Grom Zaza vs. Koichiro Kimura
Grom Zaza. Ghostbusters villain? A David Bowie alter-ego? Badass Georgian freestyle wrestler? Check. This was long and by the end of it, they’re both exhausted and flailing around with slaps, but there were some neat moments on the mat, as neither is particular good at striking, and Grom utilizies some cool takedowns and slams, including a cradle-style backdrop. Kimura does have some snappy kicks and palm thrusts but his mat game is his strong suit, and he’s able to send Grom to the ropes a few times by targeting the leg. Grom, on the otherhand, utilizies more innovative submissions, like his double leg half crab or his shoot STF. In the end, Grom is able to cinch in the choke to submit Kimura.
Dick Vrij vs. Willie Peeters
This was good cop/bad cop. Willie Peeters is the good cop (not really, because he’s kind of a dick himself…just not a Dick Vrij). He has this nervous energy about him when he’s trying to defend against Vrij’s strikes and he misses about 70% of everything he throws but that doesn’t stop him from trying with 100% effort. He keeps unloading on Dick with knees and his flamboyant kicks but lands few of them, and scores even fewer knockdowns. On the other side, you have bad cop Dick Vrij, who isn’t quite as dick-ish as he was in those Maeda matches, but he’s still as imposing and aggressive. One thing that I enjoy about Vrij is how responsive he is to Peeter’s offense, grabbing a foot off a kick or a hold off a takedown. At one point, he has Willie in a jujigatame and when Willie tries to shimmy out of it, Dick holds on with the reverse armbar. And, of course, he kicks really hard, lifting Willie off the mat at points. Sloppy and chaotic but F-U-N.
Akira Maeda vs. Volk Han
You already see the greatness that is to come from Volk Han in his first (presumably) worked match. Sure, awkward moments pop up from being unsure how to hold back or dropping the illusion of defense. Conditioning, or lack thereof, also plays a big factor, which allows Maeda to take his head off with a big spinning heel kick near the end. He’s never been a big striker, although he’ll throw a couple face slaps here and there, or the occasional chest headbutt, but his meat-and-potatoes are his takedowns and submission attempts. He’ll manage a cool rolling armbar or kneebar takedown, and at one point, he seemingly DDTs Maeda. The last couple of minutes are a lot of fun, with Maeda pissing off Han and eating a uranage before snagging Han’s leg to pick up the submission win.
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