Mr Eddie Cummings: With EBI 10 fast approaching, Eddie Cummings will step up to a new challenge – his first EBI at 135 pounds. His record at previous EBI events has been nothing short of outstanding, with a 100% record of submission within regulation time, and the vast majority of those matches in far less than regulation time. This time however, he faces three new elements. The athletes in this event are among the best ever assembled in an EBI, with the man we consider the best of the 10th planet athletes, Geo Martinez, along with a very strong Brazilian contingent, including the outstanding Samir Chantre and Rafael Freitas. This may be the strongest overall EBI card since EBI 6. The second new element will be the weight cut. Even though Mr Cummings has a small frame, he has always operated above his weight category and has this never had to actually lose weight to compete before, so this should be interesting. A third factor will be of interest to all the athletes – altitude. Mexico City is a difficult venue for those unused to the thinner air. This will effect everyone except the locals equally and is definitely a source of concern as we have no experience with this whatsoever. Mr Cummings will, as always, have to rely on his great depth of knowledge around submissions to get around these three problems. Of my students, he has spent the most time with me in private classes and has a truly superb knowledge of the mechanical details of our favorite attacks. Here we work both offensive and defensive measures in irimi ashi garami, a position that Mr Cummings truly excels in and has developed a very fine reputation for very effective use in competition (shiai). A strange result of Mr Cummings excellence in ashi garami based attacks is that he has had few opportunities to show his other submission strengths – he has many – I suspect it is only a matter of time until the world sees what we see every day in the gym.
