Teens Koski, Ingmire win Fight of the Night; Linne wins Submission of the Night
Danilo Borovic put on a sparkling main event performance at the Little Gem Theater Saturday night.
The Brasa 360 brown belt defeated Chris Hartwig at 2:21 via mounted triangle choke at Checkmate Submission Only 4.5: The Winter Solstice.
For Borovic, the dominance continued at Checkmate Submission Only competitions. He currently holds the organization’s 205-pound and 185-pound championships.
The fight opened with Hartwig on bottom, attempting to lace up one of Borovic’s legs. Borovic evaded those efforts and landed in side control. He quickly moved to mount, then gradually worked from there until the opportunity for the fight-ending submission opened.
Borovic quickly snapped on a tight triangle choke that forced the stoppage.
While Borovic wowed in the headliner, performance awards were stolen away by the two teenage matches early in the night.
Keweenaw Jiu-Jitsu’s Alec Koski headlined the early preliminaries with a gritty win over Lake Effect Jiu-Jitsu’s Orien Ingmire that earned Fight of the Night. Ingmire caught Koski in a deep armbar that looked to be a certain finish. Koski escaped and spectacularly transitioned into an armbar of his own, delivering the finish and flashing the 10th Planet Jiu-Jitsu sign to the hometown crowd.
In the next match, Rothwell MMA/LCCT’s Cody Linne hit the Submission of the Night on Grant Yackel. Linne dove underneath Yackel and cinched in a calf cutter, a painful lower-leg submission. Yackel displayed tremendous heart to stay in the fight, but Linne had already taken Yackel’s back. With the calf cutter locked in, Linne applied a rear-naked choke, forcing the tap with a brilliant display of skill and creativity.
Stan Myaskovskiy, the event promoter, was impressed by both teen matches. He not only granted them fight-night honors, he announced on Facebook that he would attempt to book Koski and Linne against each other at the next Checkmate Submission Only Event.
Jose Varella displayed sublime skill, culminating in a unique finish during the night’s co-main event. Varella defeated Omar Choudry at 6:34 with the Meat Bag AKA The Stock, a 10th Planet Jiu-Jitsu specialty.
The two black belts flowed beautifully for much of the fight, but Varella generally applied the offensive pressure. He attempted several omoplatas, which Choudry defended well. But GF Team Minnesota’s Varella kept his smooth offensive skills flowing, working his high-guard offense to great effect. In the end, that high-guard game created several submission opportunities, which led to the tap.
In the headliner for the night’s preliminary bouts, Lake Effect Jiu-Jitsu’s Connor Landick scored a thrilling overtime victory over Dave Brown. In a back-and-forth scrap, both Landick and Brown survived numerous deep submission attempts during regulation. Landick escaped Brown in overtime, then scored a dramatic rear-naked choke win to close out the crowd-pleaser.
In a main card thriller, Kyle Perkins engaged in a lightning-quick roll with event promoter Myaskovskiy. Following several rapid exchanges, with both grapplers firing off submissions, Perkins caught Myaskovskiy in a tight armbar that forced a verbal tap.
10th Planet Jiu-Jitsu Chicago’s Maurice Zakhem defeated Mike Roberts by inside heel hook. It was a methodical performance by Zakhem early in the main card. Also on the main card, Mike Waltz used strong top pressure and evaded a few leglock attempts, en route to a calf crank win over Frank Schuman.
Will Robinson, competing for the second time that night, defeated Chris Golv in overtime, in a grueling, technical main-card match. His previous bout was an armbar victory over Greg Westmoreland. Robinson and Golv traded top chances, both applying tremendous pressure to the other. But Robinson tapped Golv with prolonged pressure in OT, then quickly escaped for the win.
Lake Effect’s Amanda Wyatt scored her second win of the night during the featured prelims. Her match against Marta Maciolek was a fight in the gi. Wyatt used that to her advantage, scoring a Bread Cutter finish, a gi-based collar choke. Wyatt also defeated Diana McNease in the night’s opening bout. It was a strong showing from McNease, a relative newcomer to the sport.
Video of the entire card, in three portions, can be found here: www.facebook.com/CheckMateSubmissionOnly
MAIN CARD BOUTS
MAIN EVENT: Danilo Borovic def. Chris Hartwig – Mounted triangle choke (2:21)
CO-MAIN EVENT: Jose Varella def. Omar Choudhury – Meat Bag AKA The Stock (6:34)
Will Robinson def. Chris Golv – Rear-naked choke (1st Overtime)
Kyle Perkins def. Stan Myaskovskiy – Armbar (2:06)
Maurice Zakhem def. Mike Roberts – Inside heel hook (2:38)
Mike Waltz def. Frank Schuman – Calf crank (4:07)
PRELIMINARY BOUTS
Connor Landick def. Dave Brown – Rear-naked choke (1st Overtime)
Amanda Wyatt def. Marta Maciolek – Bread Cutter (7:01)
Brian Tiura def. Shawn Moll – Heel hook (1:36)
Will Robinson def. Greg Westmoreland – Arm Crush(7:21)
Cody Linne def. Grant Yackel – Rear-naked choke w/ calf cutter (2:13)
EARLY PRELIMINARY BOUTS
Alec Koski def. Orien Ingmire – Armbar (4:37)
Connor Ryan def. Ethan Arten – Armbar (2:47)
Will Freund def. Elijah Skinnerup – Triangle choke (2:42)
Amanda Wyatt def. Diane McNease – Rear-naked choke (6:51)
