how you look at it. In some ways this whole comp was supposed to increase the fan base and get athletes paid. Levi didn’t help that at all. High lvl BJJ guys appreciate it (I guess) but newbies don’t. That being said Levi played the game by the rules and had more sweeps, more sub attempts.
To all of us butt scooters that match was exciting as hell😂😂😂 and by the way I'm over the age of 40 I think at a certain age you should be allowed to butt scoot without being criticized🤔🤔 most injuries come from the takedown getting too old for that s***😂😂
I think kade rightfully won cji is set up to he entertaining and for the more casual viewers who maybe dont do bjj,that buttscooting grab a leg and hold onto k guard should be frowned upon its not viewer friendly in the slightest and should not warrant winning a million dollars amongst the more entertaining competitors
Then disengagement from entanglements in top position should result in docked points for stalling at some point, and refusal to pass guard should result in a forfeit of the match.
@@My_youtube_acc Lol, I don’t know what the right ruleset is, but everyone needs to meet in the middle in the future. I agree with you that pulling guard is the same as accepting a takedown.
I slightly disagree, though I definitely have to rewatch the match. This was a cool analysis. In my opinion none of them really managed to do anything this match, and being a spectacle as it is, the pressure is on the downed opponent to make the win obvious. Sort of like in a championship bout in the UFC, if the match seems equal, then the champion keeps the belt. The problem with these types of fights is that, when passing guard you HAVE TO disengage and reengage, all good guard passers do that unless the skill difference is pretty big, and ofcourse as a guard puller it almost never seems like you're disengaging even though that's sort of what you're doing when you spin around and reposition yourself. Also sweeps... if you don't achieve anything with the sweep, and the position resets, is it really a sweep? Plus when passing the guard you have to play with balance much more and do greater movements, thus the need to disengage here and there. And obviously you can't sweep someone whose already down. Now the submissions are interesting, in my opinion none of them had any bite (even Kade's triangle, Levi got out way to easy). Though personally i find it easier to throw in ineffective submissions from the bottom, since the guard passer is forced to get passed the guard before even having the chance to try something. Of course this still leaves the fight being a draw which doesn't really help, and Kade winning simply because of the chosen starting position leaves a bad taste. I can still understand the point of view of Levi deserving the win.
I think it depends how you look at it. In some ways this whole comp was supposed to increase the fan base and get athletes paid. Levi didn’t help that at all. High lvl BJJ guys appreciate it (I guess) but newbies don’t. That being said Levi played the game by the rules and had more sweeps, more sub attempts.
I was there live, myself and everyone in my section was shocked they gave it to Kade
I couldn't believe that at all. Kade didn't do enough to warrant the win in any round in my opinion.
Objectively, Levi had 3 sweeps and 4 submission attempts. Kade had zero guard passes, 1 real submission attempt that happened as a defense when he got swept, and too many disengagements to count. Levi also dominated the grip fighting overall.
Tye did more against Levi than Kade did, and Levi won that match in the eyes of the judges and commentators. I agree that the audience clearly influenced the judges in this match and they changed their scoring criteria part way through. Round 4 was particularly egregious.
The modern grappling audience will have to learn at some point that in jiu jitsu, before the guard is passed, the guy on bottom has more offensive potential and I believe Levi demonstrated that perfectly.
100% in agreement with you on this
@@ursinhobjj Just wanted to help support your position! Thanks for the great video!
I was also there Levi definitely won Kade making his little speech talking him down even before the mach was dirty as shit plus all his other antics just to get the crowd on his side. Both the Rutolos like to play this chill surfer one love type of personality but the more i watch them the more they are starting to seem like angry children who's parents never told them no
yeah i was rooting for them at the beginning of the tournament but by the end i wanted them to loose. gross behavior and antics. but today's crowd.....they love it
i did think that Tye behaved with more class though.
@@russelesmail he didn't really. He took a big swing at Levi and most people didn't see it. It was after his leg was hurt and Levi went to a leg entry it hurt for Ty and he went to punch Levi and opened his hand last min. If it hurts that bad that you can't control yourself then you should tap
Levi lost to tribalism. Levi is a world class guard passer as well. Has one of the best leg drag games out there.
When he hit that one leg drag it was the closest to passing the guard that was seen all match. He even came up did guard passing almost hit it then went back to the guard and still the judges favored Kade.
Absolutly correct.
Levi’s guard was incredible and dominant the entire tournament. Jiu jitsu wise Levi won, but Kade used showmanship to his advantage to sway the judges. Unfortunate for Levi that pure Jiu jitsu wasn’t rewarded
Gonna watch later i like your analysis
Appreciate it!
You love passing guard but dislike guard pullers? Doesn't make sense! ;)
Thank you for this breakdown, I'm looking forward to future material. Subscribed!
I’m just throwing shade I actually love when people pull cause now I can get right to what I’m good at
Yeah this match was ridiculous. I think that the pressure actually got to Kade somehow although he's always looked like a level headed guy in other tournaments. I would say that the Ruotolo's are definitely the better grapplers in general but this specific tournament Levi was on fire and his game plan was something they weren't entirely prepared for. The rule set also didn't help here and the fact that the whole thing was nogi, disengaging open guard is so prevalent that a lot of the matches either look like this or then it's just two guys grinding in half guard making no progress.
All in all an incredible event even if the finals were a bit of a let down and I'm glad Levi is finally getting some recognition outside of just his gi antics!
Yeah the more I watched it back to make the video the more I was like “Kade didn’t win by any observable metric”
@@ursinhobjj Yup. But I mean haven’t we all lost a comp match like this? 😂 I feel like judging in jiujitsu is a vibe check sometimes lmao
STOP CLICKBAITING
also levi won
I understand where you are coming from but as others have pointed out, a major component of CJI was introducing BJJ to a more mainstream audience. Whether or not anyone thinks that's good thing or not doesn't matter, that was the overall goal of the promotion (among others like athlete pay etc). As amazing as Levi is at jiu jitsu, his style is not entertaining to a "UFC" type audience Craig was trying to tap into.
It makes sense to me that for a promotion like this with such a high emphasis on action and entertaining styles , would reward the more entertaining player after a very close match where neither was able to get much done. Politically, its not a great look for the promotion that advertises itself to be all about action is won by a butt-scooting guard player. I totally understand why they gave it to Kade and overall I think it sets a better precedent for the next CJI than if Levi won.
Yeah I understand why they gave it to Kade too, like I said in the video this was their first showing and it wouldn’t be a good look for it to go to Levi but objectively speaking from a pure BJJ standpoint Levi won.
Levi was ROBBED!!
I think it depends how you look at it. In some ways this whole comp was supposed to increase the fan base and get athletes paid. Levi didn’t help that at all. High lvl BJJ guys appreciate it (I guess) but newbies don’t. That being said Levi played the game by the rules and had more sweeps, more sub attempts.
“Beat Levi by winning over the crowd “, to me it is not an authentic martial artist would do.
Completely agree with you there
To all of us butt scooters that match was exciting as hell😂😂😂 and by the way I'm over the age of 40 I think at a certain age you should be allowed to butt scoot without being criticized🤔🤔 most injuries come from the takedown getting too old for that s***😂😂
I really enjoyed watching the guard honestly, I just talk shit on guard players but without them I can’t hone my guard passing
👍🏾👍🏾👍🏾👍🏾
I think kade rightfully won cji is set up to he entertaining and for the more casual viewers who maybe dont do bjj,that buttscooting grab a leg and hold onto k guard should be frowned upon its not viewer friendly in the slightest and should not warrant winning a million dollars amongst the more entertaining competitors
So u wanna make one of the few pure martial arts into fucking wwe because your chimp brain likes it better?
Pulling guard should be a takedown really.
Then disengagement from entanglements in top position should result in docked points for stalling at some point, and refusal to pass guard should result in a forfeit of the match.
@@ronaldp.vincent8226 I guess you’re right. I don’t like that you’re right, but after wondering how to argue back I think you are 😅
@@My_youtube_acc Lol, I don’t know what the right ruleset is, but everyone needs to meet in the middle in the future. I agree with you that pulling guard is the same as accepting a takedown.
I slightly disagree, though I definitely have to rewatch the match. This was a cool analysis.
In my opinion none of them really managed to do anything this match, and being a spectacle as it is, the pressure is on the downed opponent to make the win obvious. Sort of like in a championship bout in the UFC, if the match seems equal, then the champion keeps the belt.
The problem with these types of fights is that, when passing guard you HAVE TO disengage and reengage, all good guard passers do that unless the skill difference is pretty big, and ofcourse as a guard puller it almost never seems like you're disengaging even though that's sort of what you're doing when you spin around and reposition yourself.
Also sweeps... if you don't achieve anything with the sweep, and the position resets, is it really a sweep? Plus when passing the guard you have to play with balance much more and do greater movements, thus the need to disengage here and there. And obviously you can't sweep someone whose already down.
Now the submissions are interesting, in my opinion none of them had any bite (even Kade's triangle, Levi got out way to easy). Though personally i find it easier to throw in ineffective submissions from the bottom, since the guard passer is forced to get passed the guard before even having the chance to try something.
Of course this still leaves the fight being a draw which doesn't really help, and Kade winning simply because of the chosen starting position leaves a bad taste. I can still understand the point of view of Levi deserving the win.
If downy lost levi won
I think it depends how you look at it. In some ways this whole comp was supposed to increase the fan base and get athletes paid. Levi didn’t help that at all. High lvl BJJ guys appreciate it (I guess) but newbies don’t. That being said Levi played the game by the rules and had more sweeps, more sub attempts.