2010 Freestyle Sambo Championships - Austin, Texas

**Naszir** · Posted On: 11/07/2010 10:08pm

For those of you who weren't there, Evgeny has SICK throws. His standup work was absolutely gorgeous. His trips and shoulder throws were just scary. He, Gabe and Travis had an absolute war for the top spots in their division. They had each beaten one of the others and lost to the other. Travis submitted Evgeny, Evgeny threw Gabe several times to win with a technical victory, Gabe beat Travis on points. Then they went into the eliminations with Evgeny submitting Travis, Gabe beating Travis on points and Evgeny beating Gabe on points. Every one of these matches were gutted out nailbiters.

For those of you who have never played SAMBO before, this is a very cool ruleset. It didn't seem to overly favor any particular non-SAMBO background, whether judo, wrestling or bjj. The standup game is critical but so is the groundwork. The allowance of slams and standing escapes was definitely something different and made for a very interesting variation.

Steve, it was great seeing you, meeting Carlos, Reilly, Doug and all their guys and of course seeing all the brothers from ECS. It is pretty amazing to meet, compete with and hang out with the best guys in the sport in America. Some of these guys weren't just national but were international competitors. How can you not love that? Getting to go against the best guys in the country without political issues or personal agendas just the love of the sport and competition was refreshing and an absolute blast.

Thanks to all the coaches and athletes for competing and thanks again to you, Steve, for rolling out to Texas and I'll see you again in July.

**sambosteve** · Posted On: 11/08/2010 9:39am

Yes, Evgeny was a beast! Great to watch. The whole event was wonderful. Small, but we planted our flag in Texas!

I will have a HL reel up soon...

**sambosteve** · Posted On: 11/08/2010 10:12am

Statistics:

Total number of matches: 30
Wins by…
Points: 13
Choke: 5
Foot locks: 4
Kneebars: 1
Armbar: 3
Shoulder lock: 2
Chest Compression: 1
Injury: 1

Fastest Submissions (under 1:30)
Chris Bowles defeats Stephen McLaughlin at :19 via RNC
Doug Fournet defeats Justin McCready at :54 via achilles lock
Doug Fournet defeats Justin McCready at :55 via kneebar
Chris Bowles defeats Mark Stites at 1:05 via toe hold
Travis Joyner defeats John McLaughlin at 1:08 via choke
Chris Bowles defeats Enrique Limon at 1:08 via shoulder lock
Mike Chesbro defeats Scotty Spassky at 1:13 via armbar
Mike Vermaelen defeats Stephen McLaughlin at 1:30 via choke

Clubs Represented:
Cummings Combat Sambo (Florida)
Eclectic Combat Systems (Texas)
Faixa Preta MMA (Texas)
Guy Mezger’s Combat Sports Club (Texas)
LA Boxing Baton Rouge (Louisiana)
New York Combat Sambo (New York)
Sea Town Sambo/Seattle JuJitsu (Washington)
Vandry BJJ (Texas)

**Ryno** · Posted On: 11/08/2010 11:11am

Hey Steve, are you doing videos of the event?

**sambosteve** · Posted On: 11/08/2010 1:37pm

Iwill have them up soon...

**Ryno** · Posted On: 11/08/2010 2:09pm

Excellent. Got to watch my Seatown comrades' matches, you know. Evgeny has been had some sick throws for awhile, but Sean is becoming a real beast both in standing and on the ground. He did really well for a guy with maybe a bit more than a year's experience.