There's no business like show business: Tomorrow night in Portland Oregon, MMA's greatest showman, Chael Sonnen will run the show at submission Underground – but the squad will look to be the ones putting on the show Garry Tonon takes on Brazilian jiu jitsu and MMA standout, Antonio Carlos Jr – a powerful athlete far bigger and stronger than himself who has beaten some of the biggest names in ibjjf competition and who brings a very exciting set of submission skills. Gordon Ryan takes on Kentucky Leg lock specialist Joe Baize, who had a sterling performance at EBI 8. Rules will be standard EBI, but with a shortened time limit of only eight minutes. It will be interesting to see how this affects the work rate and pacing of the matches. Mr Sonnen is doing a fine job of integrating the area between MMA and grappling in his shows and has a natural sense of how to get people's attention in ways that will grow the sport. Our team is interested to see how the use of a cage will affect the matches. This is the first time the squad has had to grapple in a cage. Both our opponents have extensive MMA experience and thus expertise in cage work – that will definitely makes things interesting. A core element of our style is that great jiu jitsu must have an aesthetic element to it in addition to its effectiveness. Our team loves to put on a show. Of course the result will always be paramount, but we train to create a dynamic game that always pushes towards submission – this makes the squad natural showmen. In amateur sports the only thing of value is the result – this gives it an admirable purity. The idea of a professional sport – a sport that people see as ENTERTAINMENT, a medium of entertainment that people pay to watch, requires that the athlete do more than win – he must win a fashion that MAKES PEOPLE want TO WATCH. This is a difficult requirement, but one which every professional athlete must work on. Each must find their own way. Ours will always be based around dynamic movement leading to control and the ruthless pursuit of submission above all.
