In our view, Metamoris 3 was excellent and surpassed it's two predecessors in overall entertainment value, despite there being only 2 submissions. Why? A lot of that has to do with the star power of the elite competitors, namely the Mendes brothers, Dean Lister and Keenan "He's so hot right now" Cornelius. Up and comers, Sean Roberts and Zak Maxwell went hard (especially in the end) and added to the overall value. Equally impacting, of course, was the shear excellence of main event match between Eddie Bravo and Royler Gracie. Although it didn't result in a submission, it was, we think, exactly what Metamoris intends to be - an all out, non-stop battle for position/submission.
That just our opinion. And, everyone has one. We thought it would be interesting to hear from Ralek Gracie, to get his opinion on a few items. He's the the promoter and the creative voice, if you will, of the event. We asked him a few pointed question in the wake of the event. Results are below.
QUESTION ONE:
DSTRYR: In terms of performances, whose were you most impressed with or surprised by?
RALEK GRACIE: I think Babalu surprised everyone by not getting heel hooked in 1 minute. I was surprised Eddie imposed his game with more effectiveness than Royler but not disappointed in Royler at all.
QUESTION TWO:
DSTRYR: Did anyone’s performance disappoint in your view?
RALEK GRACIE: Rafa Mendes and Clark Gracie stylistically I think were not matched up for the most exciting experience but with that said I think it was cool to see Rafa giving every shot at the berimbolo and just thinking 'it's like a game of cat and mouse', will he get it? etc. But I think for the untrained eye it must have been the least appealing.
QUESTION THREE:
DSTRYR: [Our] view on submission-only matches is that they are entirely dependent on an individual athlete’s participation in the concept and willingness to take certain risks to press for submissions. Do you agree? And, assuming so, are you working on other ways to incentivize future Metamoris athletes to go for subs?
RALEK GRACIE: Ive seen in just 3 events the power of "good" and "bad" performances. The influence on competitors in Metamoris 3 was screaming to avoid Metamoris 2 at all costs. No Jiu-Jitsu athlete wants to be known as a points fighter, it's not cool to do anything less than go for subs in Metamoris. I think competitors will only realize that more and more. Bonuses are good too.
QUESTION FOUR:
DSTRYR: You’ve probably heard about the confrontation between Eddie Bravo and Royce Gracie after the event. Did you see that coming? What do you think about it?
RALEK GRACIE: It was disappointing to hear about that on such an awesome night for Metamoris and Jiu-Jitsu as a whole. I said in an interview that Royce comes from a generation and lifestyle where that kind of thing is completely normal but I still don't like it.